nbjtours

Portnoo

Day Four

75 miles

4039ft

Lucky, lucky, lucky is one of the Australian chanteuse most famous songs and today we were all three luckies. Lucky with the weather, the scenery and the route.

Starting on Malin Head the first third of the ride today took us across the Malin peninsula to the Lough Swilly Ferry The next third to lunch was north of Letterkenny through agricultural land before the final leg took us into wild Ireland over the mountains and to the west coast. All this apart from the final 5 km was under a blue sunny sky. Although the forecast is not good for the rest of the week the fact that today was so good should ensure we retain some good memories of the trip.

Leaving Mali Head at 7.30 early enough to catch the first ferry we ran alongside Trawbreaga Bay to the market town of Malin before crossing the bridge and heading up and over the peninsula to Buncrana to catch the ferry across Lough Swilly.

Whilst there was not much traffic really, it was the busiest road we rode on, as there were plenty of mummies trying to get their kiddies to school on time. We guessed that the school served the much wider community as we came in to town.

Getting to the ferry at Buncrana Nigel had set up coffee and pastries outside next to the van. Monica was concerned that we’d get guzumped on the ferry so Nigel moved the van to the front of the queue leaving us sitting in the middle of the quay!

Getting on the ferry Nigel was concerned that the rear of the camper would ground out but the crew were readily prepared with planks of wood to put under the wheels. They did a good job and getting the camper on the ferry took longer than the all the rest of the passengers combined ( three cars and three pedestrians). Monica need not have worried about room on the ferry!

Out of Buncrana we ran next to Lough Swilly on a nice flat road, before then turning off onto some quieter rolling lanes surrounded by farms with many lazy cows that Chris was concerned were always sitting down.

Lunch was to be taken near Church Hill which was near to where we had watched the rally the day before and one of the reasons for not riding yesterday.

As usual Nigel and I had agreed the approximate location of the next stop and as ever he surpassed himself with this set up! Whilst we did not have any wine the bread was broken respectfully.

We were additionally lucky that we were able to eat outside, possibly for the only time this week.

The first two legs had been great but.the best was saved for last. Leaving the attractive church over looking Lough Garten, as we rode on the houses reduced and the farms disappeared. We then found ourselves climbing over the R254 pass. A long gentle climb into the mountains.

Looking down

The main climb which was about 4 miles long was then followed by almost ten miles of downhill reversing the sequence. Starting with moorland , then derelict buildings before starting to see farming again. The number of old (potato famine related) and newer derelict buildings was surprising but we understand that this is the least inhabited part of the whole of Ireland

About halfway down but still in the middle of nowhere we came across this old gentleman walking his 1930’s bike so we stopped to ask if he was ok. We were not sure what he said ( and we did ask three times) or if he understood as the only noise we heard was “aie” and he was happy to see us move on.

Finally the river we had been running down started to open up as we approached the sea and whilst it still remained sunny we could see the clouds approaching

Not wanting to disappoint right at the death we even found a cycle path to run on for a few kilometres. Ireland measures in kilometres and Vauxhalls are Opels so we are really in Europe here.

The sun disappeared behind the cloud for the last 5 km but as we got to the right campsite we were pleased to see that pale Green camper waiting and welcoming us to our destination. As ever the beers were ready and it was time to relax at a relatively early 4pm.

Once again Nick put Chris through his warm down paces. It does truly look like Santa has fallen out of his sleigh.

Taking a shower the toilet block was in the process of renovation. Strangely it had four unisex rooms comprising basin , loo and shower. Two had been completed and the other two were in the process of being done. The cubicle I used had a workman’s extension cable plugged in and he was operating his angle grinder just outside the door!

Nigel’s Thai curry, again followed by strawberries and cream were well appreciated by three very tired cyclists who were able to reflect on one of those cycling days that are memorable for all the right reasons

The rest of the week looks as though we may have burned all our matches on one day as it has started to drizzle as I write this and the forecast is more of the same or worse Let’s hope they are wrong. At least we have this day safely in the locker and our view tax was paid with pleasure!