15/07/2022 – PCR Day 6

A 4:30 alarm awoke me as I wasn’t sure what time the farmer would be up and. out in the house across the road and a morning incident was the last thing I wanted.

It had been a chilly night so hadn’t gotten the best sleep in the world but nothing I can do about it now.

About an hour into the ride I pull over in Kilkee after some rolling hills where I pull over for some snacks overlooking the beach.

Still hungry and depleted, I carry on in search of a service station or another cafe of some kind and stumble upon Danny (another fellow vegan) having some tyre trouble on the side of the road.

A father/son duo doing the shorter route (the son was about 15 and smashing it) were helping out and after stopping to see if I can help, it appears as though he now has it under control and myself and the father/son due head off together.

They’er from North Wales and have done several cycling trips together which is remarkable given his age, I’m sure that when I was 15 there would have been no chance that I’d have signed up to this.

We make it to Lahinch and there is thankfully both a cafe and a mini supermarket so go to the cafe, order some avocados on toast and porridge (separately, not all combined in one big mess) and pop to the shop whilst the order is being prepared to pick up some more snacks and drinks.

When I come back in, Danny is there looking quite tired and he tells me that he’s had a tough few days and is struggling for battery charge on his devices and is considering dropping down to the shorter route.

This is what Joules has done swell as after we arrived CP2 a few days ago, he set off for the loop the next morning and encountered really bad knee pain and decided to spend some time at CP2 resting up with the aim of doing the shorter route to make the finish party.

It was impressed upon us at the start that the shorter route isn’t the “short route” as it is still 1,000 miles and was still seriously hilly.

When the food arrived it was a little disappointing, the avocados on toast were nice but not that big and the porridge tasted horrible but it did fill me up so can’t complain too much.

When I set off I realised that I’d been stopped for almost an hour. I feel like I’m getting good distances in and am on track to finish by the finish party which is my aim but if I was going to do this as a proper race then there would be so much off the bike time that I’d be able to cut out.

It requires so much discipline though and I’m amazed every time I check the tracker and see just how far in front the leaders are!

Straight into the biggest climb of the day, I get back into the swing of things and take in the stunning scenery that follows the western coast of Ireland.

Approaching Bellyvaughn about 123km into the day, I spy a pub/restaurant with a view over the sea that looks perfect for lunch.

It turns out that it is a seafood restaurant and the only vegan dishes they have are a curry and a side of chips so decide to get both.

It is also an ideal time, given that I think it’ll take a while to come out, to do some road side maintenance on my bike.

My rear wheel has had a bit of wear and has been having a very slight bump every rotation for a while now and have put off replacing it with the spare tyre that I bought.

Clearly this is not ideal to ride on but to me is seemed safe to do in the short term until I had an opportune time to change it.

I got a lot of strange looks from my fellow patrons at the restaurant as I sat outside in the midday sun wrestling with the tyre but it was a needs must kind of situation.

The food was really good in all fairness and was timed well in arriving just as I had replaced the tyre but again was another hour stopped.

The next stop was Galway about 60km away where I was planning on having some more food as I headed into a much less populous section of the route.

The route there was really pretty and was looking forward to actually getting there as it has been highly rated (by Ed Sheeran) and the ride in took me past some huge houses, clearly it was the place to be.

The city centre was busy and bustling, perhaps as it was a late Friday afternoon/early evening and people were getting ready for a night on the town.

I managed to find a burger place which was highly rated on happy cow and sat down and ordered 2 burgers and chips as I was starving.

There was a bit of hassle getting the bike into the restaurant as I didn’t fancy leaving it outside on the busy street so hauled it up a set of very slippery stairs where a fall would almost certainly cause a real potential for having to scratch out of the race.

The burgers were nice to be fair but sadly didn’t have the stomach for both chips so took them on the road with me.

Again I stayed for far too long, or perhaps it was me choosing somewhere which wasn’t as fast food as I needed.

The road west out of Galway was a busy one, perhaps leaving at rush hour on a Friday evening wasn’t ideal.

The road eventually became rural passing around mountains and lakes as I rode with a fellow rider.

It made the miles go by a little easier when going with someone although sometimes it forces you to ride at a slightly faster or slower pace than you feel like and I was struggling a bit so after a while, pulled back and went at my own pace.

Trying to find somewhere to sleep was tricky as whilst there appeared to be lots of places to sleep, with this being a region with a lot of lakes, the midges were out in force and the lsat thing that I needed.

Night was closing in and I finally found somewhere which fit the bill.

I lay my bike down and started to prepare myself to get things out for bed when suddenly I started to feel something on the back of my neck, like something crawling.

I get my phone out and use the torch and then saw dozens of tiny bugs crawling all over my hands. This is my one phobia I would say.

In a panic, I started to swipe my hands and all over my body to try and get them off me.

Not sure whether I was spreading them over me or successfully getting them off me, I grabbed my bike and ran out of the forest and out onto the road in search of somewhere new to sleep.

As I cycled on I still felt things scurrying over me which in addition to cycling in the dark, made swiping/rubbing them off even harder.

Over the next hill I came upon a hotel and amazingly they filled up my water for me and allowed me to camp on the grass in front of reception for a few hours as I couldn’t justify spending the kind of money they wanted on a short nights sleep despite how much I wanted a shower to make sure all the bugs were off me.