Sunday, June 24th
Aberstwyth, Wales
Sunny clouds ALL DAY!
In the grey, drizzly morning, it's so so hard to think about getting up and packing up. So I don't. I linger and I dawdle and I sleep some more and I ask myself why am I doing this and I feel guilty for laying around reading and guilty for going slow and I ask myself why do I feel guilty and on and on and on until something...I don't know what...pushes me to get moving...probably guilt of some sort. When Fuat was here, he always got up around 7 ish and got up straight away and started the coffee. I lingered then too. But then I knew there'd be a cup of hot coffee just waiting for me whenever I could manage to drag myself out of bed. I lingered less then then I do now. Just one morning, I'd like to awaken to sunshine and see if that made getting up any easier. There's always tomorrow.
I managed to delaying leaving Lampeter until 11 am: coffee, breakfast, chat with folks for directions, and groceries for the day . Today it was cheese and ginger snaps, cucumber and wine gums, and bread. Keeping up with sharing my meals (because I know one young lady that's worried I'll starve since Fuat has left), I had crusty wheat bread and brie with grapes for lunch and quinoa salad (a Fuat dish, you'll remember) for dinner. I had tomatoes, cukes, onion, cheese, red pepper and broccoli to put in it. So I'm still eating well. But I'm powered by "chewies". Back home I'm addicted to Swedish Fish..oh ya! But when I travel I have to settle for other countries chewies. And in Ireland I discovered Wine Gums. Yup, for now, thems my favs!
I got a bit of wifi today in a town I went through. I've learned to ask at hotels. I tried to call some friends and either they didn't answer of skype kept disconnecting. So no chatting.
Today's ride was much more like what I enjoy: rolling terrain. But outside of one town I wanted to take some smaller roads and go a more direct route than swing back to the coast to get the major road that crosses the mountains. About 1-2 miles out of town I took the picture of a sign that said "Mountain Road" and it had me worried, especially after yesterday.
But I proceeded, strong in my commitment to do this. But when the road got so steep again, I rethought "mountain road" and decided it was possible this was WORSE than yesterday. I'm not getting myself into trouble. So I turned around and whipped back into town, looked at my map, and went the main road. It was delightful and scenic. Got to a pub to get some water and chatted with the barmaid. SHowing her the map, we decided that the road I was attempting in that town was not even the right road and had I continued I would have been directly east (not north, the way I wanted to go) and way off course. Whew!
So tonight I'm camped on the side of a cycle path. Very hard to find my usual nooks over here. Took me over an hour to find this. But it's quiet and mostly out of the way...lots of foot traffic and not one person has stopped to ask me anything. Strange.
I just finished listening to Robert Fulghim's "What on Earth Have You Done?" Love his writing and thinking style. So much good wisdom in there! Do check it out. Better yet, listen to it because he reads it and adds lots of emphasis and enrichment. Truly enjoyed!
Now I"m on to "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen. A good reader really adds to a story and they've got 2 for this one because the storyteller is both young and old.
Listening to audiobooks is delightful and makes me feel less lonely out here. Besides it really passes the time and enhances my listening skills, which are very weak.
BagLady
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