Wed May 30th
Dublin
Exchange rate at bank 1.28
Today's the day. We gotta start this trip and just be brave. We'll figure this out. Right off the bat, we ran into trouble. We got to the end of the street we were staying at and Fuat said something about "one Way" and I thought he meant that the street we were turning onto was one way so I decided to pull out in to the right side. Oops! Cars coming at me! He meant the street we were staying on was a one way and we shouldn't have biked down the way we did. Men on the sidewalk were laughing at us and said "Wrong side!" Great start. We're gonna get killed before getting out of Dublin!
The next problem we had was making right turns. Feels so awkward and dangerous, especially in a big city! Sometimes we took to the crosswalks to avoid biking right turns. Luckily yesterday we had walked much of the area we had to bike around in so the streets were somewhat familiar. We still found ourselves wanting to turn down one ways the wrong way. Cross the streets and then getting back on the correct sides was a big challenge. I kept forgetting which direction to look first.
I did get a great compliment by one group of men as I biked by when one shouted "Nice legs!" Not bad for a 62 yr old dame!!!
I went into a bike shop trying to buy a can of Halt (pepper spray) to use on dogs if necessary. I don't like being down on their level unarmed. But it's illegal in Ireland. "Not so many criminals and not so vicious dogs in Ireland!"
Exchange rate at bank 1.28
Money changers expensive. Charged 1.33
Hard to find right roads. We're using hard copy maps and a new app that doesn't require wifi. It's so confusing. No one knows road names. The lady at the bank said she lives here and she can't figure out what street she's on. It got worse as we got out of town. Today I asked a guy coming from his house the name of the road and he gave me a shoulder shrug. His wife finally said it was Martin's Row and helped me understand that we were on the right road.
The next issue is that there are no shoulders AT ALL. And when there's some room, there's a wide dashed line with major metal reflectors that I have to straddle. Many times I have to just ride in the road. Everyone manages to get around us although I've had a couple of trucks take my breath away! Lots of thumbs up to Blaze. The kids especially like her. Fuat gets a lot of comments about his kitty litter panniers. The are a hoot! Been seeing lots of beautiful stone houses and hatched roofs. The windows are adorned with mostly lace curtains.
A few minor bike issues today too.
Squeaky front tire on Fuat's bike that he managed to fix by just removing the front tire and messing with it. Lots of moaning and groaning from Blaze. She's loaded to the withers!!
Haven't got the location of things worked out yet. Need both best location for ease of access and to be able to remember where things are:).
Stopped just past Enfield to spend the night at a "scenic picnic spot" on the Royal Canal. Some local school children were playing in the park with a video camera and came over to interview me. I loved their excitement and curiosity! I told them I had a blog, gave them a card, and took their picture. Now they're FAMOUS!
Aren't they great!!!
One boy asked if he could give me a hug. "Of course! " BagLady never passes up a hug.
It stays light quite late here, like until 10:30 or later, but I'm pretty tired and still don't feel quite adjusted yet.
Tomorrow we change our route to see if we can find more secondary roads. It will be a challenge and take frequent stops to be sure we know where we are on the maps, but hopefully the traffic will be less.
More adventure awaits!
