Wednesday July 23, 2014

Up early as planned.  By 5:30 am we were washed, the tent was packed, the bikes loaded and we were ready to eat our breakfast in the camp kitchen and dining room.  Oh dear god no – the door was locked, our breakfast and more importantly our four water bottles were locked away.  The warden would not be on duty until 9:00!!  There was nothing we could do about it other than leaving the bottles or unpacking the tent and going back to sleep.  6:15 the tent was up and 6:30 we were asleep. Best laid plans do not always work out.

We woke up again at 9:00, with the sun on the tent and started our day again.  After a leisurely breakfast, we decided to head out to Rosslare Harbour pick up the tickets for the ferry tomorrow and cycle to the campsite closer to Rosslare Harbour.  We packed away the tent again, reloaded the bikes and headed out to Rosslare Harbour at 10:30 am.  We followed the N52 all the way to the Harbour which was fairly busy but we had a shoulder all the way, nice cycling.  We bought the tickets for the ferry and then prepared to cycle out of Town.  Ralf suggested we stay in one of the hotels near the ferry terminal.  I went into the two but the prices were over 80 EUs, we decided against it.  However, as we passed a smaller hotel we noticed they were offering rooms for 59 EUs.  We could afford that, they had rooms and a place to store our bikes overnight.  We settled in quickly, showered and walked over to the small shopping centre to buy lunch and source our evening meal.  We ate lunch overlooking the coast and then went for a walk through Rosslare Harbour Village.  A Town that has seen better days.  Two large hotels were closed one that had 400 rooms and other businesses have left.  The only employment in the Town is at the port or in the small shops and hotels that are still open, most people work in Wexford – 23kms away.

As we made our way back to the hotel we noticed a memorial park and the YHA.  The YHA has been closed for a number of years, at least since the 1980s.

We then discovered the jewel in the area, a secret garden.

We met Kirwan, an 82 year old man who planted this garden 10 yards at a time.  The land belonged to the railway and they had left it as a dump site.

He mentioned that there were rats coming into the area and that is why he created the garden.

He started by \’taking\’ 10 yards and just carried on the garden is now about 6 acres and the railway send in helpers to help him maintain what he has created.

Monday July 21, 2014

We were up early had a good breakfast and on the road at 8:15.  It was a tough ride today.  It started with a 15 km ride negotiating city traffic to get out of Dublin.  Fortunately, Dublin has lots of cycle lanes.  We had to work our way across the city from east to west and then up through the Wicklow Mountains.  Once we had cleared the city we started to climb almost immediately.  It wasn’t too bad to start with and then it got progressively worse.  On one road a lady stopped and suggested we turn around and take another road as it wasn’t as steep.  We decided to press on but the hill got really steep (16%) and we were off and pushing the bikes.  Up and down we went for the next 10 kms and we hadn’t really got into the Mountains yet.  At one intersection we chatted to another lady motorist who told us the next section was downhill for a while it was known locally as Devil’s Elbow and then it kicked up again and we would have another steep climb similar to the 16% hill we had already climbed.

We decided to take the easier route and headed towards Enniskerry.  Enniskerry was a pretty town, where we were going to have some lunch, but realized we had forgotten to go to the bank in Dublin and only had 3 EUs.  We shared a sandwich and then carried on to the next town where there was supposed to be an ATM.  We eventually found an ATM in Roundwood.  We bought some water and another sandwich.

We were looking at the map we had the choice of two routes from Roundwood to Rathdrum.  I asked a nice fella which would be the better route, meaning the less hillier route. He said they were both about the same but the R route was busy with buses, the L route was quieter.  We took the L route, within the first 2 ks we met two logging trucks, but after that it was quieter and a lovely route.

We came into Rathdrum and found the campsite straight away.  It is a very busy family site with lots of things to do for the kids.  It is very expensive 24 EUs for a bit of grass, everything else you pay for, even the showers and power are extra.  Why people accept these appalling services is beyond us.  Now we are surrounded by the smell of campfires, and burnt sausages and tired screaming toddlers.

Tomorrow we should be in Rosslare and plan to take the ferry back to the UK on Wednesday.  Hopefully we can get on a ferry as easily as we did coming from Troon to Larne.

Sunday July 20, 2014

After breakfast we headed out to downtown Dublin, which is less than 5 minutes walk from Sarah and Baptiste’s apartment.  After crossing over the River Liffey we passed Trinity College and Temple Bar. There appeared to be a church on every corner.  We passed them all and headed down to the Guinness Storehouse.

On our route we noticed an entrance way – we went through it and discovered Dublin Castle.

Dublin has a great network of cycle routes and as in most large cities now, their are rental bikes.  We have noticed that most of these rental bikes are for residents and not for tourists.  For a tourist to \’rent\’ one I think you have to name your children after the City you are in.  The payment system is designed in such a way to confuse you so that you get a taxi instead or walk, as we have done throughout the City\’s that have these bikes.

Of course you can always transport your kids in a wheelbarrow.

The Guinness brewery is located on James Street, Dublin and the visitors centre is huge.

We spent about two hours looking at all the exhibits, including the original lease that Arthur Guinness signed for the brewery on James Street.  A 9,000 year lease, now there is optimism for you.  The visitors centre is shaped like a Guinness glass and if filled with Guinness would hold 14.3 million pints of Guinness.  The visitors centre was quite expensive, 18 EU each, but it was very interesting and a lot of fun – we got a certificate for pulling the perfect pint.  Which we were then allowed to drink.  You receive a pint of Guinness included in your entrance fee anyway so this was our complementary Guinness.

After the storehouse we walked along the promenade alongside the river for a while and then into the commercial area of Dublin.  It was very busy for a Sunday.

In 1994 to 1997 what was known as the Celtic Tiger was born.  Ireland\’s economy grew, people were moving there in great numbers and employment grew.  Ireland experienced what can only be described as a jobs miracle; investment in education increased the overall skills profile of the workforce, active state policies encouraged productive investment and balanced fiscal policies avoided the over-heating of the economy.

Then in 2008 the bust happened, Ireland is still recovering from this global event.

The collapse, when it came, was quick and brutal.  The Irish banking system having overlent wildly for overinflated property deals,  had to be rescued by the taxpayer.
All over the country there are ghost villages, schemes of new houses, half occupied or half finished.   Unemployment is high, although we did see recovery and optimism.  As in most major City\’s (Edinbugh and Dublin) we saw beggars and homeless people.

The millenium spire was evidence of the boom times.  Do not refer to it as the needle the Dubliners do not like that.

Today we were providing dessert at our warmshowers host, strawberries and cream – lovely.  Baptiste made a lovely lasagna for dinner with an Italian salad of mozzarella and tomatoes.

We played a board game with them after dinner, which was a lot of fun.  It appeared to be a very complicated game to start of with, but it was very easy to play once you got going.  However, I came last – Ralf came second.

It was a late night, but we have to be up early tomorrow as both Sarah and Baptiste leave for work around 8:30.  We are also planning on a hilly ride through the Wicklow mountains so we need to be up and cycling early.

Saturday July 19, 2014

We left the hostel by 8:30 as we needed to get to Newgrange early.  It was about 10 kms from Drogheda and we were told to be there early as it can get booked up.  We arrived at 9:15 and were in the first group to take the bus to the site.  All the tours have to start from the visitor centre and then you are taken by bus to the site.

Newgrange is a megalithic tomb that is 5,000 years old, it was discovered in the 16^th century.  However, the archeaologist Michael J. O’Kelly discovered the very significant roof box and the fact that on the winter solstice, the sun lights up the inner cavern.  We spent two hours at the site and the visitors centre.

As with other megalithic monuments they do not know a lot about the Tomb and the carvings.  Were the carvings art, or a map or some other explanation.  Some say they were the result of hallucinogenics taken during the rituals.

Surrounding the main tomb were 16 smaller tombs.

Inside the tomb were five burial rooms.  This bowl shape was in one of them.

Surrounding the site was a moat and other buildings used for rituals.

Excavations are ongoing and there are areas that have been \’mapped\’ out for further exploration.

As we were leaving at 11:30, they were booking for the 1:15 tour.  Glad we arrived when we did.

The ride into Dublin was MMBA (miles and miles of bugger all).  We saw another couple of touring cyclists.  They were from Australia and had only been in Ireland a couple of days, they were heading to County Cork.

When we arrived in Dublin, we stopped at a McDonalds to check email, to see if our warmshowers host had confirmed – yes we could stay with them, but they wouldn’t be home until 6:00.  It was 4:30 so we made our way to their apartment and stopped of to buy provisions for supper.  We were providing supper, they were providing dessert.

Sarah and Baptiste are originally from France and have lived in Ireland for 2 years, they had cycled around Ireland for their extended honeymoon.  After dinner we chatted for a while and Sarah invited us to stay for Sunday night as well.  Great we can leave all our stuff here while we wander around the City and go to the Guinness storehouse tomorrow.

Friday Jul 18 2014

This morning the sun was out and blue skies, we used suncream again:).  Within 15 minutes of our ride the clouds came, the sun disappeared and it started to rain.  On with the rain jackets.  However, we did have the wind at our backs and it was a good tail wind.  We followed the Cooley Peninsula into Dunleer.

We stopped for lunch in Dunleer, quite a pretty town.  We had emailed a warmshowers host in Dunleer, but had not received a response, so we had stayed in Carlingford last night instead of pushing to get to Dunleer.  Amandine had asked for a weeks notice, and we had only given her two days.

It eventually stopped raining after we had eaten, but drizzled on and off until about half an hour outside of Drogheda.  As we cycled down this hill in County Armagh we spotted a large monument, apparently the Pope (JP2) had visited this area and 300,000 people came to see him.

This was his plea.

We arrived in Drogheda, knowing there wasn’t a camp site, but there was a hostel.  There was a small farmers market in Drogheda.  The first stall was selling gorgeous flowers.  We paused at the stall as we pushed our bicycles through the Town towards the Information Centre.  The lady at the stall said to me \”Are you Jacky\”?  I said yes and she introduced herself as Amandine the warmshowers host.  She explained that she had not checked her email, until Thursday night and wanted to come and pick us up and have us stay with her.  Amandine was a really nice person and we wished we could have stayed with her.  They are very busy at this time of year, with the produce and the market but she was willing to have us stay at short notice.

After chatting to Amandine for about half an hour we carried on to the Information Centre.  The ladies at the Information Centre told us where the hostel was and that it was only 10 minutes away.  I teased them about the Irish 10 minutes, we had a good laugh.  I told them if it was farther away I would change my comment in the visitors book. I had written “very helpful”

We got the last room in the hostel, the only room they had left was a private ensuite room.  It was very nice, but expensive 60 EU.

We went back downtown and I popped into the Info Centre I put a smiley face next to my comment – my comment was “very helpful and honest”.

I updated the blog, but couldn\’t post anything as the wi-fi was so slow. Ralf went for a walk around the Town.  The great mound at Milmount was a 12^th century Motte and Bailey Norman Castle.

The Town was a walled city in the 14th century, this is one of the remaining entrances to the Town.

We had a lovely dinner in the hostel and chatted to a Croatian lady.  We talked about Croatia and the fact that it is very segregated.  I asked how Tito had managed to keep the various factions together.  We had an interesting chat about what a charismatic leader he was and how he gave the people what they wanted “food and games”. She made the comparison to the Roman Empire – food and games.