Bantry, Ireland
15 miles, I estimate (cause when I zero out my bike computer, it also turns if off...sometimes...it's a special feature:/)
Gusty winds and heavy rains
Last night was a delightful evening up high in the mountain meadows, sleeping with the sheep. But we seem to have to pay for our good fortune. We awoke this morning to gusty winds. Fuat was up at 6 - and ungodly hour - and about 6:30 awoke me saying that it was going to rain and maybe we should pack up. Ugh! I don't wake up well. When he offered "or stay put", I put my head back down. I was exhausted still. So I slept on nestled under my warmer bag in my long johns while I heard the rain hitting the tent and felt the winds blowing in its sides. Fuat managed to get his morning coffee, eat his soaked "horse chow", and finish his book...while I slept and slept. I was content to stay there all day and wait out this storm. We knew it was coming. He was bored and wanted to go. So I agreed. Now I hadn't had my morning coffee or any breakfast and it was too stormy to prepare at this point. Just pack and go. It was raining, so I packed my panniers inside the tent then left them there to weigh the tent down while we disassembled it. Packing has it's own rhythm and everything it's particular place and we manage to finish at about the same time. Off we went, still going up the mountain. I looked ahead and there's Fuat walking his bike! What! Why? He never walks...never. I get up to him. He said the wind was blowing so strong he couldn't pedal against it. He walked the last 1/4 mile to the top. And then had to walk still. The wind was stronger on the other side. Blaze was her steady self:) When he was finally able to ride, he kept one foot out because he was leaning so strongly into the wind he feared a gust would blow him over.
We passed through the most pastoral countryside looking down over very old estates, just like in the movies. I felt like we'd stepped back in time and in fact, we had. Seeing these scenes in person is nothing short of breathtaking. There are just so many old stone houses around. We hiked up to one near our campsite last night. It was a 12x20 foot stone hut with a second story in the eaves and a fireplace on each end. Then there was a circular stone paddock attached with walls 4 ft high where perhaps their animals were kept. We joked about the difficult living conditions up there in the mountains and tried to estimate when it might have been built. With the stones it's hard to say, but the log beams supporting the second floor were still in place. It might have been 200 years old or older. There's an energy of the families that lived in these old places that's palpable to me. I feel honored to cross their paths in this way and I honor their lives and the difficult conditions under which they lived....and died. I've felt them in the castles and the manor houses, but more in these rural stone cottages.
I got a few pictures, but nothing on my iPhone...can't take it out in the rain. Moisture voids the warranty...remember?
It was a slow descent. I decided to stay behind him instead of my usual screaming down. The rain was painfully pelting our faces. I didn't need to add speed too. And down, and down, and down we went. I was getting wetter and colder. My Renaud's Symdrome kicking in and my feet numbing painfully so. I just wanted to get down, get to a pub, get warm and dry. This was a crazy idea. We could have stayed in the tent where we were warm and dry and waited out the storm. We had everything we needed. Bet you're not bored now, Fuat, I told him. Can you tell I wasn't happy. No. You don't hike out in the rain...RULE # 1 on the AT. Had to learn it the hard way. You shouldn't do it cycling either. Even if you are in Ireland and the weather can change any minute. Wait for the weather to change first. Pedaling and pedaling, shivering, and with numb stinging toes. Where is Keakill? We should have been there by now. FInally signs of civilization and signage. I catch up to Fuat and he says Bantry is 6 km away. WHAT? We shouldn't be that near Bantry! We find a map posted. Where are we??? OMG!!! We missed our turn and headed west! Not good news. I'm not happy. In fact, I'm miserable...and I'm mad...and I don't want to take it out on Fuat. I could have said No, we're not leaving this warm dry tent. I agreed. I have to own up. And I didn't take the time to check my Iphone Map App to see where we needed to go, what turns to take to get to the right spot. So I guess there must be a reason we need to go to Bantry. All I knew was that we were getting a room in a hostel for the night because I needed to get warm and dry and out of this nasty weather. I thought that if I could just get into a pub and get some hot liquid into me, I'd feel better. But when we stopped at one I realized that if I warmed up, I still had to go back out into the cold and wet and pedal on to a hostel. Let's just keep going. I don't want to stop until we find a place to stay and I can dry out. We were biking on a main road and of course with no shoulder and in heavy rains. I felt a bit scared that someone would come whipping around a curve and hit me without even seeing me. I'm not usually afraid, but these were the worst conditions to be out there. I must say that I have yet heard any driver honk at us with anger for being out there, though they have excelerated around us, probably due to timing.
Turns out my raingear is still useless. My whole body was wet, my fleece underneath was wet, my longjohns were soaked. And Fuat said only the edges were wet. His rain pants look just like mine. What gives? I've never found a good rain jacket. Even my $200 eVent fabric coat I bought in Damascus while hiking the AT got wet on the inside. Breatheable means the water soaks through.
We managed to find the hostel and for 15 euros per person per night we have a nice room overlooking the harbor. Felt bad hauling all of our wet gear upstairs but what could we do. She said she didn't mind but then she brought up newspapers to soak up the water from the carpet. Sorry:( A warm shower, tuna sandwich, and crawled into bed to get warm...3 hours later I awoke. Still cold when out of bed. I asked Fuat to go see if he could find a laundromat we could use to dry our gear since the lady here said she didn't have one. We have everything hung all over the shared bathroom and our room. I could not find anywhere to hang a line. (Brought back memories of the many times in Nepal that Bluebearee, Apple Pie, and I hung lines across the rooms to dry our gear:))
No, laundromat...just a launderette - where you drop off and pick up your clothes...and they do shoe repair. My well worn Keen bike sandals are falling apart. Why didn't I think to check and see if I should have gotten new ones before leaving. It took me years to find those (no other bike shoes did I like) and I probably can't replace them over here. I'll have to see if I can stitch them with my needle and dental floss.
After a nice dinner of soup and Banaffee Pie for me and cod for Fuat and some free wifi and some weather reports and a stroll around town...and short one because it's raining of course, we're back hanging out in our room. Ah, such memories of long distance hiking, many similarities.
We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings, whether we bike on or wait a day. If there's any chance of clearing, we'll bike I'm sure. Probably 2 days (90 km) to Cork. Poor Heike D. (who's a friend of Heike B. - the German woman I met last summer on the Olympic Peninsula and biked with and then went to Hawaii with last winter)...well I've been trying to give Heike D and estimation of our arrival day and it keeps changing. Making this wrong turn today added a day to our schedule...if we had a schedule:)
But this is an adventure and it unfolds to us...we just have to open our arms and receive it, in all it's glory.
BagLady
p.s. the itching continues - last night when I tucked my legs into warm socks and a warm bag, it set off the hives on my ankles and feet. I swear this is systemic...just like poison ivy...and it itches as much!
...and I had to take Ibuprofen today to kill my caffeine headache...I've got to find some decaf and get off this caffeine again. and off the ibuprofen which may be the culprit causing this outbreak...or I'm allergic to Ireland!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
