Sunday 18/07/2010
Sorry about getting the dates wrong but please stick with it. I hope you get a feeling of cycling through the beautiful countryside of Ireland. You may be inspired to take this cycling activity up. Perhaps you could call down to me and buy a racing bike, it would be the start of a new you having more energy, better health and fitness.
After leaving our Bed and Breakfast in down-pouring rain we headed into the Mangerton mountains. There were few cars, plenty of hills and when the rain stopped really enjoyable cycling. We stopped to gather the group together at the top of one of these big climbs when a young lady hops out of her car (a rare sight on the roads we were taking) and runs over to embrace one of our young male riders. Both had just finished teacher training college together. She now had her first post teaching in the south of the country and he in the north-west. Looking and listening to young love in action for these brief few moments was electrifying and brought joy to all our hearts.
We had planned for lunch in Newmarket, North Cork but the two younger members of the group and myself felt that we could make it back to our hotel in Newcastle West, Limerick before the end of the Roscommon/Sligo football match in which they had a keen interest. We undertook this journey with no map and no plan and needless to say we took a wrong turn which added some miles to our journey. When we arrived in Meelin which is the highest village in Ireland we were ravenous with hunger. We called into a shop the same namesake as myself "Cahill". Again the lady was very friendly. She supplied us with drinks and biscuits and would not accept payment when she heard of our mission and the charity that we were cycling for. This kindness was uplifting and encouraged us on our journey.
As we had lost some time we decided to view the entire match in the local pub in Meelin. The rest of the group joined us and ninety minutes later we emerged in good spirits even though we had curtailed our consumption of alcohol to a minimum on this occasion.
Onwards and upwards we cycled into the Mullaghareirk Mountain range. The highest climb here was 1,400 feet. Again we lost two of our team. After waiting at the crossroads for 10 minutes I decided that I would cycle back up the hill to find them. This was a mistake as the ascent was so steep and my legs were so weak I could not get my feet out of the clipless pedals but luckily I found a gate into farmland and avoided falling.
We met up with our lost friends three miles down the road, they had taken a different route but all was well and we arrived at our hotel for 8.30. The food was good and the bed was comfortable in the Courtney Lodge hotel at Newcastle West I would give these a rating of 7/10.