No rain today !! Woohoooo !!! We woke up to a slightly cloudy sky that just got clearer as the day progressed !
We started the day, still on the Aran island of Inishmore, by taking a short bike ride up to the beginnings of the path to the Black Fort. Now, the Black Fort, they've determined is even older than Dun Angeus, but it is similar. The entire hike, probably took a good hour and a half. And, it was worth every minute of it (which says a lot since I don't usually like walking). The view was gorgeus.
Afterwards, we got down and took the 12 o'clock ferry back to the main land, arriving by 1pm. THEN ! Then, our planned bike ride was for 35 miles. Yikes ! That translates to about 60K. I figured it would take me 3 to 4 hours, considering all the hills....
The view (again !) was beautiful. I find it amazing how grass grows on all these rocks and takes what would've been a barren landscape and pretties it right up. But, underneath the grass, the earth is really not all that thick.
So, we were headed to Cliffden - there was a few roads we took that had traffic on them, but the traffic wasn't really heavy. It was country traffic. But, about half of it was back roads - paved, but mostly empty of cars. I think there were more sheep than cars on those roads.
Ugh....three hours later - and I'm still only two thirds of the way. What's up with that ? Well, yesterday there was rain - today !! Now today there's wind. Yuck !! I hate wind ! Wind is whole universes worse than rain.
Here's the beginning of the windy-est portion of our ride - the Bog Road. What should've been an easy ride, anywhere between a half hour to 45 mins took me a good hour, hour and a half.
The 12 Bens were a beautiful site to see during most of our ride.
Here's a picture of Cliffden, just as I was taking the corner. This was a huge relief to see !! I was tempted to ask our guide to take the van up. But no !! I wanted the pride of accomplishing the 35 miles; I wanted the pride of getting right up to the hotel ! And I DID it !! Woooohoooo !! Boy - my muscles are tired, but I made it !! Of course everyone else arrived before; it took me near on 5 hours; I got off and walked at least half
a dozen times. But, I did it !!!!!!
Now, the question is....do I get back on the bike tomorrow ? We are staying two nights at this hotel - so I have the option of taking an easy day tomorrow. However, I'm starting to realize that this stubborn streak in me is really good to push me into pushing myself further than I thought I could go. So, to be honest - I'm likely to get right back onto the bike tomorrow, get over the saddle soreness, and peddle.
There is an option to take the Sky road or the low road tomorrow. The sky road is supposed to be challenging as compared to what we've already done. I've found what we've done challenging enough, but the Sky road is supposed to have an awesome view. So, I may take a ride up in the van, just for the view, and do the rest by bike. No reason to get too crazy on my first bike tour.
BTW - I really am enjoying this whole bike tour thing. I get to see stuff and experience things I never would have had I been on a regular tour. And, I get to eat really good meals with no guilt. And, it helps me get into shape :D. It is a fabulous combination. I must try this out in some other countries too !!
Tonight (and tomorrow night) we are staying at the Foyles hotel in Clifden. My guess is that it is called clifden, because it is right on a cliff. I've got a beautiful picture of the town (and other things), but I must still get to loading those onto the computer. So, I'll come back and edit later.
We started the day, still on the Aran island of Inishmore, by taking a short bike ride up to the beginnings of the path to the Black Fort. Now, the Black Fort, they've determined is even older than Dun Angeus, but it is similar. The entire hike, probably took a good hour and a half. And, it was worth every minute of it (which says a lot since I don't usually like walking). The view was gorgeus.
Afterwards, we got down and took the 12 o'clock ferry back to the main land, arriving by 1pm. THEN ! Then, our planned bike ride was for 35 miles. Yikes ! That translates to about 60K. I figured it would take me 3 to 4 hours, considering all the hills....
The view (again !) was beautiful. I find it amazing how grass grows on all these rocks and takes what would've been a barren landscape and pretties it right up. But, underneath the grass, the earth is really not all that thick.
So, we were headed to Cliffden - there was a few roads we took that had traffic on them, but the traffic wasn't really heavy. It was country traffic. But, about half of it was back roads - paved, but mostly empty of cars. I think there were more sheep than cars on those roads.
Ugh....three hours later - and I'm still only two thirds of the way. What's up with that ? Well, yesterday there was rain - today !! Now today there's wind. Yuck !! I hate wind ! Wind is whole universes worse than rain.
Here's the beginning of the windy-est portion of our ride - the Bog Road. What should've been an easy ride, anywhere between a half hour to 45 mins took me a good hour, hour and a half.
The 12 Bens were a beautiful site to see during most of our ride.
Here's a picture of Cliffden, just as I was taking the corner. This was a huge relief to see !! I was tempted to ask our guide to take the van up. But no !! I wanted the pride of accomplishing the 35 miles; I wanted the pride of getting right up to the hotel ! And I DID it !! Woooohoooo !! Boy - my muscles are tired, but I made it !! Of course everyone else arrived before; it took me near on 5 hours; I got off and walked at least half
a dozen times. But, I did it !!!!!!
Now, the question is....do I get back on the bike tomorrow ? We are staying two nights at this hotel - so I have the option of taking an easy day tomorrow. However, I'm starting to realize that this stubborn streak in me is really good to push me into pushing myself further than I thought I could go. So, to be honest - I'm likely to get right back onto the bike tomorrow, get over the saddle soreness, and peddle.
There is an option to take the Sky road or the low road tomorrow. The sky road is supposed to be challenging as compared to what we've already done. I've found what we've done challenging enough, but the Sky road is supposed to have an awesome view. So, I may take a ride up in the van, just for the view, and do the rest by bike. No reason to get too crazy on my first bike tour.
BTW - I really am enjoying this whole bike tour thing. I get to see stuff and experience things I never would have had I been on a regular tour. And, I get to eat really good meals with no guilt. And, it helps me get into shape :D. It is a fabulous combination. I must try this out in some other countries too !!
Tonight (and tomorrow night) we are staying at the Foyles hotel in Clifden. My guess is that it is called clifden, because it is right on a cliff. I've got a beautiful picture of the town (and other things), but I must still get to loading those onto the computer. So, I'll come back and edit later.
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