Beauty, Brutality & Beaches

 Thunderstorms were forecast. Any plans I had for an early start were promptly thwarted by me waking up at 9am. Having prepped the night before I made short work of packing up and getting on the road. For all of 300m where I came across a Spar shop made for people who need breakfast. 

Coffee, pastries, apple juice all eaten on a wet picnic bench by the side of the N71. But food is food. 

Having demolished that little lot I set about the day ahead. A shorter day at 115km with just the 10 climbs. 

I was delighted to quickly rejoin the best cycle path in the world which took me through woodland and the Muckross House estate. The notable addition from yesterday was a boat load of pony & traps, transporting tourists from the town up to the House itself. 

Having negotiated that, the path led me onto the climb from Killarney back up to Molls Gap. The climb itself was never too steep, was reasonably quiet and heavily featured EU tarmac. The views were sublime as I made my way from Lough Leane up to the summit. 

The reward for my efforts was a 20km descent into Sneem, rudely interrupted by a cheeky 3km rise near the end but all the while with views over to Beara, which at least looked slightly drier than yesterday. 

Sneem is an odd place. It goes without saying that the choices for cafes either comprised a proper cafe with queues put the door, or another irrelevant shop which sold coffee. Today’s choice was the Woollen Mill where I sat and enjoyed a coffee whilst watching what can only be described as a boy driving up and down the road on a road roller. Of course. 

My next destination was Waterville which I realised was a 35km stretch along the N70. I wasn’t convinced but again the road was quiet, cars were courteous to the eejit riding his bike up and down hills, and the tarmac was near EU grade. I continued playing my little game: Audi or no Audi. It comprised listening to the speed at which the car behind was approaching and assessing its decision making vis a vis overtaking choices. 

I did well. Audi sits in gold medal spot with Renault and Ford battling it out for silver. Kia, the underdog is battling hard for a podium position. 

Soon enough then I rolled into Waterville and stopped at a bizarre German / Irish cafe. 

“What’s on the menu?”

“Coffee. And cake.”

“OK, I’ll take both, thanks.”

The view from lunch was significantly improved on that from Breakfast, however I probably should have eaten more than 1 slice of carrot cake. 

From Waterville I followed the Skellig Ring around the coast, with cracking views of the ocean and the Skellig islands to my left and mountains to my right. 

The Skellig Islands are famed for that spot that Like Skywalker took exile in Star Wars episode 7, or 9, or both. You know, that remote place with the cliffs. 

You can visit the islands but it’s a 30 minute boat journey, and I have a birthday party to get to. 

Instead, I carried on around the coast and tackled the hardest climb of the trip so far, proudly featuring 2km at 10% or more. Determined not to walk it I panted my way to the top in just over 30 minutes. 

From there it was plain sailing. I dropped down towards Valentia Island and my planned stop for the night. Since I was ahead of time, I consulted Google and found another site some 6km or so further on. Let’s do that. 

The added bonus was that I needed to get a ferry to rejoin the mainland, I’d rather get that done tonight than bother with it in the morning. 

It was an inspired choice. The site itself is right by the shore. 

“Room for a small one?” (Now my stock phrase)

“Yep. Are you ok camping next to the water? It’s a bit exposed.”

There was not a breath of wind. 

“Yes, that will do nicely”

“Great. 14 Euros”

Wow.

“And you’ll need 2 Euros for the shower”

Which already put the site on the podium for overall. Until I reached my pitch and saw the view. 

That’ll do. 

I popped back up to the road and found the SuperValu and bought something to cook tonight and pastries for tomorrow. 

The site is entirely peaceful with the soul exception of one of my fellow campers who has just started playing (very competently) his violin. Could be worse. 

And the thunderstorms? They never came.