Wet, wetter, me

Once again I had some nice company in the hostel last night. A Canadian couple arrived two hours after I did. We talked and had some wine and before we noticed, it was 2am. My start got a bit later this morning, but getting to know nice people always takes priority. Thanks for a nice evening B&T!

Today I had perhaps the nastiest weather so far. I made it to Kilrush without getting wet and decided to take the longer coastal road via Kilkee. I planned to do some camping still at that point. I only got two kilometers further and it started raining. This time it was no drizzle and the wind coming from the sea made it a lot worse than it would otherwise have been.

I took a break in Kilkee and waited until the rain stopped. I almost managed to get dry while waiting. About five minutes after the rain had stopped and I had continued cycling, it started again. And it kept coming until I arrived in Miltown Malbay. I booked a night in a hostel there.

The weather was so bad, that I couldn't hold a pen and write my name while checking in, because my hand was numb and stiff from the wind and rain. I had to come back after taking a shower to do the formalities.

I did see a couple if nice towns today in spite of the weather. Listowel was a nice and green town. I visited a park area called the European Gardens. Every corner was dedicated to one country. I didn't see that many countries represented though. There was a castle as well, but I didn't take a tour this time. From Kilrush I didn't see much, but Kilkee seemed like a nice town. The beach just next to the city center was very beautiful, but the weather just wasn't very fitting for a swim.

While I waited for the rain to stop in Kilkee, I finally updated my travel map. You can take a look at it by clicking the link somewhere right of this text. (Or by clicking here.) It still has two pages, so you have to go to page two to see the rest of my route.

I'm hoping to get to Galway tomorrow, but I may have to sleep once more before getting there. The straightest road would be 87 kilometers, but I definitely want to see some of the coast and that makes the distance at least 25 kilometers longer.

I'm now in my room in the hostel and the connection is pretty bad here. I can't upload today's pictures from here and I'm too tired to go out on a wifi-hunt.

More tomorrow!

Wet, wetter, me

Once again I had some nice company in the hostel last night. A Canadian couple arrived two hours after I did. We talked and had some wine and before we noticed, it was 2am. My start got a bit later this morning, but getting to know nice people always takes priority. Thanks for a nice evening B&T!

Today I had perhaps the nastiest weather so far. I made it to Kilrush without getting wet and decided to take the longer coastal road via Kilkee. I planned to do some camping still at that point. I only got two kilometers further and it started raining. This time it was no drizzle and the wind coming from the sea made it a lot worse than it would otherwise have been.

I took a break in Kilkee and waited until the rain stopped. I almost managed to get dry while waiting. About five minutes after the rain had stopped and I had continued cycling, it started again. And it kept coming until I arrived in Miltown Malbay. I booked a night in a hostel there.

The weather was so bad, that I couldn't hold a pen and write my name while checking in, because my hand was numb and stiff from the wind and rain. I had to come back after taking a shower to do the formalities.

I did see a couple if nice towns today in spite of the weather. Listowel was a nice and green town. I visited a park area called the European Gardens. Every corner was dedicated to one country. I didn't see that many countries represented though. There was a castle as well, but I didn't take a tour this time. From Kilrush I didn't see much, but Kilkee seemed like a nice town. The beach just next to the city center was very beautiful, but the weather just wasn't very fitting for a swim.

While I waited for the rain to stop in Kilkee, I finally updated my travel map. You can take a look at it by clicking the link somewhere right of this text. (Or by clicking here.) It still has two pages, so you have to go to page two to see the rest of my route.

I'm hoping to get to Galway tomorrow, but I may have to sleep once more before getting there. The straightest road would be 87 kilometers, but I definitely want to see some of the coast and that makes the distance at least 25 kilometers longer.

I'm now in my room in the hostel and the connection is pretty bad here. I can't upload today's pictures from here and I'm too tired to go out on a wifi-hunt.

More tomorrow!

Done with Dingle

I slept well after a nice evening in the hostel kitchen last night. I met some nice people again and enjoyed the West Kerry brewery beer I bought from the pub earlier. I know I should have gone out to enjoy some trad music in one of the pubs, but I was pretty tired and not really feeling like going two kilometers to the town. Besides I had very good company in the kitchen.

The Rainbow hostel in Dingle was very nice and full of people as well. I met a few fellow cyclists as well, who were coming from Galway direction. They named a couple of nice campsites along the way.

I headed out in the rain around 9.30 in the morning. The Conor pass was the first obstacle on my way. It is the highest mountain pass in Ireland. This meant that the first eight kilometers from Dingle were uphill, but luckily not as steep as the hill couple of days back in Portmagee. It did wear me out though and a short break after getting on top of the hill was more than welcome. It really is a shame that the visibility was so bad. The view from the top is supposed to be very beautiful.

It rained more or less the whole day, with a 10 minute break in Tralee. I had to buy new brake pads there, since Coming down the Conor pass in almost zero visibility, took the rest out of the old ones.

I continued for another 25 kilometers from Tralee to the north and I'm now laying on my bed in a very interesting hostel in Listowel. It's called the Billeragh house and it's a big old house (built 1760) now owned by an old farmer. He didn't let me shower before he'd chit-chatted with me for 20 minutes. A very nice old fellow, but at that moment I'd rather been under a hot shower. He also let me wash my laundry. I think I won't have to do that again before leaving Ireland.

Just one more week and I need to be in Dublin again. The time has gone by so fast. I've still got about 350 to 400 kilometers to go. It looks like I'm going to make it to Galway like I hoped. A few days ago I was not so sure, but I'm rather confident now that I'll be able to do it.

Tomorrow I'll cross the Shannon with a car ferry in Tarbert. That will save me a bunch of kilometers, but it also means I'll miss Limerick on this trip. Galway has a higher priority than Limerick aka "stab city".

Dingle peninsula

I was on the road around nine in the morning and didn't stop except for some photos until in Dingle town. I had lunch there and then decided to go on for a bit since it wasn't raining.

It was just barely not raining the whole day. In the Slea head drive it got very foggy, just like it was on Cape clear island, but it still didn't rain much though.

I made a quick stop in two museums along the way. The first one, The Celtic prehistoric museum was rather disappointing. A lot of items, but it really wasn't logically put together. I was expecting information about the Celtic history, but what I got was dinosaur eggs, 17th century Dutch shoes and everything in between. There were some Celtic bronze items as well, but nothing that impressive really. I felt more confused than anything else. How authentic the items really were, I'm not so sure either.

The second museum was much more organized. It was called the Blascaod centre and it was about the history of the Great Basket island. I was unable to see the island itself because of the fog and a boat tour would have taken too long, so I decided to visit the museum. I won't bore you with more details here, but if you're interested in Irish island life, it's a place to visit.

Now I'm sitting in another craft beer brew pub, the Tig Bhric in Ballyferriter and I'm just about done with thel brown ale. Very tasty! There are two other sorts to try, but I can't cycle any further after trying them. I just might take a bottle or two with me...

I don't know where I'm sleeping tonight yet. I guess camping is the best option, but the question is where. I've cycled about 85 kilometers today, so I don't want to keep going much longer. There's a hostel in Dingle town, but camping is more likely tonight. I might give you an update in the comments later.

There are some new pictures in the Dropbox folder again.

More tomorrow!

Ring of Kerry: The Sequel

If you already didn't see the picture of my last night's campsite, you should take a look at it in yesterday's folder. I thought that the campsite in Allihies was the best ever, but I was wrong. I slept next to the beach in Ballinskelligs. The calm waves hitting the beach and the ruins of an old monastery close to my tent made the place even cozier than the one in Alliehies. The only surprising thing was that I woke up a couple of times feeling very cold. The temperature apparently dropped quite down. I don't have actual figures though. Might just as well have been the haunting ghosts of the monastery monks.

I had the toughest climb so far right in the morning. Going up the hill between Ballinskelligs and Portmagee made me pant like never before. Coming down the hill I hit a new speed record on my tour as well, 71 km/h. So the climb was worth the effort!

I had my first break right after the speed record. There was a sign saying: "See the most amazing cliffs in Kerry" and I decided to have a look. The entrance fee was four euros, but the cliffs were quite amazing and worth the fee. I had a lovely piece of caramel cake with some good coffee in the cafe next to the cliffs afterwards.

I was in Portmagee very soon and I only stopped quickly on the Valentia island bridge to take a picture of the town I'd passed. I decided against going on a boat tour to the Skellig rocks. It would have taken the whole day and I've had enough of boats for a while anyway. It would have been amazing, I'm sure, but I can't see everything.

The Valentia island has played an interesting part in the history of global communication. It was where the transatlantic telegraph cable connected the old and the new world in 1866. The first attempt failed eight years earlier, but the second attempt connected Valentia island with eastern Newfoundland.

Another interesting thing I saw on the island was the Valentia slate quarry grotto. An old quarry site has been turned into a beautiful shrine (see the pictures). The Valentia slate was very famous in the mid 19th century and it was used in many big building projects of the time. It was also known as an excellent material for making billiard table tops.

I left Valentia by a car ferry from Knightstown and had a lunch break in Cahirciveen. I found the town a bit too touristy and nothing special, so I kept going eastward.

Just before Glenbeigh I took a few nice pictures of the Dingle peninsula (tomorrow more) and of some amazing hills and their hundreds of shades of green.

Now I'm in a farm hostel just outside Killorglin. I decided to have a night in a real bed again. I feel like I'm in need of a good nights sleep.

Tomorrow I'll head to the last of the the three big peninsulas, the Dingle. What I've heard so far, it should get interesting. The bad news is, there's going to be some rain again... After a sunny day like today it feels kind of bad. I am a positive thinker though. At least I won't need any of my sticky sunscreen tomorrow!

Ring of Kerry

Today I left Kenmare around half nine (that's Irish for 9.30). The sun wasn't shining, but that didn't bother me a bit. I got a bit sunburned yesterday, so I welcomed the clouds.

My first stop along the Ring of Kerry was a town called Sneem. There was a family festival starting today. I saw a sign saying "Wife carrying" there as well. Maybe it was the Irish qualification for the world championships in Finland. I didn't investigate further. I had a nice breakfast in the Village Kitchen restaurant and continued on my way.

I saw two really nice beaches on the way. The first one was a quiet one in Castlecove and the other a busy and commercial looking one closer to Caherdaniel. I didn't stop to swim. It was a nicer weather for cycling than it was for swimming. I have to do that at some point still. I just heard from two guys sitting next to me that there are many more amazing beaches to come on the north coast of the ring.

I saw some Celtic history today. I visited the Staigue stone fort. It was an impressive sight and worth climbing the four kilometers of small road off my route. It's a 30 meter diameter, 6 meter high circular fort made of stone only. No mortar used at all and it's still standing after at least 2000 years. That's what I call skilled building.

After leaving the fort, I had a long climb ahead of me. The view from the top after Caherdaniel was one of the best so far on my tour. I hope the photos came out good.

Now I'm sitting in a pub in Waterville charging (electricity for my mobile and Guinness for me). There's a statue of Charlie Chaplin here in town, because he used to spend a lot of time here. I can understand why, it's not the worst possible place to go to...

I'll continue for a while still, but I'm waiting for the photos to upload first. The wifi in this pub seems to be a bit on the slow side and today there's more to upload than yesterday. I'm heading toward Ballinskelligs, but after another hour or so of cycling I'll start looking for a suitable spot for my tent.

Tomorrow the sequel: The north of the Ring of Kerry.

Kenmare

Waking up this morning was so nice. The wind was almost gone, the sun was shining and I could hear the waves hitting the shore next to my tent.

Today I cycled along the northern coast of Beara to Kenmare. It was almost as beautiful as the southern coast, but the towns on the north side were even smaller (if possible). I took a couple of pictures on the way, but it seems I reached my saturation point in mountain sceneries yesterday. It just didn't impress me that much today.

The wind was on my back and the kilometers went by faster than so far during my tour. The last 15 of them were more or less downhill as well. I could feel the strain from yesterday (90 km) and decided to stay overnight in Kenmare.

Kenmare is a small town, but it's in the intersection of two big tourist routes, the Ring of Beara and the Ring of Kerry (my next goal). The downtown was very busy with traffic, but with a bicycle I could pass the standing cars easily. I never thought a town with a population of 1 700 could be so full of people.

I found a nice camping area just east of Kenmare called Faungorth. (A side note to my family: a nice lady working here was born in Bergland, U.P.) I might just stay here tonight and read a book I found in the hostel in Baltimore. I think I'm not in the mood for hitting the Kenmare night life.

Night!