Tueday 16th September
Today Mileage 38miles ∑Total to date 474 miles J
Military operations at the Llanberis (Snowdon) Youth Hostel today – James, our head of chain of command, attempted to rally the troops in pulling the trailer out of a particularly muddy spot in the car park. All the gear had to be loaded and away today by 8am as we had the ferry to catch in Holyhead which is on the top of Anglesey. Joan, Corinne and Tina were like soldier ants, scurrying around – shifting, loading, moving, hauling. Oh, and trying to avoid a stranger, greater spotted toilet creeper in the hostel!! Well done to the youth hostel for providing us with an extremely varied and tasty breakfast – freshly baked croissants and loads of fresh fruit and Welsh peach melba yoghurts which reminded Tina of when she used to eat yoghurts as a wee girl! (Corinne thought all they ate in Barvas in the 60s was marrags [spelling?!] and porridge!)
Flatter country as we journeyed over the Menai Straits into very very Welsh Wales where everything is in Welsh, to a stop at the railway station with the longest name (see previous entry and pics hopefully) – 27 letters I believe. Cycled through Anglesey through driving rain which was a shame as it is probably quite a scenic place although very flat. Made good time for the boat – great huge floating beast – we’re all used to baby Calmac ferries swanning backwards and forwards towards the Hebrides.
Sailed up through the Liffy, to be sure we’re now in Ireland (although Joan said audibly “just because I’m in Ireland, doesn’t mean I have to act Irish! At which point Tina and Corinne bent under the table....!! Joan says – there wasn’t an Irish person on the ferry, it was all foreigners....!!) As the port in Dublin is so large, it took us about 20 mins to cycle through it – Corinne nearly falling off a couple of times as her bike wheel got stuck in some kind of tramline. Cycled along the coast towards Howth, a peninsula about 7/8 miles from Dublin city centre. Dublin seems to have bred a more aggressive type of cyclist – there are cycle lanes everywhere but a new type of hierarchy seems to have built up between “commuter” cyclist and “pleasure” cyclist, we being the latter and lower on the pecking order. There are signs everywhere saying “Caution Cyclists” – we are not sure whether this refers to car drivers to watch out for cyclists; to cyclists to watch out for car drivers; for power walking pedestrians to watch out for cyclists; or cyclists to watch out for other cyclists!!
Arrived at the Marine Hotel and Corinne, Joan and John headed for the pool to stretch out their aching muscles – Tina headed for the bath to do the same (but then she is much smaller!!) This is luxury indeed, something we’re not used.
Avid readers of the blog will have to wait with bated breath for a day – we are having a day off in Dublin today (Wednesday) for ALL activities, see you soon......!
Today Mileage 38miles ∑Total to date 474 miles J
Military operations at the Llanberis (Snowdon) Youth Hostel today – James, our head of chain of command, attempted to rally the troops in pulling the trailer out of a particularly muddy spot in the car park. All the gear had to be loaded and away today by 8am as we had the ferry to catch in Holyhead which is on the top of Anglesey. Joan, Corinne and Tina were like soldier ants, scurrying around – shifting, loading, moving, hauling. Oh, and trying to avoid a stranger, greater spotted toilet creeper in the hostel!! Well done to the youth hostel for providing us with an extremely varied and tasty breakfast – freshly baked croissants and loads of fresh fruit and Welsh peach melba yoghurts which reminded Tina of when she used to eat yoghurts as a wee girl! (Corinne thought all they ate in Barvas in the 60s was marrags [spelling?!] and porridge!)
Flatter country as we journeyed over the Menai Straits into very very Welsh Wales where everything is in Welsh, to a stop at the railway station with the longest name (see previous entry and pics hopefully) – 27 letters I believe. Cycled through Anglesey through driving rain which was a shame as it is probably quite a scenic place although very flat. Made good time for the boat – great huge floating beast – we’re all used to baby Calmac ferries swanning backwards and forwards towards the Hebrides.
Sailed up through the Liffy, to be sure we’re now in Ireland (although Joan said audibly “just because I’m in Ireland, doesn’t mean I have to act Irish! At which point Tina and Corinne bent under the table....!! Joan says – there wasn’t an Irish person on the ferry, it was all foreigners....!!) As the port in Dublin is so large, it took us about 20 mins to cycle through it – Corinne nearly falling off a couple of times as her bike wheel got stuck in some kind of tramline. Cycled along the coast towards Howth, a peninsula about 7/8 miles from Dublin city centre. Dublin seems to have bred a more aggressive type of cyclist – there are cycle lanes everywhere but a new type of hierarchy seems to have built up between “commuter” cyclist and “pleasure” cyclist, we being the latter and lower on the pecking order. There are signs everywhere saying “Caution Cyclists” – we are not sure whether this refers to car drivers to watch out for cyclists; to cyclists to watch out for car drivers; for power walking pedestrians to watch out for cyclists; or cyclists to watch out for other cyclists!!
Arrived at the Marine Hotel and Corinne, Joan and John headed for the pool to stretch out their aching muscles – Tina headed for the bath to do the same (but then she is much smaller!!) This is luxury indeed, something we’re not used.
Avid readers of the blog will have to wait with bated breath for a day – we are having a day off in Dublin today (Wednesday) for ALL activities, see you soon......!
4 comments:
Well done - sounds great fun! I look forward to reading about your adventures when I'm having a cup of tea at work!Enjoy your day off - you deserve it! xxx
You are all doing brill. Love from all the Inverness bikers-and me
A DAY OFF?!! i dont think you deserve it!! LOL only joking. of course you all do. 11 days cycling...very proud of you all.
mx
Great progress - and your certainly deserve the day off. I did have visions of Corinne still going round in ever decreasing..... in the tramlines, so glad to know she is still with you.
See you next week!
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