nbjtours

Salthills, Galway City

90 miles

3937 ft

Today’s ride was centred about the sky and the highlights were all around Clifden which was just over 20 miles from our start point.

These included the Sky Drive, a road around a narrow peninsula near the town, and the Alcock & Brown memorial together with the history of the Marconi telegraph station which was just adjacent to their crash site. This involved a lengthy visit which put us behind schedule for the day but it doesn’t really matter as long as we finish during the daylight.

It would also be remiss not to mention that bird that Nick detests so much. We heard it ceaselessly in Spain, Portugal and France on our last two trips so it would have been so upsetting not to have heard the bird of nbjtours on this expedition, even if it causes Nick so much pain.

At some stage last night the scouts went quiet and we all got some sleep. Although the weather forecast said no rain and a nice day today once again the drizzle came in. When I said to the local scout leader that the morning had started softly her response was that it was just morning as it is mostly like this.

For the third day in a row therefore we set off damply as the mizzle descended. The weather stayed on an off like this with an occasional flash of sunlight for the first two legs. The only dry leg being the last one.

The first stage had plenty of short up and down and whilst we got wet we had decided to wait until we got the Sky Road entrance before we added its extra 10k loop. Luckily, as we looked at the peninsula a shaft of sunlight hit the far end so we decided it was worth a punt.

The Sky drive was a pretty diversion off the main Connemara loop road ( more of which later) before we dropped into Clifden itself.

After Clifden we managed a coffee stop just at the entry to the Alcock & Brown information point at Derrigimlagh ( Derry-gim-la) where Nigel and Monica had got to , having already successfully been shopping for pastries.

Although threatening rain again, as we were on top of the moor we thought we’d cycle to have a look at the monument. Although designed for walkers we managed ok and probably saved 45 minutes by doing so.

Information boards gave the history of Alcock & Brown’s first flight across the Atlantic in 1919 fully 8 years before the next successful attempt by the more celebrated Charles Lindbergh.

These boards were set around a three mile walk around the Marconi listening station which ran from 1907 to 1922. This was simply an amazing achievement as they built a power station to power the equipment as well as living accommodation all on site in the peat bog. The locals in town in Clifden were not connected to electricity until 1950! These two incredible achievements show what man can do to overcome challenges positively.

Interestingly the site is of a similar age to the Titanic so was a nice link. It was where the Marconi trained wireless operator from the Titanic came from and learned his trade.

As we spent well over an hour exploring this interesting and well presented site (although only foundations remained of the houses, industrial sites, railways and paths) we advised Nigel that we would be a bit late to lunch. It was after 3 pm we finally made it!

The route then followed round the coast of southern Connemara which whilst less hilly and dramatic than the northern section still remained dotted with islets making the scenery interesting including this pretty harbour at Roundstone.

To reduce the miles and avoid the main road I then managed another nbjtours special track. This time aided by gates at both ends. Just increasing the test of man and machinery.

After this interlude we then had the most dramatic section of the ride as we cut off the peninsula by going straight across a large peat bog valley for seven to eight miles. The scale of the site, where turf cutting was still very much in operation across the the whole valley, was difficult to imagine and is not truly reflected in the photo below.

Just after rejoining the main road at a very late 3 pm we found the camper in this attractive spot and the sun had even come out for us to enjoy our belated picnic.

With still 30 miles to go mostly on the main road we agreed a quick tea stop before the end. Rejoining the main road another cyclist joined our Nick led peloton for 2/3 miles without a word but was happy to be helped along. Luckily we turned off along a smaller road for a few miles to escape the traffic. It was here when we almost bumped into these horses loose at the roadside that we heard the first Cuckoo of the trip. As ever Nick denied its existence but there was no escaping its plaintive notes.

Rolling back onto the main road we had 20 miles to go and this was probably the busiest and most unpleasant road we have had to cycle all trip. As ever Nick led the peloton to our tea stop with 12 1/2 miles to go

By then I’d had enough of the road and wanted off, so slipstreaming a bus to help overtake a wobbly local cyclist and with a following wind drove the peloton harder the last ten miles to get the campsite near Galway, keeping up with a very slow VW Golf for the last four miles and holding our position in the traffic jam behind it. We all felt a bit better for that.

Having seen so many sheep, a request had been made for a lamb stew which was a fab success thanks to the combined efforts of Nigel & Monica. The rain held off and we still managed to eat outside.

Another good day with plenty seen and some good mileage under our belts. As I write this the rain has begun and sadly the weather forecast for the next two days looks dreadful so it may be that our bottoms have a rest which will be a shame as there is some great cycling to be done. Having seen the cyclotourists carrying all their gear I cannot quite understand why Ireland is a good destination to do this.

Other than protecting our delicate backsides the rain tomorrow will allow Nigel to get one of his new rear tyres checked out as it appears that it has a slow puncture caused by a stone trapped in the tread. Amazingly we have had no such issues with any of the bikes despite the rough and off road cycling

Let’s hope the forecast is not as bad as it looks. Our positive being that we have managed to do the first seven days successfully, even if it has rained a little every day.