Today was a mixed bag! It rained last night, and there was soft drizzle when I woke. After packing up, I made my way back to the road, then set off cycling.
I spent a good evening in the company of John and Sara Devoy, who kindly invited me to stay over at their home. John is the author of Quondam, a book that tells part of the story of when he cycled from Ireland, to North Cape in Norway, then down to Cape Town in South Africa.
Bad luck
Soon after I started struggling to shift gears and as the route wàs hilly,I was suffering. By then the rain increased and I struggled to see what was wrong. In the end I cable-tied a rock between the cable and the chain stay, which kept the chain roughly in the middle of the cassette. At least I could still shift on the front, which gave me three gears.
By the time I made it to Timoleague, the rain eased off, then stopped. This allowed me to try and find the cause, which turned out to be the shifter.
Good luck
As I was meant to be meeting John Devoy, I emailed him to explain that I was running late, and gave the reason. He immediately offered to drive out and collect me. All I had to do was sit tight (which included feeding a bunch of crows). Because of the crows sitting on my bike, my bike finally received a name: it’s now called Nevermore!
Surprise!
After he picked me up, John drove around, showing me the local area. We dropped the bike off at his house, then John and Sarah sprung a surprise on me: they took me to a mobile sauna parked up on Red Strand beach!
Along with Dervla Murphy’s book Full Tilt, John’s book is my joint most-favourite cycle touring book ever, and if you’ve not read it yet, you really, really should remedy that! As it happens, in partnership with John, I’m running a competition in which one lucky winner could win a signed copy of Quondam. John would be happy to write whatever message you want in the book.
Simply comment on any of my Wild Atlantic Way posts (your comment won’t be published) to enter, and remember to write what message you’d like in the book.
Competition!
To be in with a chance of winning John Devoy’s fantastic book, Quondam, you need to answer all the questions that I post on a daily basis.
Today’s question is: In the UK, there is the John ‘O Groats to Land’s End route. Can you name of the equivalent route in Ireland, known to every Irish cyclist?