Great day! Late start so we could get another sixer of donuts. Then we rode the sugar high out of the city on a sweet bike lane.
Only 18mi later we had a stop at the Happy Pear in Greystones.
Perfect sunshine for the whole ride. Even broke out my sunglasses today! Camping on the coast tonight, over a small beach. Dinner was a picnic on the grass.
Lots to do in Dublin. First stop, vegan donuts. Yes, we polished off the half dozen before leaving the shop.
Spent the morning sightseeing and learning about Irish history. Then lunch and a tour of Kilmainham Gaol, a prison known for housing political prisoners since it was built in the 1700s.
Took a walk along the River Liffey to get back to the city center. Dublin is a really interesting city. Very cosmopolitan in some respects, but at street level has the appearance of all the small towns we have passed through. Lots of tourists too. The food has been great. A trip to Dublin wouldn’t be complete without a trip to a local pub for a proper pint.
Guinness…now without fish!
Ever ride a bike for four straight hours in the constant rain? Well after today we can say that we have. It was still raining so we took cover in a coffee shop. After four bowls of porridge, three americanos and two hours, the rain persisted so we decided we would keep riding anyway.
Luckily, it stopped shortly afterward. We crossed into the Republic of Ireland without so much as a sign. It was our longest and toughest ride yet but at the end of the day we were in Dublin!
Finished up with a huge dinner.
We are going to enjoy a day off tomorrow.
Great ride. Another path for 15 mi out of Belfast. Lots of country roads otherwise. Saw the Mourne Mountains in the distance for a lot of the ride too.
Found an escaped cow on the road. She was pretty scared of us and it took some time to get around her cause we kept scaring her up the narrow road.
Seems like we are camping in a playground tonight, lots of kids! Gotta rest up for our biggest planned ride of the trip into Dublin.
After catching a ferry and only 13 miles of riding we made it to Belfast in Northern Ireland for two days off.
First item on the agenda was visiting an Irish Pub. Vegan sausages with potatoes and veggies!
Had a few pints to wait out the rain then back to the AirBnB for a sleepless night. Why so sleepless you ask? Because we were so excited for our GAME OF THRONES TOUR!!! A lot of the show is filmed in Northern Ireland and we spent the day visiting many of the locations.
I think I did a spot on recreation of Arya climbing out of the water in Bravos after being stabbed.
Next was the Iron Islands. Yeah, we got to play with swords.
Harrenhal.
Our tour guide made the day. He is a regular extra on the show and had hilarious stories from behind the scenes. For anyone who is a fan of the show take this tour.
Today’s ride was all country roads. Pretty nice pavement and little to no traffic.
Walked into town for Indian food. Rainy camping.
Last night in Scotland. It’s been great but excited for Ireland.
First ride. We were pretty nervous to start the riding, having to remember to stay on the left of the road and all, but today turned out great. Actually, 55 of the 60 miles were on a bike path. We almost didn’t take it because we thought a lot of it would be gravel but it was perfectly paved and smooth riding. Anyone doing the ride themselves should definitely stick to National Cycle Route 754.
The entire path followed a canal with a pretty wild system of tunnels and water bridges, as well as the Falkirk Wheel, which is like an elevator for ferry boats.
Managed to avoid the rain all day, too!
Walked around Glasgow for a bit and had dinner at the Flying Duck, a fully vegan bar.
