Dingle

Hi'ya

Well, can you stand to look at a few more pics and read a couple more tales from the Emerald Isle.? Warning - I seem to have a fast connection here so the pics are uploading quickly (that means there'll be plenty to see).

I set out (by car) from County Clare bound for the Dingle Peninsula on Tuesday (it's been a while since my last true update - plenty to catch up on). It was about a 4 hour drive having caught a Ferry over the River Shannon. The ride plan was simple - Connor Pass and Slea Drive (a long coastal road out around the extreme western end of the peninsula (and Europe incidentally)). Seemed pretty basic, but this was my first real challenge from the fickle Irish weather.

Wednesday morning I woke up to rain - heavy rain - they were calling (not that anyone around here puts any stock in a forecast - they just know they'll get a little bit of everything each day, and whatever the weatherman says will not be all true) for localized flooding if you can believe it. Now when I came to this country, I knew that I would spend some wet time in the saddle - if riding in the rain was going to be a big problem, I would have went elsewhere - Spain for instance. So, a bit leary, I set off on Wednesday morning for the summit of Connor Pass. This was a climb used during last year's Tour of Ireland, so I was quite stoked to give it a go. Probably 50% of road riding on this trip is about scenery and the other 50% is about the challenge of the road. On this day, I had to settle for the latter only. Check the view out from the summit of Connor Pass - a happier rider there never was, but there wasn't much to look at.

Summit of Connor Pass - 456m

It took about 30 mins to get to the top and a chilly 8 mins to get back down to Dingle. Despite the fact that it really only made for a 15-20k day, I decided to call it good at that for the day and hope for better conditions tomorrow for the Slea Head ride. It would have to be an early morning as the plan was to drive to New Ross on Thursday for Stage 1 of the Tour of Ireland.

Well an early morning it was, but the rains kept a comin'. It took some doin', but I got myself psyched and suited up and headed off into the fog and rain and gloom that only the western extremity of the continent of Europe can throw at you. Slea Head here I come.

With a questioning mind (what the hell am I really doing out here?) I took in the wet but thankfully visible scenery. It was a 55k loop clockwise from Dingle proper in just over 2 hours. Here are the highlights:

I can't tire of roads like this...

...and this...

despite having to dismount from time to time to negotiate
on foot the odd river across the road.


Just awesome!

Since leaving Dingle on Thursday after the Slea Head Ride, I've been to New Ross (you've already read about the scary farm hostel), Mount Leinster for Stage 1 of the Tour of Ireland (ToI), Kilkenny (day trip - awesome place!), the Galtee Mountains (another questionable hostel that was gas lit up until one week ago; they were reluctantly installing electricity due to health and safety complaints), The Vee for Stage 2 of the ToI, and (a rip-roarin' drive after The Vee to) Fermoy for another bonus viewing of the peloton during Stage 2. Now? I'm in the southern Cork City awaiting the 3rd and final stage of the short Tour. My next post will bring you the story of the Tour and Kilkenny; look for it over the next couple of days (I think I'll take advantage of this awesome connection to get the pics up). From Cork, I'm thinking about moving back west to either the Beara Peninsula or Killarney/Ring of Kerry, or both. And that's the decision that I must make once this gets published.

Thanks for reading. The outcome of the last BBB (Blarney Biker Blog) Contest is that congrats are due to multi-sport athlete Cliff Warden-Rogers (check Cliff out at livemultisport.com - probably my first inspiration to the world of blogging) for knowing that Guinness was first brewed in 1759 by Arthur Guinness. Honorable mention goes to Aaron (sorry Aaron, we needed the year and first name). Cliff gets BBB schwagg upon my return.

Next contest? Hmm. For you internet searching savvy folks, what two teams are set to play in the All Irish Hurling final one week from tomorrow in Dublin? (I'd be able to see this game, on TV in a pub if nothing else, were it not for the fact that it's like the superbowl in that they take an extra week off between the semi- and final games - damn.)

Thanks again.

Eno
PS Everyone say a little prayer for the little Kirby named Beatnik about to ride out Hurricane Bill with her owner an ocean away. Godspeed Beatnik, Gregg Little, and everybody around the Bay.

PSS Why are there so many pubs in Ireland? Because the weather drives you back inside. There were pubs and good trad music in Dingle, like these two guys in O'Flarety's.

This just in! I'm in this pic on Velo News' site - my car is the second from the right and I'm a blip of color in there somewhere.

http://velonews.com/photo/96977