It was interesting this morning to wake up in the United Kingdom with regular TV channels and Radio 2!
Today was going to be a much shorter route than yesterday – only 51 miles – for which most of us were rather grateful. It was fascinating as we skirted the and crossed the Border a few times in the first 2 hours – signs kept switching from distances in miles to distances in kilometres. NB – a quick sign that you are back in the Republic is if the road has yellow dashed lines at the side.
Our first stop was at only 18 miles, with time for coffee and a cake at the café of the Belleek Pottery. This was a little bit of luxury and meant that we could all take advantage of the lovely loos (usually not available when out on the road and much appreciated by the ladies in the party.)
Richard and Peter reported that their bells were “Ding Dong” today because of the lack of rain and we all made good progress – everyone was in Glenties by 3.30pm, which felt very decadent.
We were staying in two different guest houses. Those of us staying in Avalon were welcomed by Hugh who provided a lovely pot of tea in china cups, with home-made bread, jam and marmalade. Trying to run a bath, however, caused a bit of difficulty. There was no plug to be found and it took about an hour (with Hugh having to ring his wife, who was out visiting her mother) before the plug was eventually tracked down.
We all got together in the evening at Kennedy’s Bar in Glenteis for a lovely dinner, with some live music towards the end to entertain us.
We are all slightly trepidatious about tomorrow’s long ride. The forecast is for rain so we fear we will probably be very soggy when we arrive at Malin head tomorrow!
