It took about an hour of patience in the waiting room for the ferry before I was allowed into the garage with my bike. The ship left a little after midnight. There were very few people on board. I had taken my sleeping bag on board and installed myself on a long bench seat. The rain and headwind had seriously exhausted me and with earplugs in against the din, I soon fell asleep.
Round 4:15 we arrived in Rosslare port. In Ireland, fortunately, it was dry. There were already brightening patches of blue in the sky; the sun was already rising. After half an hour I arrived at St. Margareth's campsite and installed myself in the assigned seat and then quietly continued pacing.
Today I am taking a rest day. In the afternoon, I cycled to a local grocery shop near the pilgrimage site ''Our Lady's Island'. This was a pre-Christian settlement. In the 6th century there was a monastery built and from the 7th century it became a place of pilgrimage. Another defensive tower with loopholes was added in Norman times. Nearby there is a bird sanctuary. On the old cemetery was a lovely quiet place to pause and listen to the birds.
Video Our Lady's Island
Back at the campsite, I cooked my pot and left in the evening for a beach walk. I first passed by a second cemetery with Irish crosses and along two ruins. On the wide beach was virtually no people. Ireland suits me. Compared to Wales, I immediately felt a warm connection to it. Everything breathes history and spirituality and exudes a calm positive energy. I felt with real relief after the rain misery and dark enclosed steep tarmac lanes in Wales.
Our Lady's Island cemetery
Quiet and slow ride due to numerous hotsebting 'causeways', but virtually traffic-free.
Chain slid off sprocket in front again and was once again caught between the pedals, but this time I was wise enough to immediately turn the bike upside down so I could gently pry the chain loose. After 20 minutes, I was back on the road.
End point today was a super quiet campsite on the banks of river Owenduff. My neighbours were an American father and son who want to visit all the monoliths (standing stones) all over Britain and Ireland.
Campsite near Owenduff River
Today I followed the coast. That was repeated steep climbing from a river valley, very briefly flat and then straight back down steeply to the next riverbed. The rivers cut through the cliffs, which is why it goes up and down here, again and again. But the sea views were beautiful and offset the descent. The (coastal) headwind was also once again on hand. Once I had to push my bike, at the very end still, into Tramore. I was not expecting that last leaden slope; my head and legs were not up to it anymore.
Arriving at the campsite, I was treated to heavy rain, but fortunately it was a well-equipped campsite, with a campers' kitchen and indoor dining area and even TV room. All this for 8€. There is a lot of variation in camping fees....
En route to Tramore: Kilmacleague bay
Today I drove past the impressive Irish ''Copper Coast' in County Waterford (main picture)
To Bunmahon, a former copper mining town, the trajectory was leaden: very short up and down style and fierce headwind. It is quite disheartening when you have crawled up a steep slope with much groaning and sighing and then, after rounding the top, plunge back into the depths a few dozen metres further on. You hardly make any kilometres that way; the descents are too short to make up for the slow climb.
In Bunmahon, I visited the open-air 'Geological Park', which shows rocks from 460 million years ago to several hundred thousand years ago. There is also a standing stone with inscriptions in the Ogham script from the 4th century.
Monolith with Ogham script
From Bunmahon, I left the coastal road - and the sea views - for what they were and followed a more undulating R-road. That already cycled a bit smoother.
Totally unexpectedly, the last 7km turned out to be as flat as a run-out fried egg: I was able to connect with the Greenway from Waterford to Dungarvan, an old train track that now serves as a walking/cycling route. During the civil war against British rule in the early 1920s, that railway has been the scene of fierce fighting and Republican sabotage actions. As for me, I imagined myself back there for a while on the cycle road to Mechelen. I arrived at the campsite with fully rested legs.
The campsite is situated on a long sandy beach and at dusk I took another walk on the beach and practised the taichi form. A very suitable place for a concentrated performance, with the horizon regularly within sight and a quiet rhythmic wave in the background.
Tomorrow morning I have an appointment at a bicycle mechanic in Dungarvan, because my rear brake is dragging a bit again and especially uphill is not nice. I fear my rear wheel has had a 'pull' on the coarse gravel paths in England. Probably this was a bit too rough for my patched-up second-hand cart
The bicycle mechanic in Dungarvan repaired my trailing brake for free for charity! Having lost my saddle-sheepskin at Winchester in England and suffering from sweat on the plastic circle shop saddle, I decided to get a new one here, lighter saddle buy.
On the longest day, a longer ride from Dungarvan to Fermoy, largely parallel to the Blackwater River, so gently undulating. The only campsite in the very wide vicinity was closed, but I was allowed to pitch the tent in the artfully landscaped tuat from across the street James and Marianne.
In garden of James and Marianne
Extremely short ride of only 20km today. I am really loafing this trip. This morning I extensive breakfast with James and Marianne O'Sullivan/Harris, and then I captured their beautiful garden quite extensively on the digital camera with a view to a floral film. As a result, I only left a little after eleven.
I wanted to bulldoze another 50km or so, but the slopes were again more numerous and steeper today, so I progressed slowly. After 20 km, I passed The Haven pub and decided to have a drink. I was also allowed to use the wifi, so I was on my mobile phone for a while. A friendly lady who was also cycling asked me where I was going - Killarney National Park - and immediately gave me some routes I should definitely follow there. She has a mobile home in the area.
In the village, a funeral occurred and a lady came in with the leftover sandwiches. The landlady immediately offered me to join her, there were still some vegetarian with egg salad among them 😀. How could she know I was a bit hungry....
Since there is very little accommodation here in the area, I decided to ask ahead of time if they knew of a suitable affordable place within a 20-km westward radius. Kevin Luddy offered me the tent on its mowed field place, and since it was nearing five by now anyway, I decided to take him up on his kind offer.
As I started to set up the tent at the bottom of the field on a flat section, a neighbour who was mowing his hedge approached me with the sage advice to set up the tent a little higher up under a large tree, as there would be for lots of rain tonight and tomorrow morning predicted. Surely the tree would provide a little more shelter. I took that sage advice too. In my opinion, the Irish the friendliest people in Europe!
Indeed I saw afterwards on the shower radar that 90% rain chance is predicted all day tomorrow. That's like during the ride to Fishguard last Sunday. Sunday rain day in these parts.…
So it will be another day of rain cycling tomorrow, according to rain radar with a southeast wind, ie. tailwind. So it might not be too bad, rain in the back is not so bad. Hopefully I'll make it to Killarney National Park tomorrow, where there are campsites again, because I must be 'shower ripe' after two nights of garden and field camping.
Since spending an entire evening in the tent is not an attractive idea and I also wanted to finish and upload the video from Our Lady's Island, I headed back to The Haven pub a little after eight on Saturday evening. I installed myself near an outlet as my phone battery was running low and made the final changes to the movie. To hear the sound, I had to sit on the toilet because things were too noisy in the pub.
I didn't get to tinker with the video for very long, however, because soon I got involved in the conversations and had to tell my whole story too. One Eric offered me his key to take a shower, but I didn't feel much like walking all the way back to the tent to get my conveniences. It was too hot and cosy in the pub and besides, I was planning to sleep in my malodorous cycling clothes because of the predicted stormy night. Just a matter of being quickly packed up in case something went wrong with the tent. Over the whole evening, the video in bits and pieces fortunately got off and on.
The night entered quietly, but around 3:15 I woke up to violent jerking of the tent. Aeolus had indeed bulged its cheeks once more and sent its fierce breaths across the earth, where my little tent had to catch some to keep me out of the wind. A little worried about the ferocity of the jerks, I decided after a while to take the (double) pegs to check anyway. They had not budged and reassured, I crawled back into my pocket and fell asleep.
16 September: Opening the door at Diamondway Buddhist Centre in Tallinn The centre's meditation sessions are open
