Mizen to Malin cycle (day 4)

Today was great, just great great great. I started out from the b&b at Doolin at 10am and immediately stopped off in the internet café to edit my previous night’s post about the place to make it suitable for the listeners of Clare FM to read. Once political correctness had been applied, off I went. I knew I wanted to see the coast and the Burren so I took the coast road and boy was I glad I did. For most of the morning I had it to myself. I had peace there, real peace. On my bike I heard every bird, saw every animal in every field and overdosed on the Atlantic Ocean which was glass calm. I spent a lot of time thinking along that stretch, so much so that I did not notice the cycling nor the rolling climbs. Before I knew it I was in Ballyvaughan.

I stopped into the tea room there at the pier. It is run by three great women and one absolute babe. They make all their own cakes, scones, tarts – you name it. In the tea room they place all the goodies out on a table so when you order a cuppa and a cake, you are looking at these confections and getting high on the smell of home baking before you ever take a bite. The place is magic. As it turns out, one of the women cycles and had a great chat with me. She gave me the entry form for the forth coming Burren tour cycle which I may well do. I left the tea shop after homemade cheesecake and tea and hopped up on the bike but hark!!! (please imagine the music from Psycho here). I got my first puncture.

The all important back wheel was half flat so I stopped, hopped off and set about removing the wheel, changing the tube and trying to feel the inside of the tyre for the culprit. It was a piece of glass embedded in the tyre, it was just barely nicking the tube but enough to do the damage. So I put on the new tube, went to the garage and blew both tyres up to 110psi (they are built for that). By now it was nearly 2pm and time for a live interview with Clare FM.
I decided not to wait around in Ballyvaughan but rather to head on towards Kinvara and at about 1:50 I would get myself into a good Vodafone reception spot to take the interview. I found a lane that went in through a field to a paddock, silage pit and crush. So down I went in glorious sunshine and waited for the station to ring which they duly did. I did a great interview and was really getting into it when down the lane comes a jeep – it was the farmer who owned the paddock. He pulled up beside me, smiled and shouted “I’m listening to you on the radio”. It was hilarious. After the interview I spoke to him and we shook hands.

I hit the road after that and as soon as I changed direction on the north coast of Clare, I got my first tail wind. I literally rocketed along and was hitting villages faster than a speeding bullet. Kinvara, Kilcolgan. Lots of motorists were blowing their horns at me after the Clare FM stint. They had obviously heard the interview and the yellow ‘Mizen to Malin for SVP’ t-shirt also helped identify me. At Kilcolgan I stopped for a bowl of soup and as I was ordering, I got chatting to a very nice fella called Tom Keary who donated a fiver to the cause. Many thanks Tom.  I made it back to Athenry for 5pm (2 hours quicker than expected). I got back to my place and had to wait outside until 6:30 when Mary (my landlady) arrived with a spare key. (Tris has my car / house keys and we forgot to arrange a drop off).  I did not mind the wait at all though, the sun shone and I used the time to mend the puncture in tube one.
So I sit at home in my own place tonight, it feels great to be in my big red recliner, with my own laptop, my own TV, my own laundry, my own Chinese takeaway and whatever yer havin yerself. Tomorrow is along stint all the way up to Charlestown, but I have just watched the weather forecast on RTE1 and the lovely Evelyn speaks of a southerly breeze! Yes!!! Yes yes yes!! The wind is changing, and she’s talking about temperatures in the twenties with lots of sunshine and some thundery showers. The best news I’ve had all week. Man I tell you, I suffered from that constant headwind for the past three days. Seriously I am due a break. Bring it on baby.

On each and every day of this trip, I spend a lot of time thinking about Mom and her last couple of years. I find myself saying the odd few words to her and visualising her, particularly the way she used to wave goodbye to me at her door, old, frail, weak but yet insistent on the gesture. I spent my life saying goodbye to her and missing her. Never got to say goodbye when it mattered though. I am doing this cycle for her. Maybe it’s a cheap attempt at atonement or a cheap attempt at attention seeking. Really I don’t care; the upshot is about getting money in. I want to help the people that helped my Mom in her dying years.  Good night Mom, here’s to you!