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A wonderful nights sleep which came to a premature end when somebody ran past the patio doors to the apartment for a pee in the garden. Either that or he saw my bike I decided to take it for a joy ride but was frustrated by the lock. Needless to say I made my presence known and nothing un-towards happened. It was 4.15am so not a lot of point in going back to bed. I had my breakfast of rice crispies and bananas along with a cup of tea before packing and getting out on the road by 5am.
The ride through the area known as The Rosses was glorious. One of the most beautiful areas I have ridden through so far with stunning backdrops out to the sea with islands dotted off the coast, undulating lanes with high banks, gorse with yellow flowers and little lakes and loughs. This is the area that gave birth to the band Clannad and I could feel the music in my head as I wound in and out of the little settlements. The early morning mist on the water and then a glorious sunrise. A wonderful way to start the day.
Once through The Rosses the next destination was the North West Passage and Bloody Foreland. This remote part of Ireland signalled turning the corner and heading East. The whole weekend I had seen dotted here and there references to "Remember the Maze" and pictures of the various hunger strikers who had died such as Bobby Sands. Here in this remote corner Sinn Fein had an office, flags hung from lampposts, slogans were daubed over walls, everywhere things had been vandalised and rubbish was dumped on the road side. It was a wild area evidently populated by wild people. The views though were again stunning.
The weather tried to rain and a few drops did fall (the first so far this weekend) but it soon gave up. Soon I was cycling through the tiny village of Meenlaragh "famous" for the fact that this is one of the places from which you can catch a ferry to Tory Island. Why I mention this is because of a book I read "Round Ireland with a Fridge" by Tony Hawks which describes his adventures of hitch hiking round Ireland carrying a fridge. Part of the bet was that he had to visit a number of Islands and Tory Island was one. It was at this spot that he spent a few days trying to get out to the island. I had a somewhat different impression in my mind as to what this spot would look like.
The ride around to Creeslough was on main roads but it wasn’t busy. I was making good time so I took to the side roads again and headed to Milford going past Doe Castle.
Once I reached Letterkenny it was all main road to Derry so I once again put my head down and went for it. I was very tired though with the combination of the mileage, the hills and the wind. I also had a deadline to make as the bus from Derry to Dublin was due to go in a couple of hours and I stiil had to get there plus get some lunch. I had been able to eat a sandwich and some bananas but I needed a proper meal and once again finding somewhere suitable was proving difficult. Luckily one of the petrol stations I passed had a cafe attached so I was able to grab a quick Sunday lunch before heading to Derry.
Crossing the border into Northern Ireland was strange. It was like being thrown back in time with signs in miles and yards. Since at least the 12th century the yard has been subdivided into 3 feet or 36 inches. It was formerly (before the 15th century) also subdivided in a binary fashion, mainly by clothmakers, the chief divisions being 4 quarters and 16 nails (nayles). How archaic. I have 10 fingers and 10 toes, as a human being I am metric, who the heck came up with this as a measurement and why do us Brits still cling onto such an out of date concept. It actually makes the United Kingdom seem backwards and out of touch along with our stubborn insistence of keeping the Pound instead of joining the rest of Europe and adopting the Euro.
Also cycling into Derry I was once again reminded of the legacy of the troubles; Banners, slogans, placards shouting the innocence of various imprisoned locals, murals and graffiti. All the hatred over events that happened 100’s of years ago compounded by recent events. It is such a shame that all this energy is channelled into negativity and violence instead of being used for the benefit of the Northern Ireland community. It struck me then, and it strikes me now, what a waste.
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