nbjtours

Day Five

Strandhill nr Sligo

84 miles

5063ft climbed

You have to remember not to answer the question in detail as in these parts this is the greeting meaning hello. So a hi is fine. Most folks are very friendly and Nigel needs no invitation to talk to someone, so when we arrived at the first stop of the day a local young mum with her son Freddie was chatting with him next to the camper. Later on with Chris and Nick we were discussing which route to take and a guy stopped and asked if we were ok. He then offered his advice and we were able to avoid the worst of the hill but still see something interesting.

Drivers have been respectful of us cyclists waiting behind or giving us space so we have felt very welcome in this part of world.

Waking up this morning the forecast was not wrong and today began very soft with a fine drizzle in the air. Breakfast in the camper was enlivened by the sight of a couple of hares bounding round the campsite. Chris was sure that one was the size of a big dog!

Starting promptly at 8 am we set off straightaway uphill and for a while the rain increased so we had to stop to put on our waterproofs

There was quite a bit of climbing early on in the damp as we went over the headland. The road here was new in parts and we reckon that the majority of men are employed tarmacking as we must have passed 6 or 7 roadworks in progress. If not in roadworks the job is some form of gardening , mowing the lawn or more likely using a petrol strimmer clearing out the weeds. We lost count of how many men we saw doing this. This is in part due to the fact that most houses have large grass lawns in front of them and the house appears to be set back at the rear of their plots.

If anything the rain increased on the way down and we got wetter – the only saving grace was that it was not cold and the wind had dropped.

As we came into Donegal the rain eased and the roads appeared dry so perhaps the town has its own microclimate. Thankfully we warmed up and dried out quickly.

Our breakfast stop was arranged just after Donegal and we saw the camper as ever so safely completed leg one. Nigel surpassed himself here as when we started coffee and pastries Monica said “stop that’s dessert you have scrambled eggs and frankfurters first!“. Needless to say we did demolish the lot but reckoned the extra weight slowed down the hill climbing during the second leg.

Pleasingly the weather started to brighten up and we got no more rain and even sunburned though it was not really sunny. This leg was through rolling fields close to the sea with the verges full of flowers including loads of orchids, often the hedges being of naturalised fushias. I will endeavour to do a flora corner to cover all the interesting and pretty flowers later on the trip.

Lunch was at Mullaghmore Head, infamous as the place where the IRA blew up Lord Mountbatten in 1979. He owned the nearby castle, but couldn’t afford to keep it so let it out and used it as a holiday home.

We came to Mullaghmore to check out my work colleague Danni’s aunt Eithna’s famous restaurant ( pronounced Etna as in the Mt) but sadly they got COVID just before the visit so they had to close it but it still makes a colourful picture. Instead we had a picnic lunch outside just along from the village in these terrific surroundings.

After lunch we cycled round the headland enjoying the views.

The last leg saw us approach Gleniff Horseshoe but this was where we chatted with the nice fellow who suggested we just check out the mill rather than cycle the steep circuit round. This saved us 4 miles and a lot of sweat. We cycled there and had an enjoyable walk round

Leaving the mill we ran either side of the busy main road on smaller lanes mostly designated as part of the Wild Atlantic cycle way passing below the impressive peaks Benwiskin and Benbulbin

The small roads were fine but often had grass so thick down the middle it needed mowing and probably was. Whilst going along these roads Nick and I heard Chris cry out in pain so we both came to an emergency halt. Chris had caught a bee in his mouth and whilst spitting it out quickly he must have got stung on his tongue. Luckily the bee cannot have had time to properly inject his poison so after five minutes or so Chris and his tongue were back to normal. Crisis averted.

The only downside of the smaller roads is that often you get short sharp climbs and the last one as we approached Sligo was particularly nasty causing Chris and me much grief. Nick who had started the week perhaps a little off peak form has certainly rediscovered his climbing legs and mostly led the peloton all day apart from the last five miles when his Garmin had died and he had less of an idea than usual of where to go.

Sligo was very busy and we had to negotiate across three lanes to turn right to find our road to Strandhill passing a fully laden cyclotourist for the second time today.

Arriving safely at the campsite once again we did manage to have an end of day celebratory beer outside with some Spanish salty snacks but the fresh wind off the sea meant pork chops and mash was consumed indoors . The beach walk today was brief and surprised us as we watched an 8pm surf school lesson.

Completing day five we are now properly into the tour and backsides and muscles are just a little sore. The weather has not been too unkind and fingers crossed it stays this way. Tomorrow sees us heading west into Connemara with only 3000ft of climbing expected so a relatively flat day.