Tearing up the road to Doolin

Day 16 – Galway to Doolin – 79km   (777 km   482 miles)

Today was a large day, as Bill would say.  50 miles on a hot day up the Wild Atlantic Way.   It was 29C, and the road surface so hot that our wheels sank into the road in places.   They was also a crackling sound as the tyres picked up the sticky tarmac.   By the end of the day we had a crust of small stones embedded in tarmac stuck to the tyres.

For all that, it was a great trip, though we were pretty toasty by the time we rolled into Doolin.  It was good that we drank lots of liquids, including a Guinness for lunch.   (Guinness is one of the 4 essential food groups for us cycling in Ireland, the others being ice cream, chocolate and more Guinness.  Ain’t a hill you can’t climb after a lunch like that.)

The Wild Atlantic Way, looking out over a flat calm ocean, seemed a bit of an exaggeration.  However, looking up and down the actual road ‘Way’ was, at times, wild with tour buses and cars.  It is much more of a tourist Mecca than we were expecting. Still,  met MORE friendly chatty local folks at stops along the way.

Nursing sunburns despite tip to toe sun screen.  Who’d a thunk we’d get a sunburn in Ireland.