Rain!
34 miles and one flat...
Poured rain ALL night! Fuat's tent held up well and we were quite dry in the morning. We've also brought a tarp (one EZ Duzit found last spring when we were hiking the AT and gave to me - putting it to good use:)) and put it up to cool under. Worked well and made packing up in the rain a bit easier.
Most of the morning it was raining but not too heavy. I had to laugh when I saw many times laundry out on the line. Some of the houses are quite large (McMansions of Ireland), and I was thinking they'd do better to have one of those rooms as a drying room since it rains so much here. Even in Hawaii where it rains a lot, people would have places under cover to dry their laundry...especially since you just never knew when it would start raining and you might not be home to get it down.
Fuat had his first flat today when he hit a pothole. He's lucky he didn't go down. We were in a town and he was looking around and BAM! Thank goodness for The Cozy Kitchen for hanging in while he fixed it.
Cold and rainy is only tough when we stop. While biking it's those minor adjustments to keep my body from overheating: hood on..hood off...mitts on...mitts off...jacket zipped...jacket unzipped...pants rolled up...pants rolled down. I'm a busy woman!!!
Sitting now in pub having hot chocolate and Triffle & Custard & Cream. Yum!
Too bad the free wifi isn't working. Wifi is turning out to be hard to find. This is rural Ireland!
So no power and no wifi...BagLady disconnects...begrudgingly:(
Stopped for the night between Kiltormer and Mullagh, just southwest of Ballinasloe about the middle of the country (for anyone trying to follow us). We'd been wandering down all the small country roads we could find. They are so narrow, but there are few cars and the views are spectacular. Quaint Ireland! But we can't figure out where we are on the map(s) and often just turn according to the compass. No hurry. No place we have to be. We'll get to the west coast eventually:)
When Fuat said he was ready to look for a place, he had pulled into a building parking lot. We looked around and found a lane just past it that led to the grassy fields behind a Montessori school, The All Stars Montessori School, in fact. And there's a shelter for our bikes with benches for sitting and cooking. Bingo! Life doesn't get any better than this. Luckily tomorrow's a holiday or this wouldn't be such a good option.
Took a walk down the lane to see the sheep out grazing in the pastures. Just as I imagined Ireland would look. So pastoral! We have horses whinneying, sheep baaing, and cows mooing....ahhhh...bliss! So much nicer than last night's campground. What was supper, you ask? Reconstituted refried black beans on tortillas with slices of avocado, zucchini, red pepper, and cheddar cheese! With "digestive" biscuits for dessert with chamomile tea steeped right from the dried flowers we got at at tea shop.
Stopped to get some water late this afternoon and the guy in the little shop said he didn't think I sounded American. I said Thank You! I said as an American, I never heard anyone tell me that they liked my accent. He said, "and you're not going to hear it from me, either!" "Well, I do like your accent!", said I.
And it's time to get warm and comfortable for the night.
BagLady
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