Day 9

Sunday, August 13th
Toormore to Glengarriff
90km

Today was the first "official" day of the tour, where all riders began the trek across Ireland.

Breakfast was lovely this morning.  I had oatmeal and pancakes and a few other bits off the table, which was stuffed with crossants, scones, toast, cheese, etc.  A country breakfast feast.

First stop of the day was Mizen Head - the southern most point of (mainland) Ireland.  It was a lovely 20km ride to the tip from our B&B.  Severy tranquil estuaries with rocky, green covered cliffs on all sides.  Stunning stuff.

At Mizen Head, Frank (the guy I'll be sharing rooms with across Ireland) and I walked down to the old lighthouse at the very tip while Ryan and Jenn rested at the visitor's centre.

From there, we rode back along the norther side of the finger-shaped penninsula, with breathtaking views of Dunmanus Bay.  There was a great decent along this stretch, that I flew down at 50km/h through long, sweeping curves.

We stopped at Durrus for lunch.  As we enjoyed our spicy chicken baquettes, Ryan's bike got a flat.  Similar "mystery flat" to the one I had yesterday.  Luckily, Ian and Sara were there with the truck, so Ryan got a whole new tire in addition to a new tube.

After lunch were a few steep climbs up into the hills around Bantry, with more great views of Dunmanus Bay and Bantry Bay.  Ryan and Jen both made it up the steep climbs, which was a good sign.

After a bumpy and steep decent down into Bantry, we climbed gradually on the N71 as we curved around the Bay to Glengarriff.