Bath - Cork - Kerry completed!

Home (almost!) at last.
Arrived back at Bath (my sister's house) late Friday morning (16th) from Swansea. 381 miles after leaving Bath and some very tough climbs (more on that later).

Setting off from Bath

Day 1 (6th) Bath to Cardiff

Managed to fall off the recumbent half a mile after starting! All down to over exuberance at finally getting under way, plus a wet manhole cover - not a good start!
Rain, headwinds and hills. Got to Aust (start point for the old Severn bridge bicycle/pedestrian crossing). The crosswind was really severe blowing from the new bridge towards us. Both Seb and I had an extreme angle of lean on our bikes to prevent being blown over. The picture below doesn't show how bad it was, but the rain was travelling horizontally and really stung our faces. Pressed on to Cardiff as fast as we could and checked in to the YHA and a very welcome hot shower.

Trying to stand up on old Severn Bridge

 Day 2 (7th)
Cardiff to Swansea

More headwinds, more rain. Asked a hotel manager (where we had lunch) what the terrain was like between there and Swansea. "Oh, not too bad" he said, then added "apart from the mountain!". Stopped to consume large quantities of damsons at the side of the road before arriving at Swansea Ferry Port with a couple of hours to spare. Met up with the other Bike Events cyclists who thought we were a little crazy to have cycled down to there. However, that was before we ran into Steve, who had cycled down from Bristol that day (about 90 miles, and he was only three years younger than me!).
Evening ferry to Cork (about 10 hours of reasonably choppy crossing) and arrived at 8:00 am into the harbour.

Day 3 (8th)
Cork to Clonakilty

Reasonable weather and terrain to Kinsale, where the sun broke through and we had a great brunch!

A rest between Kinsale and Clonakilty

 Set off again towards Clonakilty and stopped briefly to look at the view and take advantage of our first day of sunshine since leaving Bath. Met up with Barbara at Timoleague (by a ruined abbey) for some homemade cake.
Arrived at Clonakilty to an extremely welcome sight - the Ecobus! This old Bristol double decker was fully fitted as a travelling restaurant. Had really green credentials as well, since it ran on waste vegetable oil and had solar panels and a wind turbine! This was to be a welcome sight for the remaining days of our trip since there was always tea and a snack waiting for us when we arrived to camp. Deidre, Bryce, Tracy and Liz are the Ecobus crew and were absolutely brilliant.

Ecobus crew hard at work

Day 4 (9th)
Clonakilty to Skibbereen
Crossed a bridge on the way to Union Hall for lunch at Dinty's restaurant. Weather pretty bad.

Day 5 (10th) Skibbereen to Barleycove (via ferry from Baltimore to Schull).
Arrived at Baltimore for the ferry to Schull - which was running to Irish time, i.e. really late. Weather fine but chilly. Passed several privately owned islands (including that belonging to Jeremy Irons). Watched a gannet dive into the water at high speed (up to 50mph!). The fish had no chance.
Arrived at the campsite and pitched the tent close to a wall as the wind was picking up. Brief cycle to the beach and just missed a photo opportunity with a seal!

Day 6 (11th)
Barleycove to Glengarriff
Cycle to Bantry for soup and Murphy's. Tough ride! On towards Glengarriff (and Casey's Hotel, where Barbara had broken down). On about a mile to Dowling's campsite. Weather really bad! Remnants of Hurricane Katia pounding the coast. Predicted windspeeds of up to 130km/hr!
During the night realised that we hadn't put all of the guy ropes on and the roof of the tent was bashing our heads during the night. Fortunately the flooded site stopped about 12 inches from our tent.

 Day 7 (12th) Glengarriff to Kenmare



Four of us decide to ignore the advice of the majority and cycle towards the Healy pass (1084 feet and Hurricane Katia still giving us grief). Extremely difficult and gusts that threatened to throw us and our bikes back down the valley. Picture of Seb here at the top claiming that the view was fantastic but struggling to cling to the top of the mountain.

Jo wearing bin liners after Hurricane Katia flooded the marquee

Did we really climb that?

Arrived at a real hippy site run by an American lady. Really large barn, so Nigel and Tom didn't have to erect the marquee. Great dinner at the Ecobus - again!

Day 8 (13th)
Kenmare to Glenbeigh
Another tough climb over the Ballaghbeama Gap (note - any names that end in "pass" or "gap" means they are really extreme!). Stopped at the Climber's Inn for a snack. Food was pretty bad but the Irish coffee was really welcome!

Fairly trashed after reaching the campsite.

Day 9 (14th)
Glenbeigh to Caherdaniel
Another day, another pass. This time the Ballaghisheen Pass. On down to Waterville and a really great lunch - plaice (local) and chips and another Irish coffee.
Past Charley Chaplin's statue and on to a beautiful campsite at Caherdaniel. Spotted Tracy (from the Ecobus) having a great time on a child's swing - don't suppose she'll ever grow up - well, let's hope not!

 

 Day 10 (15th)
Caherdaniel to Kenmare (via Sneem and Moll's Gap)
Not a long ride today (about 28 miles) but Moll's Gap was en route! Slow on the way up (with Seb being remarkably patient). Did consider buying presents in the shop, but the prices were horrendous - sorry, grandchildren! Loaded up with soup and shepherd's pie (to give a bit of extra gravitational effect on the way down from the gap to Kenmare for the coach). Managed to show Tom the advantages of a recumbent at high speed (low drag) on the way down as I finished about 40 seconds ahead of him. Ha! - young people!
Quick pint of Murphy's then bikes onto van and us onto the coach for the ferry from Cork.
Photo opportunity at Macroom with the whole bike crew (what a great group).
Overnight on the ferry to Swansea - really tired, but pleased to have made it.

A rather tired Seb