Ireland Journal
by Bob Smith

We arrived at Dublin Airport on Thursday morning. We checked the tandem bike cases at the Left-Luggage at the Car Park next to the terminal. We took an AirCoach shuttle to the Burlington Hotel in Dublin 4. To our surprise we were able to check into hotel that morning. The Burlington a Jurys Hotel is very nice, just not as close to downtown as we thought. After freshened up we walked to downtown passing through St Stephens Green and Grafton Street Mall to Trinity College to the Book of Kells and library. The Book of Kells is a fascinating interpretive exhibit. We felt as though we were falling a sleep standing up trying to read everything. The library is upstairs which houses more than 200,000 of Ireland's oldest manuscripts. The books are on floor ceiling shelf arranged perpendicular to the center hall that is nearly a football field in length. We had lunch at a small bistro off Grafton Street.

The next morning we had our first encounter with the full Irish breakfast. We purchased tickets for the Hop'on Hop'off double decker open top Dublin City Tour Bus. The closest bus stop was across St. Stephen's Green. A ticket is good for 24 hours and stops at most of the major tourist attractions in the city. The bus driver doubles as a city tour guide. Every driver seems to haves his own spin on the attractions and history of Dublin and Ireland in general. The tour loop takes about an 1 1/2 hours and provides a way to get a feel for the city. Some sites are in close proximity of one another so it is easy to hop off visit an area or site and hop back on a couple stops later. Our first stop Temple Bar (nightlife area) from there we walked to Dublinea to see the Viking Exhibit. Then we walked passed the Christchurch Cathedral and Dublin Castle. We were a bit late for the castle tour so hopped on the bus for a brief stop at the Ha'penny Bridge footbridge which crosses the River Liffey. We hopped back on the bus to St Patrick's Cathedral where we toured the cathedral.

We closed out our sightseeing with tours of the Guinness Brewery and the Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Guinness no longer has a working brewery tour instead there is a multi-level museum and the Guinness Storehouse. The Guinness tour ends once reach the top floor at Gravity Bar where you are rewarded with a pint of Guinness and a spectacular 360 degree circular view of the city. The Old Jameson Distillery is on the north side of the River Liffey and is more like a museum. Most of the distillery has been converted to apartments/condos or what we may call lofts. Here we learned the differences in Irish, Scotch and American Bourbon. The Irish Whiskey is triple distilled, Scotch twice distilled and Bourbon single distilled. A day and half isn't long enough to see and do everything. Dublin is very diverse city with lots of young people and definitely worth another visit.

Guinness Trivia: Arthur Guinness negotiated a 9000 year lease on 4 acres of land in the St James Street area Dublin for about £160 a year. They initially brewed only but eventual switched to port or better known as stout. Guinness is shipped all around the world yet nearly 40% of it remains in Ireland. Guinness holds licenses to brew Budweiser and Carlsburg. The tour bus driver claimed that Dublin has about 600 pubs of which about 400 are located in or near downtown.

The northern regions of Ireland are not as well known to cyclists as the southern and western regions of Burren, Connemara, Kerry, Dingle and Cork. Our BAC tour leader Sheelagh Boyd grew up in Belfast and has cycled much of the northern shores. She wanted to share this little less traveled area. Ireland is really two countries the Republic of Ireland (ROI) and Northern Ireland (NI). ROI uses Euros and NI uses Pounds. Our tour started in Sligo on the west coast just to the north of County Galway and finished in the County Down about 35 miles south of Belfast in Downpatrick. The first half of the tour was mostly in the ROI. ROI has banned smoking in all public buildings including bars and restaurants.

After breakfast Saturday morning we took the AirCoach back to Dublin Airport to retrieved our bike cases from Left-Luggage. Then we met up with Tony Boyd of the Iron Donkey Bicycling Tours (IDBT) and several others from our BAC group. Tony took the bikes in his van and trailer and the rest of us went in a private bus shuttle to Sligo. Our bus driver was a rather chatty chap and managed to exit a round about heading back towards Dublin. Ken Bertran realized we were backtracking and convinced the driver of his error. The driver was chatting with me (so I guess it was my fault). We arrived at the hotel 2-3 hours late, which meant we didn't have much time to assemble the bike. We were glad we had two nights at the newly opened Radisson SAS Hotel. Even though the bike wasn't completely assemble we joined the others of our in the hotel's pub for the first official pint of the tour. Tony postponed the review until the next morning after breakfast. The group dinner in the hotel was excellent.

Sunday's route was a loop from the hotel into Sligo, then west to Strandhill and east towards Dromahair around Lough Gill with an out and back extension to the lake south shore of Lough Gill to view Innishfree, the island immortalized by WB (Dutch) Yeats. This area is known as Yeats Country. Just after leaving Sligo we encountered brief (30-40 minute) shower. On the way to Innishfree Paul had a rear derailleur failure and had to convert his bike to a single speed. From Innishfree it was on to lunch at a hotel in Drumahair where Tony have arranged for a lunch of sandwiches and vegetable soup. After lunch we rode onto Parke's Castle with John McManus and Brenda Cole. Parke's Castle is on the north side of Lough Gill. Instead of returning directly to the hotel we rode out to Rosses Point to view the coast and the Atlantic Ocean. Our driver to Sligo made a statement that Rosses Point is Atlantic and the next parish Boston. The first day of cycling was nearly perfect except for a brief shower. We rode 50 miles with just over 1800 feet of climbing.

Opening a tour with two nights in the same location makes for a much more relaxing start to a cycling tour. We were on our our for dinner so we shared a taxi with John and Brenda to go into Sligo for dinner. What a fabulous first full day!

During today's route review Tony was asked which of the two extensions he preferred. His response was both. Leaving Sligo/Rosses Point the route alternated between coastal and rural riding. We passed through Drumcliffe, the village where WB Yeats is buried. From there we turned inland towards the impressive profile of Ben Bulben, Ireland 's Table Top mountain and the source of many legends. We again rode with John & Brenda. They keep a pace similar to ours and they don't seem to mind that we stop occasionally for photo op's. We had another brief storm just before the first extension. The Gleniff Horseshoe Loop was a very quiet scenic loop with some pretty healthy climbing. There appeared to be some logging activity in the area. The only apparent inhabitants of the ruined farm houses and barns were sheep. From here it was a fast downhill and nice run towards the coast. The skies cleared for a sunny loop ride of the coast prior to reaching Mullaghmore for lunch (extension 2). We arrived at lunch prior to serving time and had to wait to order. From lunch we headed inland again, around the shores of Lough Macnean to our accommodations at the Hotel Carlton in the village of Belleek. Belleck is home to the world-famous Belleek Pottery.

After a showering we walked around Belleek a bit. Anne visited the Belleek Pottery Factory. She even convinced me to take a look as well. Larry (Sheelagh's husband) had picked up some munchies for this evening route review in hotel pub before dinner. This evening's was a group dinner in the hotel restaurant. We got order from a limited menu three coarses a starter, entree and dessert. The entree comes with sides of potatoes and vegetables served family style. There are typical three styles of potatoes to choose from mashed, boiled (skins off or new potatoes) and chips (french fries). There is definitely no shortage of potatoes these days. Belleek is actually in Northern Ireland but is very close to ROI so Euros were accepted as well as Pounds. There was no need to exchange currency since we would back in ROI for the next several days.

This was another excellent ride with amazing variations in scenery. The inland riding was superb as well as the coastline at Mullaghmore. There was a wee bit of rain before the horseshoe climb and the remainder of the day was mostly sunny. We logged more than 2600 feet of elevation in 54 miles. I had to agree with Tony both the extensions were worth the extra effort.

On May 10th we rode west from Belleek along the River Erne to the town of Ballyshannon, then north following the spectacular Atlantic coastline to the beaches at Rossnowlagh. From there to Donegal Town, a recommended lunch stop and an opportunity to visit Donegal Castle. We decided to forgo lunch in Donegal for the extension circuit of Lough Eske. We got separated from John & Brenda when we went to photograph the castle. We had made plans to meet for lunch at Harvey's Point Resort on Lough Eske. We made a wrong turn proceeding clockwise around the lake instead of the recommended anti-clockwise direction. As a result we arrived at Harvey's Point much earlier than John & Brenda. They arrived at Harvey's as we were departing lunch. Next we crossed paths with Sue & Wilson Cooper who picnicked at one of the lake overlooks. Once around the lake we met up with John & Brenda again. We rode with them until they fell back due to headwinds on a slight climb several miles from Ardara. The final few miles were down to the coastal town of Ardara, which was a pleasant relief from the headwinds.

It was a mostly sunny day but still not particularly warm. The 11.6 mile extension around Lough Eske was a superb ride with some good climbing. We logged nearly 2800 feet of elevation gain in 56 miles. We opted out of the second extension to Loughros Point Slipway which was an out and back from Ardara. We were glad to be at the hotel. The riding here is more difficult and much slower going than we are accustom. The routes traveled are mostly narrow country lanes with very little traffic and lots of twists, turns, ups and downs. The numerous turns make it challenging to stay on route. There have been as many 40 or more cues on the route sheets thus far especially if you take the extensions.

The Nesbitt Arms was another nice hotel. Our happy hour was in the hotel pub and route review in private meeting room prior to another group dinner in the hotel. Sheelagh had taken to asking folks to bring snacks to the happy hours. We were to be in the Nesbitt for two nights giving people and opportunity to be off the bike. Tony offered a loop ride of the peninsula west of Ardara with a couple extensions. To this point Paul had still been riding a single-gear bike and doing all the extensions with cycling buddy Steve. In Ardara he found a local bike mechanic who was able to repair is derailleur. The spring wasn't broken as he had thought. He seemed pleased to have his gears back.

Sheelagh arranged a local 8 person taxi to take folks out onto the peninsula who didn't care to ride the Glengesh Pass or to Slieve League the highest cliffs in all of Europe. She arranged dinner at Nancy's Pub an old haunt of her's from days gone by. She also hooked us with a local laundry to do all our clothes in bulk. After the traditional Irish breakfast (fruit, breads & cereal followed by the full Irish breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage, bake beans, broiled tomato halves, brown & black puddings) we headed off with John & Brenda for the peninsula loop.

A few miles out of town we hit the big climb of the day the Glengesh Pass. Someone said the grade was 25% in places. My GPS profile showed it nearly vertical. Once over the top the landscape changed to an alpine tundra-like appearance and the riding more rolling to Carrick for the first extension to Slieve League. Anne got off the tandem and John & Brenda locked up their bikes. It appeared as through it was a short walk to the Slieve League cliffs. I tried to ride the tandem solo up the steepest hill I've ever ridden. I made it about 3/4s of the way up before nearly falling over. Anne initially thought I might be showing off but was thankful I took the tandem up. It turned out to be a very long walk to the cliffs overlook. The Slieve League sea cliffs (over 1700 feet) are the highest in all of Europe.

The four of us rode back to Carrick where we had lunch with Paul, Steve, Sue and Wilson at the Slieve League Pub. From there we rode out to Malin Moore and turned inland to Glencolumbkille. In Glencolumbkille we saw an ancient vertical carved stoned near the St Columb Church. This area is totally amazing. It seems almost surreal and out of place. We stopped briefly at the Glencolmcille Folk Museum. The day was getting long and we wanted to get back to the hotel. At the fork to Maghera Strand, John & Brenda continued straight on the road back to Glengesh Pass. After another short but very steep climb we finally reached the descent. However, the road was very narrow and severely broken asphalt much like a poorly paved double track. We managed to negotiate the descent to Maghera for a nice undulating ride long the south side of Loughros Beg Bay and the Bracken River where we came upon the best waterfall of the tour thus far.

Again we had another good weather day, it was a wee bit windy and still too cool for shorts and short sleeve jerseys. The morning was overcast and cool for the big climb up Glengesh Pass with the remainder of day was mostly sunny. Today was by far most difficult ride of the tour to date with 3500 feet of elevation gain in 50 miles. Everyday seems to hold something new and spectacular.

Our evening at Nancy's Pub was great fun. The owner Charlie (great grandson of Nancy) had two local musicians come into play for us. The dinner was great and everyone enjoyed the entertainment. Another great day in Ireland the music was icing on the cake. All good tours seem to pass quickly and this one is no exception.

With our all the riding we didn't have much time to look around the village. Ardara is well known for its woolen goods and outlets. I wanted a wool sweater and John a wool hat. After a couple stops we made our purchases. As a result most of the folks got off ahead us but we did meet up with a lot of them at a gas station/small grocery (convenient store as we would call it).

Cycling tours have a tendency to break into smaller groups. We had six about groups Steve & Paul (the guys); Ina & Claire (the girls); Bill & Elli and Natalie& Tom; Ken & Eve, Derald & Mary and Gary & Ann; Sue & Wilson; John & Brenda and Bob & Anne with Joseph floating between groups. Sheelagh pretty much hangs back with the slower riders and stays in contact with Tony in case someone runs into difficulty. Larry has had some recent knee surgery and rides occasionally mostly in about the towns and villages. He gathers tourist information including small local papers and gives us his view of the local sites and current events at our happy hours and route reviews.

We departed Ardara heading north riding inland along the coast before turning east towards Glenties the recommended lunch stop. We took the extension towards Doocharry where we caught up with Paul & Steve near some bogg land. Paul was trying photograph a tractor as it was cutting bogg. We rode onto Doocharry together. The pub there wasn't open yet and didn't serve food so we made a few purchases at a small grocery and shared a picnic in the village. Paul seemed quite pleased to have his gears back. He and Steve took the second extension to Letterkenny and the rest us continued on our own version of the first extension. We passed through Finn Town and rode along the Finn River. We opted not to return to R253 but to stay east on R252 to Bellenmore and Cloghan before returning to R253 for the final few miles along the Finn Valley to the twin towns of Balleybofey and Stranorlar to the Hotel Kees.

The Hotel Kees is designated as a leisure hotel which means they have an indoor swimming pool. Today's ride was a moderate ride with almost 2000 feet of elevation in 42 miles. We finished much earlier than previous days. We took a short dip in the pool and soaked in the hot tub. The weather was great but still not warm enough for shorts. The accommodations and group dinner were very good.

Today's route to Derry (Londonderry) would take us back into Northern Ireland. We would remain NI for the rest of our cycling tour. The route was northeasterly and direct. Tony had planned for us arrive at our hotel in Derry around noon. Our route mostly meandered near the River Foyle. The last 6 miles was via a relatively new bike path along the river. There were no obvious border crossing between ROI and NI. The ride was the easiest so far with less than 1200 feet of climbing in 30 miles. The weather was sunny and bit warmer. I did removed my leg warmers but still needed my long sleeve polypro t-shirt and cycling jersey.

Derry is a fully walled city with plenty of history and things to do. We arrived before noon and walked into walled part of the city with John & Brenda. John's right hand STI shifter broke as we entered Derry. Our priorities were to locate a bike shop and lunch. We ate the River Inn the oldest pub in Derry. John had hoped to have his bike repaired prior our walking tour of the city walls. The shifter could not be repaired so the shop added a 7-speed thumb shifter to his bar handle.

The walking tour was our first opportunity to get some first hand knowledge of the troubles that exist or existed in NI. The tours are lead by guides who work for the city. The guides attempt to present an unbiased history of events. The British Army has departed but the fortifications, cameras and possibly listening devices are still in place and manned by police. The checkpoints are going and everyone seems to go about normal daily lives. Our guide had moved away and returned several years ago. The neighborhood row houses as seen from the walls have murals supporting their individual political and religious views. Protestant neighbors often have the curbs painted red, white and blue. Many of them are faded as it is now prohibited to paint the curbs.

The walled portion of Derry is very beautiful with its churches and old buildings. There is quite diverse architecture inside the walls including a modern shopping mall, the Millennium Forum and Gallery. The walled city reminded us of walled cities like Lucca in Italy just not as large. We would have liked to have spent a second day here to visit a museum or gallery. A short afternoon wasn't enough of a visit. I would like to better understand the politics.

After the tour it was back to the hotel pub for happy hour and the route review. We had dinner on our own at Quay West with Derald, Mary, John & Brenda. The restaurant was quite modern with a very eclectic menu like one might find in California. The City Hotel was a Jurys Hotel and very nice and modern. Even though we had a short day of cycling the day passed quickly.

The breakfast buffet at the hotel was wonderful with plenty of choices. The nice thing about a buffet the wait staff doesn't have any idea how much you eat.

From Derry we rode southeast through the Sperrins, a beautiful range of hills that literally divides the province of Ulster. In days gone by, this was Ulster 's gold country. There are beautiful river valleys cutting through the terrain – and the region is relatively unspoiled. Today's route had no official mapped out extensions except for a short out and back to the village of Gortin where we had lunch at the Pedlars Inn.

From lunch the route was a bit more challenging especially the climb up Barnes Gap. After the descent of the gap we came upon several of our group having a picnic. The remainder of the ride was along a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley. Tony's routes haven't been the easiest to follow. Each day has been supercharged with scenery from narrow country lanes with little or no traffic.

Our destination was the Derrynoid Centre near Draperstown. Today was the warmest day of the trip so far and we shed our vests and I my leg warmers. It may have got into the mid 60s by mid afternoon. As we approached Derrynoid we rode through rather dense forest. The Derrynoid Centre was a small conference center with single story dormitory like rooms. The rooms were modest and very adequate The center is fully self contained with pub, restaurant and small computer lab which had internet access. Internet has been a rare commodity on this trip. Since leaving Dublin we have only had internet access at the hotels in Sligo and Derry.

Larry did the happy hour snacks again and did an excellent job. He picked up a disposable charcoal grill and grilled up some fabulous sausages. The group dinner at the center was a bit sub par in comparison to the other group dinners thus far. In summary today was another excellent day for riding and the valley views were superb. We covered 48 miles with around 3000 feet of climbing.

The really neat thing about traveling by bicycle folks will come forward to talk with you. Prior to leaving Derrynoid a gentlemen was talking to Anne about the history of Derrynoid's main structure. It is solid stone and close to 200 years old. It had been burned out and now restored. On the right side of the road as we departed there was a large sofa sculpture covered in clay tiles made by children. Click on the photo to the left for a larger view.

The morning was overcast and looked as though it would rain at any time. We rode east from Draperstown through very pleasant country, passing through the village of Maghera on the way to meet the River Bann at Kilrea. In Kilrea we stopped for lunch at the golf club where we met up with Tom, Joseph, Bill, Elli and Natalie. Ann and Gary were about to depart as we arrived. We had lunch in a glass enclosed patio overlooking the golf course.

From Kilrea we followed the River Bann north through lush farmland, re crossing the river again by the bridge at Bendooragh. Our accommodation in Aghadowey the Brown Trout Inn has a nine hole golf course. Larry and Sheelagh plan a late departure in the morning after a short round of golf. The Brown Trout is independently owned and is supposedly the first combined golf club and inn in Ireland (possibly Ireland's first golf resort). Today was a shorter day of 50 miles with nearly 1900 feet of climbing. We arrived early at the hotel which provided some time to clean up the bike and lube the chains.

We were on our own for dinner again. Our options were limited to the hotel bar and hotel restaurant. Man folks opted for the bar. We made a reservation for the restaurant. We attempted to enter the restaurant and we were promptly stopped and asked to order our food from the menu in the bar. They called us to the restaurant once our food was ready. This seems to be a common custom in England as well, we just hadn't experienced until now. The bar was quite smoky and the restaurant was smoke free so advantage restaurant (same menu, same price).

Leaving Aghadowey it was quiet overcast and appeared as though it would rain as we rode the back roads to the mouth of the River Bann in Coleraine. On the way to Coleraine passed by Mountsandel which is the oldest known inhabited site in Ireland. By the time we reached Coleraine the skies had cleared. At Coleraine we crossed the river to ride the extension to Castle Rock and Bishop's Palace. On the way to Bishop's Palace we took a accidental side trip into Castle Rock. After riding about the village we realized the only way to reach the palace by bike was to returned to main road. Ruth's Bakery caught John's eye and he suggested we stop for coffee and a snack. While at the bakery we picked up several loaves of fresh baked bread for the evening happy hour. Notice the faded out red, white and blue curbing in front of Ruth's.

We entered the palace area through Lions Gate having ridden passed the Bishop's Gate. The palace is now owned by the National Trust. During WWII the palace was occupied by the RAF sometime after the war part of it burned then for safety reasons the roof was removed. It overlooks the sea and has views of the northern coastline. Inside the palace the rooms are marked and windows frame spectacular views. Walking north from the palace is Mussenden Temple near the coastline. The temple is often the site for weddings. Retracing our tracks we found the Bishop's Gate.

From Bishop's Gate we backtracked through the village of Downhill to Coleraine to rejoin the Sustran (National Cycle Network) route to the coastal resort towns of Portstewart and Portrush. Notice the photo of the Sustran route marker on the north side of the River Bann in Coleraine. Portrush was preparing for Bike Week. Bike Week is an annual 4-5 day motorcycle road racing event. Motorcycles race on open roads, much like Grand Prix racing once was. It is very dangerous and there are no safety features that track racing provides. The famous Irish motorcycle road racer Johnny Dunlap was from this area.

The coastal riding through the resort towns was especially nice with clear skies and great views of the coastline. Castle ruins such as Dunluce only added to the enchantment of the days ride of 43 miles and over 1800 feet of climbing. The winds along the coast were a bit of a challenge at least there was no rain. We reached Bushmills in time for lunch time. We ate at a small cafe on the town square, where others joined even Tony popped in for a coffee. Bushmills is home to the Old Bushmills Distrillery (the world's oldest licensed distillery) and legendary giant Finn MacCool the architect of the Giant's Causeway (Ireland 's only World Heritage Site).

After a bit of shopping for the remainder of our happy hours supplies we rode the finally two miles to our home for the next two nights. The Causeway Hotel is owned and operated by the National Trust located on the cliffs overlooking the Giant's Causeway. From the hotel I hiked along the cliff trail to the west to take some photographs. It was so windy along the cliffs I could hardly walk or stand upright and hold the camera still.

The group dinner in the hotel was very good and we got to order from the full menu. I ordered the mixed grill and there was enough food on my plate to feed at least two for entire day. I had grilled steak, pork chop, lamb chop, sausage, two eggs, peas, mixed salad and the family style sides. I ate less than half the food on my plate.

Our second day in Bushmills was our first official day off of the tour. Tony had no mapped route for the day. We were perfectly ok with that since we had just ridden 9 days straight. There were plenty of coastal hiking routes in the area and bus service into town and other area attractions such as the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede.

After breakfast we met up with John & Brenda to visit the National Trust Visitors Center and saw the film on the Giant's Causeway. From there we hiked east along the cliff trail to the point where it descend down to the Causeway. Where we hiked down and then out to the trails end and back to the Causeway itself. Once at the Causeway it began to rain. After some photos including a group shot of the four of us on the Giant's Chair we took the bus back to the visitor's center. It was easy to imagine how the legend of the Giant Finn MacCool came to pass seeing the geological formations of the volcanic rocks that flowed up from the sea appear to be stacked stepping stones forming a causeway in the direction of southern Scotland.

Once back the visitor's center we caught the bus for Bushmills where we had lunch at the same cafe as the day before. Then it was off to the Bushmills Distillery for a tour. This is a working distillery not like the Jameson Distillery in Dublin. John and I volunteered to be two of the four whiskey tasters in our tour group. I thought this tour was much better than the Jameson tour. We even got to experience aroma of the mash. John and I tasted 10 different whiskeys including Scotch and Bourbon. We received certificates qualifying us as whiskey tasters.

John & Brenda hosted the evening happy hour and group photo shoot. John and Mary (both BAC board members) conducted a brief meeting and discussed some of the challenges for the club. The major issue is the club has grown to over 1500 members but rides and leaders haven't grown proportionally to membership.

Tony had two planned routes through the Glens of Antrim to Carnlough. The longer having the more difficult climbs. It was drizzling rain as we left the Causeway Hotel for the easterly ride along Causeway Coast. We had briefly entertained the thought of a visit to the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede. The rope bridge is construct new every year by fisherman to a small island for the purpose of aiding the fishing trade. Over the year's the bridge has become a tourist attraction. Those thoughts were quickly erased as the drizzle became more persistent. The rain didn't however deter Steve and Paul.

The Glens of Antrim provided protection for the people of this region from invading sailors. The people of Antrim could life and hide out in the glens. The gradients of the glens weren't nearly as difficult as those on the peninsula west of Ardara but the climbs were longer. More like what we are accustom to in Colorado. The rain was cold very heavy at times. We had every bit of warm and supposedly waterproof cycling gear on today. We climbed from sea level to over 1100 feet only to plunge back to sea level in a pouring cold rain. We lost John & Brenda shortly after the summit. We waited for them on the descent as Tony came by in the van. He said they had stopped to put on more clothes. We had no more clothes and we were getting very cold so we pushed on to Cushendun (the recommended lunch stop). We saw several of our group in Cushendun. It seemed more prudent to push on to Carnlough (another 22 miles) rather than have lunch in cold wet clothes. The ride from Cushendun to Carnlough was along the coast and mostly flat. We made excellent time along this 20 plus mile segment.

It was still raining when we arrived at the Londonderry Arms Hotel. Anne got our room key and I stored the bike. Everything we had with us was soaking wet. The hotels have hot water heat. The radiators are great for drying things except most hotels have the boilers on timers typically only on from 6pm to 10pm. This was just enough to take the chill off not nearly enough to totally dry our gear.

This evening's happy hour was put on by the guys and girls. They went all out and hosted the best yet happy hour. The hotel had been inherited by Winston Churchill from his great grandmother. Room number 1 is still the Churchill Room. The hotel is now own by the O'Reilly family. The City of Carnlough has a very interesting history. Today we traveled 53 miles and climbed 2400 feet.

The hotel was very accommodating and started breakfast earlier than normal. Everyone wanted to get an early start for Belfast. Especially since the train from Larne was no longer an option due to rail construction. Tony offered an alternative route to Ballymena for those wanting to take a train. Everyone took the standard route along the Antrim Coast Road. On a clear day it is possible to see the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland from the Antrim Coast Road. The route of 40 miles was relatively flat with only 1200 feet of elevation. We passed by the Carrickfergus Norman Castle before joining a bike path along the shore of Lough Belfast. The route into the city of Belfast and our Jury Hotel in the city was pretty easy to negotiate.

We checked into the hotel early and had lunch with John & Brenda at the well known Central Bar. After lunch we took a Black Taxi tour. During "The Troubles" Catholics often used the Black Taxis to pass through the Protestant neighborhoods at night. Now the old black taxis mainly provide a tour service. Our driver was catholic and he tried to present both sides and drove us through the neighborhoods. The murals of each side present entirely different perspectives. The protestant (loyalist) murals mostly depict the catholic (republicans) as terrorists and the catholic murals tend to depict incidents of hundreds of years of injustice. Belfast has numerous walls segregating the catholic and protestant neighborhoods. One of the walls is 30 some feet high. We visited the old jail and the courthouse where many of the IRA were tried and jailed. The Carrickfergus Norman Castle had also been used as a prison at one time.

Our day in Belfast went by very quickly. We had dinner with John and Brenda prior to seeing the musical play "The Titanic" at the Belfast Opera House. The Titanic was built at the Belfast shipyards. Opera House was less than a block from our hotel.

We left Belfast via a Sustrans Cycle Path alongside the River Lagan to Lisburn where we veered away from the river to the village of Hillsborough. Hillsborough Castle is the residence of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. From Hillsborough we passed through Saintfield along the west side of a bay along country lanes to Downpatrick. St. Patrick's is buried here. We had lunch at a small cafe here. We didn't think much of the town. It was quite congested with traffic. Our final day's ride was like a synopsis of the trip. There were no sea cliffs but the riding was very nice once out of Belfast we were back on country lanes and even with a farm house or two with thatched roofs. We arrived at Bally Mill Inn in the early afternoon after riding 37 miles and 1370 feet of climbing. Once at the inn we began to immediately pack the bike for the trip home.

The Mill Inn is located in country about three miles south of Downpatrick. It was a multi-story grist mill that had fallen into severe disrepair. Knolls the owner bought to property after having restored several other mills into private residents and began the restoration of this mill into an inn. It is still a work in progress. The lower level is a the reception area, restaurant and bar. The 4th and 5th floors have been partitioned into guest rooms. The 6th floor has a small museum.

The Mill Inn was a delightful last night in Ireland and the most unique stay of the tour. Prior to dinner we had our final happy hour. The owner told us about the mill and how he came to restore it as an inn. The structural timbers had been imported from Oregon in the 1850s. During dinner Tony did a brief wrap up of the tour and informed us the bus for Dublin Airport would depart around 6:00 a.m. After dinner we had drinks with Tony, Sheelagh, Larry, Brenda and John. We even got to meet our chef who was from Portugal. The dinner was excellent and local bar crowd was quite curious about our bicycle adventure.

The inn had fruit, breads and other non-perishables for us to have a quick bite before leaving. We departed the Ballydugan Mill Inn by bus around 6:00 a.m. Joe had early an morning flight so everyone had to leave early. Some folks going to the airport and then into Dublin for a few days.

This was our first oversees BAC tour and it was very good first tour. We regret not having more time in Dublin, Derry and Belfast. The weather was kind to us with two short rain showers on days one & two of cycling and a full day from Bushmills to Carnlough. We experienced quite a bit of headwind and cooler temperatures than normal. Many roads were hilly to steep and the road surfaces were a bit rough. We had very little traffic and the drivers were very considerate. Some routes were a bit difficult to follow at times with lots of twists and turns. This was because we were only on unsigned country lanes. The scenery was spectacular. The sea cliffs at Slieve League, Mullaghamore and Giants Causeway were beyond description. The routes along rivers and lakes (loughs) were spectacular. The country side and farms were pristine. The small villages with their bars and cafes were great places for lunch and opportunity to get a feel for the country and the people. The castles and numerous ruins provided a connection with the past. The wall tour in Derry and the Black Taxi tour provided some insight into the struggles in Northern Ireland.

We were fortunate to have an excellent guide in Tony Boyd, proprietor and sole employee of Iron Donkey Bicycling Tours. Sheelagh Boyd did an excellent job as our BAC leader as well as her partner Larry Layne. Tony and Sheelagh provided us with a tremendous amount of local knowledge of Northern Ireland. The accommodations were excellent and the food better than we ever imagined. What surprised us most was all the new and modern the homes. We had expected to see lot more stone and masonry stucco homes with thatched roofs and bicycles leaning against them.

We had always wanted to visit Ireland but hadn't given Northern Ireland much thought until we saw the BAC trip listing. We are very pleased having taken the roads and region less traveled on the island called Ireland.