The Hills are Killing Me!

Sunday June 10th
Athea, Ireland
37 miles.
Overcast then sun then sprinkles

I'm gonna be short and sweet tonight (oh, I already am!) because my phone battery is low and we may need the maps on it tomorrow. I'm getting better at finding us on the maps, so they are a bit of help but we still wander.

Today was easy for the first 20 miles down to the ferry at Killimer to cross the Shannon river, but the next 16 hilly miles were steep and my legs are just tuckered out. Lots of granny stops on even short hills because of the grade.

Tonight we're camped beside the Hall, a town rec center right at the 3 corners. Everybody can see us, but the yard looked pleasant and there were trees for our tarp. Got to always put up the tarp in case of rain.

I have a major squeak on Blaze and I can't for the life of me figure out what's causing it. I listen to music or an audiobook to drown it out. It doesn't happen going/: up hill or if I push her and am not on it...or when she's unloaded. It's got me buffood (is that a word?)!

Met three darling Irish children tonight when I took Blaze out for a spin.



Jamie, Molly, and Calum all got a chance to ride on her. I gave them my biker card and told them I'd put them on my blog tonight. Aren't they adorable? If you kids read this, please send me a comment in the section below. I'd love to hear from you!

Walked in to town tonight to get water and a small amount of sugar for my coffee. (I often just grab some packets every day.) The little shop that was opened filled all 6 of our watre bottles, gave me a small jar of sugar and we managed to buy only a can of tuna. Didn't need anything else. She was so gracious! I just love the people here! Smiling, happy, and kind to us.

The world is good.

Changed our plans a bit today and decided to head towards Cork. Heike, if you're reading this, we figure it will take us about 3 days to get there. I'll try and send you an email from town tomorrow. That's rough estimates. We've been told to see West Cork, but we can't find any info on it, like where it is exactly:) That may alter our arrival time by a day or two.

Off to sleep to sound of pitter patter on the tent. If it's raining, it must be Ireland:))

BagLady

P.S. the sun blisters returned big time this afternoon. And itch! If anyone knows anything about this please share. It's on the tops of my thighs and my hands around the thumbs where they face the sun. At least tonight they're not burning.


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Up and Down and Up Again

Friday and Saturday, June 7 & 8th
Inis Oirr then Kilfarboy, Ireland (just south of the Cliffs of Moher)

Fri windy, Sat sunny and gorgeous

We spent the day on Inis Oirr (Inisheer) going to the Arts Center to see the exhibit of native clothing...lots of wool, jackets, shawls, pants and skirts. They wore the same clothes every day with little or no washing. Sounds like hikers and touring bikers:) Makes total sense to me!

I also saw a flyer on the wall for a play that had come through last month title "Bag Lady" by Frank McGuinness...now they're writing plays about me! "You see them in the city. You see them in the town. Old ladies in crumpled clothes. Carrying their lives around. All with a story. This is her story..." It's done it's circuit. Wish I could see it.



It's a small island with these narrow roads leading down the stone wall-lined lanes going this way and that. So we went this way and that, checking out the cows and horses, stone buildings and fishing supplies.




All the shops were closed because with the ferries not running, no tourists were about. So we went back to the campground ladies room where I gear was stored and fixed up some lunch. I'm kind used to eating in bathrooms now. They're warm and dry. What more do ya need?

Then we met up with Pat as he was walking back from the store (he doesn't have a car) and shared with him what we'd heard down on the pier that the ferries wouldn't be running again until the morning. They had already invited us to stay another night if that turned out to be the case, so we walked back to his cottage with him. Pat's a musician and plays in the local pubs during the summer. Quite funny and talented. Google "Pat Quinn is playing 2" on YouTube to hear his funny song about Angelina Jolie. He writes all his own stuff. We've got his CD, too.

Fuat is interested in the local boats called currachs made of canvas and tar. Pat sent him next door to the local boatmaker to check them out. Found out the local lads were going to be training for a boat race down on the lake later that evening...so of course, down we went.



Pat's quite the cook and fed us both nights, bless his soul! Thurs it was spaghetti and garlic bread and last night roast chicken with potatoes, peas, and carrots. Thank you Pat for such delicious meals!!

Mary spends most her days tending her 2 grandchildren while her daughter works the cafe. Along with that she's starting a quilting business, trying to make some money from a hobby she loves. I'm sure she'll succeed!

So off to the boat training at the lake, then to the pub to hear Pat play. Ran into Shelbi and Cory...Shelbi's an intern from WIsonsin working at the daughter's cafe. We got to know her a bit the rainy afternoon we spent there. Such fun in a small town 'cause you keep running into the same folks. Cory we met at the Arts Center, also an intern.

Today started with an early rise to make the ferry by a little after 8. Even though the water was fairly calm at first it managed to get quite choppy near the far shore and didn't I find myself hanging my head over the side while the boat docked and the bikes were unloaded. Fuat tried to find me a barf bag, but either they didn't understand or there were none to be had. I was green. A sailor I'm not!

So down the coast we headed to the Cliffs of Moher. Man, these hills are steep. My little legs were getting quite a work out. Easier to bike across the Rockies then down the coast of Ireland...go figure! The Cliffs of Moher are too much of touris attraction. Tour buses everywhere. I like the architecture of the visitors center. It was built into the hill so that it had minimal visual impact on the site. Quite innovative! But I've seen cliffs before and needed to get away from the people. Fuat agreed, so off we pedaled.

Tonight we're camped just outside an old cemetary, there are even graves inside the ruins of the church...they're packed cheek to jowl in there.

And tonight's dinner was tossed salad and snow peas over rice in a soy sauce rue. Ya, we eat good! Fuat's a good cook and we like the same kind of food so that works well. We're good traveling mates. It's easy between us.



Ok, enough for tonight.

Goodnight one and all,

BagLady

P.s. Update on the sun rash. From my research it appears to be a drug interaction with the ibuprofen, so I stopped taking it. Got more blisters today: thighs, chest, and hands. They itch slightly but are quite tender. I tried to see if sunscreen today would help and I think it reduced the amount of blisters. Still a bit of a problem since being out of the sun nor wearing long pants are going to work. Suffer on and hope they don't mar my skin too much.

Stranded!

Thursday June 7th
Inisheer, Ireland
Blustery rain and cold

Yup, we're stranded on the Aran Islands! A storm came in today and the ferries were halted. Seas are too rough. Gale force winds forced us to pull down the tent. The tarp ripped. We huddled in the laundry room washing our clothes when Pat, the keeper of the campground stopped by. He offered to take us in from the storm. Trail magic strikes again! Turns out his wife is from Wisconsin. Her daughter also lives here and is married to an island man. The daughter met her future husband while traveling with her grandparents when she was in college. They were only in Inisheer for the day but an exchange of addresses took place. Several years later, the daughter brings Mom to Ireland and the come out to Inisheer. The daughter had been in contact with the young man over the years, but mon didn't know it. They stay here about a week and mom meets Pat who was living at the young man's place. The daughter goes home, packs her things, and moves to the island. She and her husband own a cafe here Mom eventually moves here too. Got that?

So when the laundry's done we decide to brave the storm and go your the island on foot. Reminded me of cold, rainy days on the AT: feels good as long as you're moving. Was really a delightful walk through the fields of walls and small pastures. The cows were even huddling against the walls to block the wind. We eventually ended up back in the village: no main street, just a scattering of houses. The first place with an open sign was for us. I needed hot chocolate and soup and to get warmed up. I was soaked through! And don't ya know, it turned out to be the cafe the daughter and husband owned!

"Victims of inertia: bodies at rest tend to stay at rest". That was us today after our hike out amongst all the stone walls in the cold wind and rain. We found a delightful cafe and had lunch, then spent the afternoon. It was here or in the laundry room at the campground...so we chose here.

Pat picked us up there later and brought us to his place and to a delicious spaghetti dinner, warm fire, hot tea, and enriching conversation. Talk about serendipity!! Couldn't have made a better visit to the Aran Islands, that's for sure!



www.teachantae.com to see where we had lunch.

So now eyawa... Goodnight. Don't ask about the spelling, that's phonetic.

BagLady



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"Not a Day to Do the Washing" or Skylights and Sun Poisoning...Take your Pick

Wednesday June 6
Inishmeer Island of the Aran Islands

19 miles

Rain early then glorious SUN!

Waking up to rain is a bit daunting. I just want to stay in bed...well, I just want to stay in bed every morning, but especially on a raining morning. ANd this morning was a rainy morning...and I had a hard time going to sleep last night (he said it was decaf!) so I was shorted a few of the usual 10+ hours I've been sleeping. But after listening to a bit of the audiobook Wild, I dragged my tush out of bed to join Fuat under the tarp for our morning coffee. I thought it would be good if we did a load of laundry seeing as how it was raining anyhow and biking wouldn't be as much fun.

So off I went to find out where the laundromat was in town, it being a larger town on the map than most we'd cycled through. I spotted the Postman at the gas station. He oughta know if there's a laundromat in town or not, don't ya think? Yup, right across the street, but I don't think he opens until 10. That works. So we pack up and pedal over at about 10 and it's open...but it's not a laundromat, it's a launderette...he does the washing. He didn't think we'd find a laundromat until we got to a city. Oh well, off we pedaled. A few more stinky days won't matter much.

And the town we were departing from, Ballyvaughn, was right on the Bay of Galway, we just hadn't gotten to the water the night before. What a beautiful ride we had down the rolling coast, past the sweetest stone cottages ya ever did see, and oh, the views. Up and down, and up, and down. Oh my aching legs.



And the sun came out, and the day was delightful. One thing I've noticed is that most of the houses have skylights, even older ones have had them put in. Good thinking, these Irish:) One house had 6 panels next to each other in 2 rows of 3. Now that's a well lit room!

Our plan for the day was to get to Doolin so we could go out to the Aran Islands tomorrow. If we had a plan. We got into Doolin about 3 and the woman at the visitors center said we could catch a ferry out tonight and camp on Inisheer (the smallest and nearest island) and return tomorrow night. When I kidded with her about what a beautiful day it was and how I thought I should have done the wash so it could have dried in the sun, she shared what a friend had told her..."Too nice a day to do the wash!" I hear ya, sista!!! Then I told her how I thought the Irish dried there clothes in the rain...that gave her a chuckle.

So we paid her 25 euros each for the ferry roundtrip and hustled down to the dock. Come to find out we'd been ripped off in town by at least 10 euros too much. Lesson learned. Oh well.

It was a bit scary for me seeing them lift Blaze off the dock onto the small ferry. I know how tippy she can be and I had visions of her landing in the drink. But they managed her and then I had to leap across the crevasse between the dock and the boat because they didn't want to put down the gangplank for just the 2 of us.

So here we are in the quaintest of villages. We're at the "campground" and we're the only ones here. 10 euros for the night and free showers! And they have a washer and dryer so tomorrow, when it's suppose to be raining (surprise, surprise), we're gonna get some wash done.

We took a quick ride around the east end of the island. Oh, I've never seen so many stone walls...and so high. The actually wall in very small corrals, they're too small to call them pastures. We met a local woman (born on Inishmore - the largest island, but has lived here for 30 years... summers... winters in Dublin. She told me she walks 5 miles around the island every day. She has to walk on EVERY road to do that! Asked her what we should see here and she said "the sunken church". So we checked it out on the way home. Of course the first problem was finding a lane that led there. We could see it, but the lanes ended at someone's house. This church is on a high plot of land in the middle of a cemetery and can't be seen until your at it's door. It's really built in a hole in the middle of the cemetery. I think it was to hide it from attach. It's from the 10th century.

Ok, it's after 10 pm, and still light out and you can here the children playing at the park. I can't get used to all this daylight, but I love it!

Another day in wonderland,

BagLady

Oh, ya, about the sun poisoning. I've got these painful bumps all over my chest and tops of my thighs that were exposed to the sun today. I've got a good tan so I didn't put anything on them but tonight the skin feels lumpy and raw to the touch. Ouch. It's not burned. It's more like hives that hurt. They'll heal. My body's strong.

And now, goodnight!!


And, for anyone who cares, I was able to charge up all my devices today with all that sun. Now we'll just see if the batteries that said they were fully charged have any juice when I need them.


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3000 BC was surely a long time ago!

June 5th
Ballyvaughn, Ireland
26 hilly miles

Started the morning learning about Lady Gregory, a patron of WB Yeats and a playwright and actress herself. Great story about her and her mansion, Coole Park.

Then a lengthy discussion with a woman who worked at Coole Park about what route to take and what to see in The Barren (the "Burn").




It's the large expanse of rocky, rocky rolling hills with fragile alpine flora and fauna growing in the clints and gyres (maybe I got that right) of the limestone. We missed our turn right out of town, but that always makes for the best of times: the carpenter in the yard cutting flooring gave us directions, the horses hovering nearby while we had our lunch on the side of the road, and the guy in the truck who asked if I was the police as I stood right in the road getting directions from another guy in a truck:). I'm glad our maps don't work well and we get to talk to so, so many folks. The climb up over the Barren was steep and of course that's when the skies opened up and it really poured on us. Talk about cold! The temps are only in the 50's anyways. Colder yet was the long run down the other side but we were blessed with the most delightful pub in Carron where we decided to have dinner by the warmth of the fire.




And I got a bit of wifi, if I stood in the corner of the far dining room on one foot:). It was nice to get everyone's notes. Thank you:)).

This area is covered in stone ruins EVERYWHERE! We stopped and rambled through an old stone house overgrown with briars. It had a lovely stone fireplace in the center wall. You could tell it was a couple hundred years old. Later we saw a stone tomb, Poulabrone, called a portal tomb. It had two tall portal stones flanking the entrance and a flat capstone on top. This was from 3000 BC! Hard to fathom!! They've found 33 bodies buried here when the excavated it about 20 years ago. Breathtaking. And I never knew these existed. Continuing on into the evening, trying to get some km behind us and while looking for a place to camp that we could hang the tarp, I pulled off when I saw a nook that might work. There was a fence wall with an opening too narrow for our bikes, but I decided to explore beyond. Spotting a path off to the left I decided to follow it up, thinking it might lead to someone's house. And what do you think I found? An old stone fort! There was a plaque about it when you got up there. Cathermore was the name. A double walled circular fort. Most ruins now. But still an exciting find!!!

Pedal on, pedal on. Hard to find places to camp because of all the walls and the animals in the pastures. We continued on into the next town and pulled into the church yard. Churches love pilgrims! Even a bathroom open to the outside. Ahhh! All the comforts of home:)

Happy Birthday, Kim C! I was thinking of you today. Hope it was a happy one, you beautiful being:)

Bonking BagLady

Oh I forgot to mention the puppy who hopped on Blaze's seat as we were leaving the pub then proceeded to follow us for several kilometers down the road. She sure was cute but I was afraid we'd adopted her and she wouldn't find her way home. We managed to lose her on a long downhill. Then we met a cyclist going the other way and I asked her to pick her up and take her back to the pub. She'd follow anyone!

Stone Fences, Iron Gates, but no Moats

Monday June 4th
Gort, Ireland (stealth in Coole Park)
35 miles
Chilly but sunny, so we'll take it:)

We've noticed a lot of large homes under construction (and built, just like back home) but the construction has stopped. The homes are big, just like back home. A closer look today showed that there's no inside insulation on that cinder block and the floors are cement. It's gotta be cold! For heat it looked like hot water radiators on the walls.



And every house has a stone wall to the road and an iron gate. Mini castles one and all! Asked someone today about the fences and he said it was because "the lazy farmers can't keep their animal home".

Facetimed my daughter, Dana, this afternoon. It worked well. Maybe next weekend I can Skype with Avery (older daughter). It was pretty cool. The town of Gort had free wifi from EirCom right on the street. That's how wifi should be...EVERYWHERE FOR FREE! It's pretty frustrating because when we do get to a town and I get some wifi, poor Fuat is just hanging around while I scramble to upload my blog, get emails, write emails, check Facebook, etc. He's quite patient but it is a bit awkward. It's in the evening that I have down time and then we're in the "woods". I'm not going to get on the internet much this trip, I can tell.

We visited William Butler Yeats' Thoor Ballylee, a cottage and tower near a stream. But of course, it was closed. Then we came on to Coole Park, the estate of Lady Gregory, a friend and patron of WB Yeats. But alas it was 5:03 when we got to the Visitors' Center and you can guess what time it closed:/. So we went into the Walled Garden and saw the Autograph Tree with many "famous" autuographs of yore including the Lady Gregory and WB Yeats. After cooking a dinner of rice, onion, raisins, cashews with cinnamon and tossed salad, we decided to "stay after hours" and cycled up into the woods to camp for the night. In the morning we'll go get the free scoop at the Visitors' Center and roam the grounds some more. Her house no longer stands, but there are stone remnants of the stables and pigeon roosts. Stone, stone, stone...everywhere and everything is made of it...yesterday and today!

Oh ya, for lunch today we sat in an ancient graveyard eating our brie and bread and apple. Then we met the most charming farmer hanging over the stone wall telling us how he farms up bog to dry it and heat his home. He had a lot of tales to share and all with a brogue that was almost impossible to understand. I did get a bit of video of him, but that's on my camera not my phone.

I did shoot a bit of video of the countryside with the cows and sheep and stone walls. Hope it uploads easily. (Didn't upload. I may try to upload it separately.)
I've been having such ease of loading my journal this time, I don't want to mess it up.

The solar charger is working if I plug my phone in directly to the panels, but I tried to plug the phone into the battery pack and it says it's an unacceptable power device, or something like that. So I"m good as long as the sun shines. We'll just see how it goes.

And that's all folks...

BagLady


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Drying Laundry in the Rain

Sunday June 3rd
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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Drying Laundry in the Rain

Sunday June 3rd
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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Longest Day Yet

Saturday. June 2nd
Campground (for the showers!) at Ballykeeran on the east side of Lough Lee (lake Lee) just north of Athlone.

Overcast till evening, then rain.

No pics on iPhone today, sorry.

Dual languages: English and Irish. Gaelic is the Irish word for Irish.

Major frustrations with power for charging cell phone etc. Battery pack of rechargeable batteries is not holding the charge it can get from either an outlet (Fuat has a great converter device) or my solar panels (if the sun ever shines again). It worked fine at home. I used it as much as I could to continue to test it. Sent an email to manufacturer and their customer service is usually great. Maybe they'll send me a new one here:).

Did 48 miles today. I can't seem to switch my bike computer to kilometers. Don't know why and it's the least of my worries.

Lovely ride through rolling countryside. The houses are all built of cinder block then stuccoed over. The window frames are beautiful orangey brown wood. Wood is scarce so used little. Had to ask directions a lot but everyone is so helpful and happy. Even the drivers are patient and courteous sometimes having to hang back behind us a bit till its clear for them to get around. We saw a tractor trailer today that filled its half of the road. Two could not have passed each other!

In a campground tonight just for the showers. Had it not been late with rain just starting we could have showered and biked on to camp for free. Why pay for this noise? It's a 4 day weekend: Bank's Holiday.

Big thing here this week was the vote for an EU bailout. There were signs everywhere for both Yes and No. Yes won.




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"Lovely Weather"

Friday June 1
Ballivor, west of Trim
Overcast but dry..."lovely weather"




Narrow roads. No shoulders. Have I said that before? This cycling is not for the faint of heart:). You have to just trust that the drivers will not kill you. Some roads today were not wide enough for two cars to pass without them both going into the ditches. And large farm equipment and buses were on that road!
We visited the largest castle in Ireland. Built around 1200's by Hugh de Lacy. Defense design. Castle inside walls. Moat outside. Wooden stairs up to 2nd story main floor would be burned when attacked by Irishman because the dude who owned it was French.

We're not making much distance but we're not in any hurry. Besides neither of us trained for this so we're cycling into shape.

I could sure use a shower though. Tonight we're camped in the front of a vacant factory. Lovely grassy lawns. No one seems to mind. Right in town across from houses the kids wVed at us:)

Tomorrow night we're hoping to be in a campground outside of Athlone. Showers, I hope!

Haven't been in a pub for a Guiness yet (for Cheryl, of course) other than for water. We're not much for drinking.

Lights out. BagLady



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