Day 14

Friday, August 18th
Carrick-on-Shannon to Donegal
98km

Happy Birthday to me!

Great ride today.  A little bit of everything.  Much more undulating then the past few days.  That made it more challenging, more scenic, and generally more interesting.

The day started with a ride along the Shannon river before we climbed gradually to Drumshanbo.  A quick internet check at the local library, and we were off...climbing into the hills overlooking Lough Allen.  Back to the views of lakes and mountains that I really enjoy.

Around this time it started to rain, so we got all of our gortex outfits on.  As is usually the case, the rain stopped two minutes later.  Ian caught up with us briefly (yet another ride where we were caught by the sweeper) but he stopped with Cliff and Sue for tea in Dowra.

At the 35km mark, we climbed steeply into the forrested hills and then enjoyed a long, rollercoaster of a decent down a single-lane road with rough gravel and grass in the center.  Such fun!

At 45km we stopped for a snack in Glenfarne and at 65km we had lunch at a Spar convenience store in Garrison.  Unfortunately, they didn't serve the hot chicken baguettes that we all like, so we made do with pre-packaged sandwiches.  Poor Jenn is not really a big fan of the pre-packaged sandwich...but she took one for the team.

After lunch, we rode through Belleek before climbing up onto open moorland.  We were really out in the wilderness for 10km, with more sharp climbs, long, rolling decents, and lovely river, lake and mountain views.  By this time the sun was out - bright and warm.  It was great cycling.  Some of the grasses and mosses we rode past were unbelievably bright green.  Must be the wet weather.

Coming out of the rural areas, we passed through Ballintra and Laghy before arriving in Donegal just after 4pm.

The group gave me a birthday card, cake and a little Ireland key chain at dinner tonight.  Very thoughtful of them and much appreciated.  Ryan and Jenn even picked up my dinner and drinks!  Thanks guys!