Roscommon to Enniskillen

Wed. 21st July
Started off in the pouring rain from Roscommon. One may imagine that it is difficult to find a steep hill in the flat midlands of Ireland but find one our guide did. As the rain eased temporarily we were forced to walk up a hill in a townsland called Lackan on the way to Strokestown. We decided that we would have lunch in Leitrim town. An error in map reading sent us through Carrick-on-Shannon which we had planned to avoid but the plus side of this mistake were that the roads were smooth and flat, however it did add about 10 kilometres onto our total distance.
The cycle today was going to be over 140 kilometres so we hoped to avoid time wasting and get on with cycling in the rain. When we emerged from Lunch the rain was heavy. I decided to stick back on my cycling cape. This caught the wind and the resulting effort was more like tug-of-war than cycling, I had to heave the bike forward.
Cavan countryside is very pleasant in sunny weather. It has the best lakes and rivers in Ireland for course fishing and attract many English visitors for that sport. We went by the side of Lough Allen and crossed the river Shannon at Dowra. However the beauty of the area was somewhat lost in the pouring rain.
Leaving Southern Ireland we crossed into Northern Ireland at Blacklion/Belcoo on the Cavan/Fermanagh border. This was a pleasant sight as we felt that the journey was near an end. Then, what I would class as a minor disaster for me happened. Coming into Enniskillen in the pouring rain I lost sight of my three young friends. I did not take on board the name of the hotel or the address because we had become used to relying on our guide who was standing at every intersection since the beginning.
After waiting at a few junctions in the worst of weather conditions and trying to decide whether I should follow the signs for Omagh, Dublin, Derry, I decided that the best course of action was to head for the town centre. This was proving fruitless as I stood like a lost orphan with my bike looking totally miserable in the centre of Enniskillen. If only I had not left my phone in our guide's car.
I was making my way out of town towards the police station when I saw John Mc Guirk who was also lost cycling up the street. He said that I appeared panicked, miserable and dejected which was not true to my form. He offered me his mobile to ring Donal, however this was a bit of a problem. After much effort I realised that one had to put the prefix for southern Ireland to dial an Irish number in northern Ireland. Eventually we made contact with Donal and got the address of the hotel. It was called "The Country House Hotel" and was about five miles on the Derry road from the centre of Enniskillen. So we set off cycling through a virtual river as the rain lodged at the roadside. The first mile took so long as we had been used to kilometres. I calculated that at four minutes per mile we would reach our destination at 8.15pm.
This to my pleasant surprise was no ordinary hotel. As we cycled up the long driveway I could see that this was five star accommodation. We parked the bikes and went to reception. Dripping rain from my cycling cape I asked the young receptionist if I could deposit my outer wet clothing behind the counter while we waited for Donal. I felt that a negative answer was coming and we might be told to stand outside to dry off. However the answer was positive. It was not as warm-hearted as we would have received from our Kilgarvan landlady (last Saturday). There was no "Well done on your mammoth achievement" but the luxury of the reception area was impressive.
Donal eventually arrived to say that he had deposited our luggage in our rooms. This pleasant and charitable act was sufficient reward for our efforts. The room was magnificent with the bath and shower leaving nothing to be desired. The bed was king sized, big enough for the whole six of us to sleep in but it was entirely for me. There were two pair of slippers with the name of the hotel printed on them. The downer I had on finishing today's cycle made the high so much better for being given such luxury.
We all met in the dining room for our meal and rejoiced as we recounted every town, hill and valley that we had conquered that difficult day.
I would give this hotel 9.5/10 for comfort, grounds, character and total class. (see picture)