Day 10

Monday, August 14th
Glengariff to Tralee
94km

Wonderful day of cycling.  I think I've written this before, but today was perhaps the nicest day I've ever spent on the bike.  As long as there are rides like this, I will keep looking for more cycling tours.  And I can't say enough positive things about Kevin's Bike Adventures company...what a perfect route.

As is usually the case, beautiful scenery was accompanied by a lot of climbing.  Although this Ireland trip overall won't have as much climbing as the LEJOG across the UK, today's ride had just as much as a tough LEJOG day.  I think that Ryan and Jenn found it pretty exhausting, but the both completed the ride.

We started the day with a gradual 9km climb into the Caha Mountains north of Glengariff.  Great views of rocky green mountains, lakes, the sea, and little villages below.

After a fast decent, we were climbing again.  This time, it was up a rough, overgrown road into the Beara Peninsula.  The accompanying decent was extreamely steep and technical, with lots of sharp turns.  Unfortunately, there was also a lot of loose gravel and uneven surface, so we rode the brakes a lot.

Lunch at a bakery in Kenmare.  Memories of France.  A slice of pizza and three pastry deserts.  Mmmmmm.

A 10km climb out of Kenmare led to Molls Gap.  Again, wonderful views of the surrounding rocky green mountains.  Poor Jenn had a flat near the top, and had to scream at Ryan and I repeatedly before we figured out that she needed us to bring her a pump.

The decent from Molls Gap was great.  Steep and lots of twists and turns, but much smoother pavement.  I flew down at top speed.  Poor Jenn had another flat on the decent, and had to walk down the last section.  I put a boot in her tire before replacing the tube and she didn't have any more trouble.

By this point, Ian and some of the slower riders had caught up with us, and we rode together through Black Valley.  More stunning views of mountains and lakes.

Next, a switchback climb up to the Gap of Dunloe, which was magnificent.  Two huge rocky peaks, with a small windy road crossing between them.  It was a good climb up and a quick decent down, past lots of hiking tourists and horse drawn carriges.

We thought that the tough climbing was all behind us when we flew down a steep valley, crossed a river and, predictably, had a good steep climb up the other side of the valley.  By this point, Jenn and Ryan had had enough of the climbing, and both walked their bikes up the steepest section of the climb.

Passing through Castlemaine after 80km of cycling, the toughest climb of the day was still ahead of us.  In fact, it was the toughest climb of the trip and the toughest I'd ever done.  It was 3km of very, very steep climbing straight up a valley wall.  Ryan and Jenn ended up walking almost the entire climb, which made things pretty slow going.  I would ride ahead, and then wait for the every 500m or so.  The views were great, and I was happy for the short little rests on the climb.

One last quick decent and we were in Tralee.  The weather had again been perfect all day, and we had cycled through some of the best landscapes I'd ever seen.  It was a tough, but very rewarding day.  Completely wonderful.