Wet & Wild

 My campsite last night just kept on giving. 

This morning I woke to grey clouds, but no rain. 

Then it started raining. 

Then it stopped.

I see. It was going to be one of those days was it. 

I made light work of packing up, adept as I was by now of putting everything in its rightful place. A French family had made themselves at home on the table I’d propped my bike against: “you have a lot of little pockets” said Dad, with a wonderful French accent.

“Oui” said I. 

Then it started raining again. And didn’t stop for 4 hours. It was going to be one of those days

This morning’s breakfast of kings comprised pastries procured from the shop last night. I was one down having devoured that with a handful of jelly babies in the night to stave off a particularly gnarly hypo. 

And energy I would need. Garmin delighted in advising me that I had 14 climbs to contend with today, 10 of which would come in the first 30km.

Eventually, when I realised that I could no longer put off the inevitable, I set off, straight into climb no. 1. The first part of the route was to take me on the coastal road, part of the Ring of Beara bike route. The roads were quiet, the views stunning, the rain relentless. 

The road wound its way along the coast, never deciding if it should go up (steeply) or down (equally steeply). Never deciding if it should be smooth EU tarmac or the sort of surface that a tractor would struggle with. It was a mesmerising route, but tough going. 

Finally I got spat out on the “main” road. By that I mean that it did at least have a white line down the middle of it. It was flatter, and relatively fast, heading towards the scene of yesterday’s lunch shenanigans, Lauragh. This time, rather than retrace yesterdays coast road, I stayed on the main road and up Garannes Pass, 6km at a steady 5%, followed by a fast descent back to the coast towards Kenmare. 

The rain by now had eased up and by the time I reached Kenmare had stopped. My pastries had done their job but now I needed sustenance. Kenmare offers no less than 6 pubs and odd cafes which double up as clothes shops, toy shops and grocery shops, amongst others. I settled for the grocery store option, and chose an interesting lunch of a hot sausage roll, some black pudding, crispy chicken and a twix bar, all washed down with a latte. Niche. 

The lunch set me up nicely for the next climb, 8km up Molls Gap, leaving suburbia for desolate hills and big views. Again, the road was quiet and I had the huge expanse of countryside pretty much to myself. 

Heading over Molls Gap I descended down into the ominously named Black Valley, complete with writing on a huge stone saying “welcome to Black Valley”. It was truly remote but the road followed the river down towards the climb up the Gap of Dunloe. 3km at between 6 - 14%. 

The descent was something else. An assault on the eyes with incredible views in all directions as the road dropped down towards Killarney. 

About 6km outside Killarney, some kind and thoughtful soul had provided a cycle path into town. 

Now, let me heap praise upon this wonderful piece of simple infrastructure. Most cycle paths, particularly those that follow main roads, are god awful. This path was clearly planned, and built, by a cyclist. 

“Don’t want the roots of the trees to break through the tarmac sir?. No problem”

“Want the path nice and wide so that when you come across the inevitable dog on an extended lead you can still get past? Consider it done.”

“Perfect tarmac? Why of course”

“When you get to a road to cross, would you like me to design it with intelligence so that you don’t abruptly have to brake and get killed? It’s all yours.”

“Slightly downhill to ease your way? You got it.”

Incredible. And just shows that with a modicum of thought you could cut car traffic in half. Chapeau, whoever you are. 

Said bike path avoided the huge traffic jams caused by the local tourist inexplicable insistence of travelling by pony and trap, took me all the way to my campsite. 

“Room for a small one?”

“Yep. 20 euros”

“Great, do I need a token for the showers?”

“Nope, they’re free”

“As you can see, a lot of me is quite damp”

“No problem, you can hang all of that in our laundry”

“Great”

“Oh, and the pub next door does great food and they have live music tonight”.

I might move to Killarney.