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Day 9  – Dublin out and about.                        300 metres

Biked just far enough to give our tires a breath of air from a pump borrowed from a bike shop, so ready to head off tomorrow.

Wandered Dublin town.  Went in to the General Post Office Museum that covers Irish politics with a focus on the 1916 Rebellion.  It was incredibly well done.

We found a new ‘stick’ for our bodhran drum that T has started to practice to join in the Celtic sessions at home.

Along Fleet Street with Celtic music coming out of every bar door.

A highlight was meeting one of Roisin’s good friends, Yvonne, and having (another) wonderful pint of Guinness and a good chat!

We could use another few days here but will start back on the trail tomorrow.

Day 8 – Holyhead to Dublin         About 10 km (but felt like 20 in Dublin traffic!)

We’re in Ireland, begorrah, t’be sure. Nice ferry from Holyhead to Dublin. Much fancier than our bc ferries. Comfy seats, a cinema, nice decor.

Did the required tour of the Guinness brewery this afternoon. This had little to do with explaining how you can turn water, malted barley, hops and yeast into something worth drinking. Rather, it had much to do with extracting large sums of euros from gullible tourists (like us) for a multimedia experience well removed from any actual beer making. We learned 4 times that they roast their barley at 232C.  Interesting, but probably not a point to be laboured. (M says I was just grumpy because I got the Seniors Rate on the entrance fee).

This evening watched England squeak a win from Tunisia, as usual doing their best to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

 

Day 7 – Caernarfon to Holyhead       62km

A quick note because we have a poor connection.  Arrived in Holyhead and will take the 9am ferry to Dublin tomorrow.  269 miles (433 km)  covered so far.

Here is the link for our route today: http://cycle.travel/map/journey/65177

 

 

Day 5 – Llangurig to Dolgellau

We stopped at a pub for lunch at Newbridge on Wye.   I asked if we could take our bikes round to the beer garden.   Yes, said the landlord, but you’re fine to leave them out the front – our village is very safe and no one will swipe them.   He seemed aggrieved that we didn’t want to run that risk, small though it may have been, but with big consequences for us.  A good example of what economists call moral hazard.

We came through some more spectacular country today on our way to Dolgellau (pronounced Dolgethlee).   Cumulative elevation gain of 3,200 ft, which is a record for us. (Scotland record was 2600 ft)

We were interrupted by two errant sheep that managed to get on our bike path but could not be persuaded to get back in their field.  Soothing words seemed to have no effect.  Bill would have known what to do.   In the end they both managed to squeeze themselves into other fields, one through small hole in a fence, the other by leaping a cattle grid.   The farmer will wonder how they got there in the morning.

Day 4 – Llanswen to  Llangurig         68km (42 miles)

The dire prognostications about Storm Hector delivering high winds and rain across 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Wales today meant the wet weather gear was at the ready.  However it all went to Scotland!!! Take that you midges!!  We had sunny with cloudy periods. 4 days -no rain!  Peachy!  Parfait!

Met another couple cycling the other direction – somewhere in the neighbourhood of our age – keen yet pleasantly wrinkled- and we all came to the agreement the 40 miles of unrelenting hills was quite enough for one day.  Rats! 45 tomorrow and 50 the next day.

 

Day 3 – Abergavenny to Llyswen

We cycled over the Gospel Pass in the Black Mountains today and then down to Hay-on-Wye.   To call them mountains is probably over egging it – but they are definitely fairly grown up hills.  We thought the ride up to the top would be tough going because it’s a 17 mile climb.  In the end it was a very pleasant ride, and only steep right at the top.   The view was spectacular.  Then down a steep hill to Hay (dodging sheep) which is famous for its literary festival which ended just last week.  There are umpteen bookshops in the town.  Not sure who had the bright idea of turning a small unregarded Welsh village into a literary hotspot, but it was mighty fine thinking.

 

 

Day 2 – Chepstow to Abergavenny

Internet in Wales is like a black hole (twll du) – sucking our blog resolve away (hours trying to find the best corner of a somewhat quaintly grubby backpackers Inn, to get a good connection).  Fingers, toes and eyes crossed as we hope to add a few photos and not much in the way of chatter apart from commenting that Wales is very very green and the hills very big. Consolation is belting down the other side! M is trying for a PB  for speed so just waiting to see when she will burn out her brake pads.

Day 1. Chippenham to Chepstow. Some connection problems here so will keep it brief. Great day of cycling in sunny weather through spectacular countryside with our good friends Jennie and Simon. Came across the Severn suspension bridge which brought us into Wales.

You know you’re in Wales because all the signs are written in English and Welsh. Welsh words are created by shaking a box of scrabble tiles and writing down whatever letters come out, in whatever order they come out.

It’s a bit tricky to jam a bike into a rectangular cardboard box, but it turns out that it is possible (just).    You need zip ties and lots of time and patience.   Not something to be done if you’re in a hurry.   In short, you remove the pedals and front wheel,  and zip tie it to the frame interleaved with the pedal crank.   Take the handle bars off, rotate the front forks, jam the handle bars in on their side.   Seat off.   Try to fit in box.   It won’t.   Take off other bits until it does.   Margaret’s didn’t so she had to go to the bike store to get an extra big box.

They’re both tucked in their boxes now, and ready for Air Canada to do its worst.

Hi, and welcome to our 2018 cycle blog.   Last year we biked from John O’Groats to Land’s End.   This year we plan to cycle from Chippenham in Wilts through Wales to Holyhead, then Dublin, on to Galway Bay, and then meander back along the west and south coasts of Ireland, back to south Wales and then Chippenham.    It’s a bit different from last year in that after Dublin there’s no set itinerary.

This afternoon we started to get the bikes ready.   We have fancy new Arkel panniers, which are fairly pricey but guaranteed for life.   They have a spiffy cam locking system for attaching to the bikes.   Easy to hook on, but very secure.

I also packed our bike maintenance and repair kit.   Top left is tyre repair kit – inner tubes, patch kits, rim levers, disposable nylon gloves and so on.   Bottom right is all the other stuff – spare brake pads, spare cable, chain links, chain link tool, Leatherman, bike spanners, zip ties, nylon cord, strap, bungees, sticky tape.   All the stuff you need for fixing bikes, delivering babies, performing minor open-heart surgeries.   (Actually, we did end up using just about everything in our repair kit last year – for fixing bike-related things, not the other stuff.)

Atticus kindly helped out.