Bike Tracks

We rode from the Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland without even noticing the distinction. The sameness was further vocalized when one of the riders asked in a local shop for a pin of Northern Ireland. The shopkeeper tartly responded, “there’s only one Ireland lady, and you are standing in it!” Oops!

The money is different, here you can only spend the Queen’s sterling. Other than that things appear to be the same, that is until we got to Belfast.

July 3, 2000 Portnoo to Belfast

Day 185

The night before I arranged to ride with Ramona and Jane. We agreed on a time to meet and that we also wanted to take some time to go sight seeing. The Giant’s Causeway is the most visited tourist spot in (Northern) Ireland and we wanted to see it, even if it meant taking a train to finish off the day on time.

As things go when 3 people are riding together, one always seems to have a problem. Today was Jane’s day. On the way up the hill, just a few blocks from breakfast, Jane’s chain just fell off in the road. Plunk! Just like that she was out of commission. Jane headed back, Ramona and I headed forward.

We toured the Giant’s Causeway. It is a geologic wonder wrapped in a charming Irish myth. The Giant built a bridge to the neighboring island where his girlfriend lived. The bridge has since washed away, but the curious stone rock formations stand both on the mainland and the island in the sea. The rocks are cylinder shaped sticking straight up and down. They almost look like logs set upright, side by side.

At the Causeway I noticed another local attraction, it was an interesting rope bridge. I love picturesque type things like this and insisted we go. Ramona was not excited about the prospect, but being the good sport she is, agreed to at least take a photo of me.

We rode off, enjoying the marvelous Irish coastline. It was one of those days when cycling was so good. The scenery boasted our spirits and helped us climb the hills without too much complaint. We got to the rope bridge, it was a popular attraction and the parking lot was full. Already there were many Odyssey riders present, indicated by all the bikes locked along the fence. We locked ours also and set off for a 1 1/2 kilometer hike. It was worth the walk. This is what I expected Ireland to look like, beautiful emerald green hills and ocean.

The rope bridge was very exciting. It is a working bridge used by the salmon fisherman to bring in their catch. There is a salmon net alongside the island, where the salmon are caught coming from a stream, into the ocean. The fisherman use it in season and the tourist love it for the charm. At the bridge there is a sign, warning us only 2 people should be on the bridge at one time. We saw the sign and started enforcing it, by telling everyone that walked by. It wasn’t long before we had a traffic jam, of folks wanting to cross the bridge. Finally a park ranger came along to speed things up. He told people to go ahead and cross, the sign didn’t mean it. Well! So much for obeying the law!

The bridge was scary. When people walked on it, it would bounce like a trampoline. As the wind blew, so did the bridge. Ramona was encouraged by others and actually did join us on the other side. It was just a simple exercise of mind over matter. Look straight ahead and not down!

We enjoyed sightseeing so much that time flew. Before we knew it, it was 2 o’clock and we still had about 75 miles to go to get to Belfast. Reluctantly, we decided to head inland to the nearest town and catch the train. I say reluctantly on Ramona’s part, not mine. I was ready and willing to do the train today, my ear was still not better and I’d had enough biking. Now I was yearning for a hot shower and a nice clean bed.

We had signed “off route” that morning, so leaving the designated route was not a problem. The only problem was the uncertainty of what we would encounter. We only had a simple road map, so we hoped we weren’t headed for any long climbs. As it turned out we climbed for awhile, finding ourselves on top of a ridge, we could see forever! From that point on our ride into Ballymoney was downhill. It was a great choice on our part, about 18 miles of easy riding.

The train station was simple to find. Most towns mark both the bus and train station on directional signs at every round about. We rode up, bought tickets and within an hour were on our way to Belfast.

Our timing in Belfast was rather poor or terrific, depending on your viewpoint. I had received several emails from Larry, telling me “to watch my tail feathers.” I wasn’t quite sure what I was watching for. When I got off the train in Belfast there were ordinary people everywhere, just going about the business of life.

That night some riders went to the movies, only to come out into a burning blockade. A car was turned over, up-side down on fire. They tried to hail a taxi, but none would stop. They ended up walking for several blocks before finally getting a cab to stop for them. As it turned out, the cabs have computer screens in them telling where the trouble spots are, they avoid fares in the trouble spots. How handy!

July 4, 2000 Belfast Layover Day

Day 186

For those who wonder: Yes, they have fireworks on the 4th of July in Belfast, but they aren’t the friendly kind!

I was tired and not feeling like doing much. I worked on the website, which took all of the morning and half the afternoon, did my laundry and napped. Somehow, I managed to waste a day. My fellow riders were taking “black taxi” tours from the University to the various hot spots around the city. The “black taxi” tours seem to make their living from showing tourists the centuries old neighborhoods that celebrate hating each other. It felt to me like a great tourist attraction, a money making scheme, in a very weird sort of way.

I stayed safe in my dorm room.

The next morning we were scheduled to catch one of two ferries to Scotland. The early ferry was also the Fast Ferry, getting there in half the time as the second one. My goal was to catch the early ferry so I could ride to Glasgow. Luck was not shining on me this morning. When I went to rescue my bike from the storage room, it had a flat on the front tire. Again!

I was not prepared to change a flat, for some reason my tools were not where they should be. I ended up borrowing stuff to repair the tire. It took forever and I finally gave up on the 6:30 a.m. ferry. It was not to be.

As it turned out I gained enough time by taking the second ferry, I was able to shoot some pictures of the Belfast aftermath. The previous night of rioting in the streets left a mess. The hooligans pile tires on pallets in tall stacks then set them on fire. They burn for a long time, as my 10:30 a.m. photos show, they were still smoldering. The streets were full of garbage and broken bricks. Fences from the medical office were torn down and laying in the street. It was a mess.

We learned later the day we left Belfast was the same day the army was called out and the city was shut down. Had we stayed another day, we would have been trapped in Belfast until after the violence was quieted.

After my hectic morning, it was a relief to get on the ferry and rest. Gary and Gloria entertained Al (the alien) by showing him how to use Pocketmail. Al had been bugging me to teach him for days. Since Gary is a former IBM employee, he was the perfect instructor for Al. Lucky for all of us, Al is a quick learner, he now can “phone home.”

Many readers are interested in the logistics of making a trip around the world with 247 riders. Since I am merely a customer, I can only relate what I see. Much has gone on with the organizing of this trip, years before we ever started. Let me tell you what I see and how it works. [Read more →]

Day 179

We departed the ferry onto Irish soil, just south of Dublin and headed for the dorms at University College Dublin (UCD). It was after 8 p.m. and we still had not had dinner!

The drive to UCD didn’t take very long. The sag vehicle ended up following the bikes through the city. The sun was still strong in the sky, so darkness was not an issue. Once we arrived I jumped in the very long “end of day” checkpoint line, then waited in the next line to get a room assignment. This time I was happy to get a private room, for just me.

Food was still not available, the cafeteria had long closed. I learned later that the cafeteria had been given 10 minutes notice that the first ferry people would be eating there. It was obvious that they weren’t planning on our group, because they kept running out of food and replacing it with something different. The staff was annoyed, but doing their best to accommodate us.

Since the late people were the largest portion of the riders, and we were hungry too, TK&A had a bunch of pizzas delivered. We had Irish pizza and baked potatoes for dinner. How’s that for a traditional combination? It was a welcome feast. Unfortunately we had to sit outside in the cold or on the stairwell while eating. It was definitely NOT fine dining for us tonight!

I grabbed my goodies from the locker and headed for the shower in my “pod”. The dorm rooms are divided into “pods”. Each pod in my section had 3 private rooms that shared a large common area with a kitchen, shower, bath and toilet.

Once again, the plumbing was most interesting. We Odyssey riders joke about having to learn a new way to flush a toilet every time we go to a new country.

To run the shower, one must have at least one year of college! It took me 15 minutes of naked experimenting to discover the “secret” of water that I could stand under without scalding or freezing my body! The whole process is a four step process.

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  • Step 1: pull the string cord from the ceiling to turn on the HOT water.
  • Step 2: twist dial number 1 to turn on the water.
  • Step 3: twist dial number 2 to adjust the water pressure.
  • Step 4: twist dial number 3 to adjust water temperature.

I kept having trouble because I like a lot of water pressure in a shower, however the high water pressure does not mix the water well, you get either very hot or very cold. Finally, I discovered turning down the pressure, gave me less of a trickle but water temperature that was OK. This whole process was so very difficult I at one point considered finding a hotel! I hung in there and now I am smarter. I know the plumbing in this college totally stinks!

We never did discover how to turn on the heat or the hot water in the bathtub bathroom. I guess cold baths are normal.

June 28, 2000 Dublin Layover Day

Day 180

I made a huge blunder when I tried to spend my English money in the Republic of Ireland. I had gotten the two mixed up, thinking Northern Ireland was the separate country. I had it backwards. It didn’t take long for the shopkeeper to set me straight. They don’t like money with a picture of a Queen on it! Off to the ATM machine I went! So sorry!

It was a lovely day outside, but my laundry was calling. I knew if I didn’t get it done first, I would be forced to do it along the next segment of the trip. So, off to the laundry I went. The laundry on campus was not self-service, they only had 24 hour service, to late for me. I ended up walking off campus for at least 2 kilometers to find one.

While doing the laundry, I met a delightful older man, who entertained me for the duration. His name is John McCoy and he had been in the laundry business since he was a kid. I never asked, but I would take John to be at least 85, maybe more. He told me how he used to drive a horse and buggy service to pick up the laundry. He loved his horse who had a reputation for being a very “high stepper.” It was an enjoyable experience to listen to John and his thick Irish brogue. More often than not, I was trying to understand what he was saying!

The laundry itself was an experience in varying culture. Instead of being coin operated, self service, which it looked like, I had to have the attendant assist me. She wrote down what washer number I was using, then charged me for one washer and one dryer. I placed my own clothing in the machine, then she showed me how to pull out the coin box to get a token to start the machine. The attendant was also assisting dry cleaning customers while doing all this. It took longer to get the machine started than it did to complete the job. Bureaucracy and paperwork in the laundry mat!

Returning home to the dorm I opted to take the bus. Walking was not my favorite thing to do today. My next chore was to try to catch up on this lovely website, before I forgot everything. I figured I would work on it an hour or so. Well, time flies when you are having fun, before I realized it, it was time for dinner! So much for lunch!

On the way to the cafeteria, I was feeling guilty about not visiting downtown Dublin. It was a shame to come so far and miss it, but one day off is just not enough time! As luck would have it, Dorothy invited me to go with her “group” for a “literary pub crawl”. I’m not a beer drinker so the pub part was not all that interesting to me, but at least it was a way to go with some folks and see the nightlife. I accepted.

One of the magazine reviews described the “Literary Pub Crawl” as: “A highly enjoyable evening that gives you the pleasant notion of simultaneously replacing brain cells as you drown them!” It was an excellent tour even for one who’s pint is filled with Coke light! The humorous and rather irreverent performers poked fun at many of the famous and not so famous Irish. We visited four pubs and stood on the grounds of Trinity College and learned about all the rich, intelligent drunks who attended.

Dublin is a very friendly city. The people in the streets are smiling and happy, maybe because they all have a buzz on, or maybe it’s just a fun place to live. I enjoyed my brief time in Dublin and will add to my list of places to return.

June 29, 2000 Dublin to Athlone

Day 181

The ride out of Dublin was not at all difficult, once I figured out which way to go. The DRG was very confusing, it referred to “pillars” at the University, I never did see the pillars and would still be looking for them if Rich and Jane had not come along. I followed them.

My ear was hurting, but I didn’t want to miss the ride today. I figured I would go as far as I could then catch a ride if the pain got too bad. It was a great sunny day and I was enjoying the ride, except for that one thing.

Riding out of Dublin was sort of flat, we didn’t have any difficult hills to speak of, at least not like the ones in Wales. I know the hills are waiting for us somewhere in Ireland, but they didn’t catch us today.

The countryside was rather plain. I did notice something that I haven’t seen in Europe yet, that is lots of new construction. The Irish are building new homes everywhere. The homes are very attractive, made of block construction which stone facing. The most common style has been the ranch, although I did see a number of two story homes too. The other trend I noticed is the adding of a large sun room or greenhouse to the end of the homes. The economy here is healthy.

The most notable happening on the ride today was how Rich and I were able to “draft” behind a huge tractor. It was on a narrow, back country road. He (the tractor) came up behind us, taking up most of the road. As he passed I got behind him and before I knew it, I was in his slip stream. It was very cool, he was going about 30 mph and I barely had to pedal. I lost him though when he stopped and pulled over to let an oncoming car pass, he started up so fast again, I couldn’t catch up.

At mile 48, Lynne came along in her newly rented car, asking if I wanted to ride to camp with her. At that point I had enough riding. My ear was still throbbing, so I hoped in the car, falling asleep almost immediately.

Our campground in Athlone was rather basic, to say the least. We were assigned to camp on the Athlone Rugby Football Club’s field. The bathroom facilities were reminiscent of the ones in Chile (awful). TK&A thankfully put up the showers and brought in a few porta potties. Dinner was take out chicken (for over 200!) augmented with grocery store cake. The staff set it out, after working the road all day long. Too bad, they must be very tired.

For the most part the day had been a perfect one for me. I know I will sleep well tonight!

June 30, 2000 Athlone to Strandhill (Sligo)

Day 182

This morning when I woke up from a difficult and painful night of sleep, the right side of my face was swollen. On the way to the bathroom, several riders asked me if I had been stung by a bee. My ear was throbbing so I knew it was time to see a doctor. We don’t have medical personnel on staff with Odyssey as the advertising brochure had promised, but we do have several riders who are doctors. Bill Wiggans encouraged me to seek out Charmaigne, one of the terrific Dr. riders who has been committed to helping riders with medical problems.

Charmaigne took one look at me, pulled on my ear asking if it hurt. Of course it did, and told me to go find a local doctor and get some antibiotics. There was no doubt my ear was infected.

Lynn volunteered to drive me to the next camp town, so I could see a doctor where I could be around for another day, if follow up care was needed. So that is what we did.

We arrived in Sligo and popular tourist town on the western coast of Ireland. The town was overflowing with traffic. As far as I could tell that was normal for the town with the typical narrow, one way streets. I figured the best way to locate a doctor would be to go to the Pharmacy and ask for a referral, which I did. The Pharmacy I located happened to have a doctor’s office right above it. So within an hour I had an examine and a prescription in hand.

While I was there I asked the Doctor if she could give me my second Hepatis shot, since I had forgotten to get it in the U.S. She said sure, I just needed to go to the pharmacy to get it and bring it back to her. No problem. When the pharmacist saw the prescription, she exclaimed, “this is expensive! Are you aware of that?” I asked how much, she looked it up and said “40 pounds” (less than $55). In the U.S. I paid $80. I appreciated her consulting with me, rather than shock me, but I was delighted to save a few bucks.

Lynne had left me in Sligo, she needed to get back to pick up the other folks in her car. I strolled around Sligo enjoying the town and even had lunch. I stopped in a nice looking cafeteria, hoping to enjoy some local color. When eating I listened to the conversation of the folks getting served, everyone coming in was an American. So much for local color.

Sligo was about 7 miles from our final destination for the night. I found the road heading toward Strandhill and rode out. It was a great ride rolling along the countryside, ending at a beautiful sand dune surrounded little town, right on the ocean.

I quickly located a nice campsite, close to the locker truck and put up my tent. When the chores were done I walked down on the rockiest beach I have ever seen. The water was chilly but doable, if my ear would have felt better I may have been tempted to jump in the water. Instead I just enjoyed the minute, relaxing.

I was feeling energetic so I got on my bike to explore the area. Up on the hill I could see a lovely golf course, so I rode up and went to look at it. I’m still trying to find out exactly when the British Open is, I thought maybe the golf shop guy would know. He wasn’t sure, but he did tell me all about the area and attractions.

There is a thoroughbred horse farm that exercises the horses in the ocean every morning. He told me to watch for them early in the day, 6 a.m. I could see the horses swimming. That sounded exciting, but I never did manage to wake up early enough to get to see them.

The area is also famous for it’s ancient tombs dating back to 3000 b.c. We did end up locating them. I was surprised to see that there are so many (around 80 or so) that some are out in the middle of the cow pasture, with only a plague to indicate what they are.

The best part of my day was taking a seaweed-steam bath. The area has been famous for it’s seaweed baths for many years. Just the prior week a new and improved spa had opened. Learning this I knew I had to go try one out. Of course hearing that the camp showers were cold had nothing to do with the desire to have a HOT bath!

The seaweed bath is just that. First you sit in a steam bath for 10 minutes or so, then once the pores are open, you sit in a bathtub filled with hot water and a bunch of seaweed. The skin soaks up the vitamins, minerals and natural moisturizing elements. It was completely decadent. Even though the seaweed feels a little slimy, it felt good to be doing something relaxing.

When I got out of the spa, it was starting to rain. By the time I got back to the tent, it was pouring rain and I had forgot to close the tent up. My timing could have been better by a minute or two, but I considered myself lucky. Another minute and the inside of the tent would have been very, very wet! I learned another lesson, almost the hard way, never leave the tent open.

July 1, 2000 Strandhill to Portnoo (Donegal) changed to Rossbeg

Day 183

After a day of self indulgence, I was not anxious to ride a full 75 plus miles. Lynn offered a ride and I immediately accepted, thinking I would go half way to checkpoint and ride the balance of the day. Jane McClain was already in the car, so it was a pleasant threesome.

We followed the rider’s route not wanting to miss anything. Along the way we saw directional signs pointing to “The Fairy Bridges”. Lynn who never wants to miss a site, followed the signs. We spent the next half hour trying to find “The Fairy Bridges”. We asked 3 different locals for directions, receiving a different answer each time. Finally we decided some Irish jokester placed the signs up just for fun. Or was it possible you can only see “Fairy Bridges” when you believe in fairies. Nevertheless, we saw some beautiful coastline, but never a fairy bridge.

Lynne tried to talk me into riding with her and Jane into camp. I was feeling sluggish from sitting in the car, I kept falling asleep and it wasn’t even noon yet! So I jumped out at checkpoint and started riding. There were several towns I wanted to see ahead and I preferred to explore them on my own.

The ride was hilly of course, we are still in Ireland! There was a tailwind so the hills weren’t so bad. I love a tailwind and always make the most of it. Riding with the help of the wind is the only time I feel really powerful on the bike. I was doing 35 miles an hour, really cooking!

Donegal was the town I wanted to explore. When I got there it was Friday afternoon, the beginning of a summer weekend for them. I stopped in the town square to rest and have a snack, while watching the happenings. Everyone was busy setting up for a carnival, there was a sound stage, rides, food and all sorts of fun things. The music was the funniest, here I was deep in the heart of Ireland, listening to Texas two step music. Ireland is the most Americanized country we have been in.

I didn’t mind the music, but it did make me homesick. I was missing Larry and all that is comforting and familiar, I truly felt alone. That is when I saw him, he was an adorable little guy. I knew immediately he could be my bike partner, Larry wouldn’t mind this kind of replacement. He looked like someone I could talk to. Without wasting another minute, I approached him to see if he would like to go around the rest of the world with me, I couldn’t understand his language, but he looked as though he was saying, “yes!” Cool!

He even fit on the back of my bike. This is great, now I don’t have to be alone anymore and we have so much in common!

The rest of the ride was even more difficult than the beginning. We were now traveling on back country roads to Portnoo, a coastal town out in the middle of nowhere. The campground and location had been changed from the DRG to one that was 7 miles closer. That was good news for today, but not for tomorrow, meaning tomorrow which was already a 95 mile day would be 102 miles now.

The views were awesome. We were surrounded by sheep. At one point the sheep were walking down the road in front of their owner, when we came along on bikes. The sheep starting running in front of us. They ran for a long time, prompting Emily to say to me, “I hope this farmer wants these sheep to go this far!” I kidded her she could now put “sheep herder” on her resume.

I arrived at the new camp only to find it wasn’t a camp for tents, but a trailer camp for both full time and holiday trailers. It was located near the ocean, but for the life of me I could not understand why we had biked so far out of our way to come to this place. No one I talked to could figure it out either. It was pretty awful. That night TK&A had to hire buses to shuttle us to dinner in a town 5 miles away. Dinner was OK, but the town was pretty dull. It was still a mystery to us why we were there. There were so many other nice places to stay much closer. Guess it was just TK&A wanting to make us go as many miles as possible without any consideration to anything else, including comfort.

Some folks made their own fun. Young Dave decided to get away from all of us, so he camped way, way up on top of a bluff. He had a major hike up that hill, only something a young person would do. Mark the shoeless staff person had fun preparing the white board. He drew a graphic of the area, including pictures (nude) of Rod and Mendy skinning dipping (which they did not do, at least to my knowledge!) Someone objected to the nude stick figures, so they were duly erased!

In the morning while taking down the tents, we were violently attacked by little biting bugs. By the time I got all my stuff put away, my face was covered with little red bites from these nasty creatures. This campground was one I was truly glad to be out of. It was the pits.

July 2, 2000 Portnoo to Portrush (Giant’s Causeway)

Day 184

Today is the first day of the last 6 months of our trip. Wow, does time fly when you are having fun…

The pain in my ear has stopped, but it is still not healed and I am tired. I want to ride the bike so I figured I will ride to checkpoint then if necessary sag in from there. At breakfast I hooked up with Rich and Jane, they are always good to be with, and look out for me, which I need today.

I had not put air in my tires since Larry left, some 10 days ago, so I figured it was about time. When I went to loosen the rear valve, it shot off in the air like a rocket. Darn! Without a valve the tube was useless, I now had to change the tire. It took awhile, with not just Rich and Jane helping, but Dennis got into the act too. The committee got my tire changed and I was ready to hit the road.

Today was to be a 105 mile day, not as published but as predicted. The daily mileage overage was running about 8 to 10% depending on how detailed the DRG was. The terrain was hilly and beautiful. The wind of course was blowing in our faces. It was not so bad until we got lost, but didn’t know we were lost. I kept looking at the directions and my odometer getting madder and madder. He was 6 miles off at 10 miles out, that was ridiculous. Then all of a sudden it came to me, we missed a turn. This fact was confirmed when we came into a village and there was Elbert (our oldest, (80) rider) looking perplexed. We asked for directions and were quickly put back on the correct path. We had ridden the long way to the same point, adding 6+ unnecessary miles to our total!

Our ride took us through Glendowan National Park. The route we took didn’t look any better or worse than anything else we had been seeing in Ireland. When we stopped at a pub, the owner lady asked us if we had seen the castle, oh course we said no. She then went on to describe it and say we missed the best part. We never saw any signs nor was it mentioned in the DRG. I suppose that was the purpose for taking us that way, but we lacked the resources to know about it.

The pub itself was an interesting experience. I was short on Irish money (punt), knowing we would be leaving the Republic of Ireland and going into Northern Ireland that day, I didn’t want to have money I could no longer use. At the pub I ordered only a diet coke and shared a sandwich with Rich and Jane. We brought in our snacking food and ate it along with the sandwich the owner served. The sandwich consisted of a thin slice of ham and a lot of mayonnaise. It was the sorriest looking sandwich I have ever seen. Between my lack of money and the pub’s lack of food, it was a good thing we carried in our snacks. We were still miles from nowhere.

After a few miles the roads improved, until this time we had been on pot holed infested roads. As we traveled our bikes sounded as though they were going to fall apart any minute. It was hard to get up any speed, for fear we would hit a deep hole in the road.

I was anxious to reach checkpoint, by this time I was thinking I would hop in the car. Rich and Jane had invited me to join them at there car on the boarder of Northern Ireland. I said that would be good for me, if I could make it that far. With our late start, bike trouble and getting lost, we were running late. As a matter of fact we were almost last, leaving only Elbert and Anita the two oldest riders behind us.

When the checkpoint got tired of waiting for me, they came to me. Merlyn’s van was full and he said he would send a van out for me. I told him to never mind, I still felt ok and would catch a ride with Rich and Jane. Some time later Jeff showed up with his van, to check on me. Apparently he had not talked to Merlyn, because he was asking if I was ok and still wanted to ride. I didn’t tell him I had the possibility of a ride with Rich and Jane. This later would get me into trouble with Jeff.

My thoughts at the time were don’t mention the ride, because if I did, they would leave me out there. Then if the private ride didn’t work out, I would be on my own. Now I knew Rich and Jane wouldn’t leave me alone, but I knew TK&A would. My best bet was to continue riding and if I did get a ride, I planned to find a TK&A van and tell them I was off the road. I knew if I didn’t they would be looking for me.

Well, my gut feeling was right. When we got to Northern Ireland the car was waiting for Rich and Jane, but already had 3 other passengers, there was no room for me. Lynne was driving, she told me to hop in and we raced forward to find a TK&A van to put me into. It took awhile of some rather high speed driving, high speed for Lynne that is. It was fun and I was glad to be off the bike. About 20 miles down the road we finally caught up to Pierre, I jumped into his van.

Once settled and inside the van, Pierre radioed Jeff to see if he had room for me. Pierre was going out to the end of the road and Jeff was on his way into camp. Jeff had room for me, so he turned around to come back. It wasn’t very far away, because he was there in a minute.

Once again I was settled into Jeff’s van, when Jeff turned to me and began speaking in a rather condescending tone. He was annoyed that I didn’t tell him I was planning to ride in a private vehicle and he would have been out to 10 p.m. at night looking for me if I had. Well as I had planned earlier, I told him, I would have found someone with a radio to let him know I was off the road. Jeff was still annoyed and wasn’t listening or accepting my answer.

TK&A staff has been trained to demand that we do things their way. The tour directors have conditioned them and us that we are to do things for the convenience of the staff. Considering we have all paid a great deal of money for this experience, nothing irks me more than to me accused of doing something that I didn’t do.

I said “Jeff, If had told you I was going in a private vehicle, you would have written me off the road and I would have been left to fend for myself. I must look after my own best interest. I AM THE CUSTOMER!”

That was the end of our conversation.

I am thinking about having a small sign printed to wear around my neck. It will say “I AM THE CUSTOMER”. I think I can sell at least 200 of them to other riders. Actually, I would give them away. The attitude around here needs adjustment. We aren’t demanding, we the customer and we deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. (Are you still reading Tim and Karen Ann? Marketing statistics prove that it costs 5 times more to get new customer than it does to keep and old one. Treat us well and you will never have to advertise again. We will do it for you.)

I have written off the whole experience as just another example of poor service from a staff that is over worked and not paid. Jeff in the past has been a nice young man. I guess that night he was more concerned about his social life getting cut into. Still, his problems are not my problems and I refuse to take crap from staff.

Once again, the campground was changed. We were supposed to camp and be served dinner by the Catering College in Portrush. When we got to town, there was a checkpoint sign with new directions on it. We were now camping at a site 1 1/2 miles from there. Rumor had it that the college had changed administrators and the new guy didn’t want us camping on his grass. TK&A didn’t respond to any fax messages from them, therefore not finding out until we got to town.

Amazingly enough, someone got to town, found out we 200+ folks had no place to camp or eat that night, so they arranged a new locations. This has happened so many times now, they are getting pretty good at it. Practice makes perfect I guess.

The worst mistake someone made was pulling the checkpoint signs with the new directions up too early. My friends Rich, Jane, Lynne, Kathryn and Suzanne didn’t get back until after 7. When they got to the Catering College no one was there, nor was there any clue as to where we were. They stopped in a hotel to call and a local heard them talking. He told them where he had seen a bunch of bikes that day. Success, they found the dinner location. Of course dinner was over by then. Karen Ann had the gall to tell them everyone had checked, that’s why the signs were down. Lynne politely told them that everyone had not checked in, in fact 5 of them were standing right there!

I am beginning to think Odyssey would make a good setting for a soap opera. We have drama, love interests, good people and a villain (or two). There is excitement, danger and suspense. We could call it “Our Daily Odyssey, as the wheels spin”. Or should we call it “Spinning Our Wheels with Odyssey?”

Just kidding!

Day 179

Last night was awful. I didn’t sleep, I couldn’t find my watch and when I got up it was 4:45 a.m! To make matter worse I had an ear ache, it was throbbing. I sure as heck didn’t feel like riding 85 miles today to catch a ferry only to get in to camp at 10 p.m. I signed up for the sag.

The sag wagon was not full which was amazing in itself. Most everyone had found alternative transportation, buses, renting day cars and some even took the train. The train only went 20 miles further before the end of the track, but those taking it figured it was 20 miles they didn’t have to ride. We all do what we think in necessary to survive.

I really wanted to ride this day, Wales had been so great and now I would lose my “rode the whole country” status if I sagged, but I just didn’t feel good. In the sag I slept on and off. We rode “sweep” sag being the last car out, keeping track of the last 10 riders. The shotgun person would write down the rider numbers as we passed. Then we would stop somewhere along the road, waiting for them to pass by, then we would repeat the process, leapfrogging all the way to mid-day checkpoint. Once at mid-day another car replaced us and we were given permission to go directly to “end of day”, which today was “end of country” at the ferry.

We passed a really attractive looking castle on the way, it was located in the village of Llanfaglan, but I can’t remember the name of the castle. Prince Charles was made the Prince of Wales there.

By the time we arrived at the ferry, it was 3 p.m. the next ferry didn’t depart for 3 hours, so we killed time by walking into town for lunch. The town of Hollyhead wasn’t much of a tourist town. If felt like a regular place where people lived and raised the kids. No fancy nonsense, just good, straightforward stores.

We boarded the Stena Ferry for the trip across to Ireland. Once again customs wasn’t present nor interested. They just asked our nationalities and let us through, never asking to see a passport! The Stena Ferry is quite an entertaining experience. It is huge, made to carry hundreds of passengers, cars, trucks and really big trucks. Inside there are several stores to purchase “duty free” goods, in case you haven’t already spent enough money. There is also a McDonald’s restaurant for the wee ones.

The entire lounge area is open with large windows so I just sat, talked and watched the world go by. The trip took less than two hours. It was very pleasant.

Day 178

Wales has so unique a language that makes me laugh as a ride. Sometimes I will pass a directional sign and think, “couldn’t they afford to buy any vowels?” Some of the names are: Rhayader, Bwidhgtwyn, Machynlleth, Llandidloes, Brynrug, Tywyn, Cwm Maetholon, Y Rhos, Ynysgyffylog and Morfa Mawddach. Get the point?

Listening to the locals is also fun. We speak the same language but not! Asking for directions to the showers one day, the only thing I understood was where his finger was pointing. If he hadn’t done that I still would not had a clue, even after 10 sentences or so of direction! I asked a little girl age 10 or 11 if I sounded funny to her. All she could do was giggle! Guess it works both ways.

This day the DRG described once section as having “excellent climbing ahead with some fast descents.” Translation: “you will be tired and walking your bike a lot.” The hills were so steep in parts I couldn’t make it go, even in granny gear. At least my legs worked in walking!

The country seemed to get more beautiful, the further north we went. There were millions of sheep, white ones, black ones, really dirty ones and a few cute little lambs. Mostly they were quiet but at some points it seemed they were all talking to me. “Baa baa baa!” I would like to think they were greeting a foreigner to their land.

The sheep were very timid. I stopped to snap a picture of one mother and lamb, but they scooted off before I could get a close up. The lamb was so pretty and soft looking, I really wanted to pet it, but mom would have none of that!

We are getting close to the training base for the RAF (Royal Air Force). All throughout the day, low flying jets were in the air. Some were flying faster than their sound. It gave me goose bumps to hear and watch them fly, that must really be fun, like a video game only live! I was told the jets were Hawks and F16’s. Of course all I know is they were very noisy. Larry would have liked to see them, he could have told me the names of each.

I discovered “flap jacks” today. While eating a cup of yogurt, I noticed Diane and Sadie had purchased two packages each of these strange looking bars. I asked them if they were good and they both rolled their eyes and said “YES! They are addictive.” OK, I’m game, so I marched into the store and bought two for myself! How’s that for confidence!

As it turned out, Diane and Sadie were right on. Flap jacks are a cookie-like bar, that is kept in the refrigerator section. They come in different flavors, the bottom is a moist oatmeal and the top comes in various flavors. The bars are about 2 inches thick and they are very filling. They are something I will need to ration myself. I love discovering new things like flap jacks!

After eating one flap jack I was ready to tackle the remaining hills. It was only 30 miles left to camp and I was anxious to get in. We had only one more day in Wales before we departed on the ferry for Dublin, Ireland our 22nd country.

Barmouth turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. Ever since we left Cardiff, the country was getting more rural each day. Looking at the map, it looked as if there would be almost nothing in the area. Well it was wide open, even when I reached the coast there was nothing but sheep farms along the bay. Back home in my childhood state, homes along a coast like that would be door to door. Here they still had a lot of wide open spaces with an outstanding view.

When I reached Barmouth it was a medium size town with a fabulous wide, white sand beach. There was a boardwalk with shops and rides for the kids. It was definitely a beach town like I think of a beach town. We got to camp right alongside the beach and a very nice campground.

We had an interesting dinner in a nice B&B located about 2 miles back into town. I say interesting because, once again the owners shared with us the fact that they had only been called the “day before yesterday” that we were coming. Our meal was baked potatoes (notice a trend here), chicken on little buns, salad and a choice of soup.

The soup was delicious but the way it was served was curious to me. The gentleman was using a ladle to pour the “lamb cew soup” into a styro foam cup. When the cup was full, he didn’t stop pouring, he kept letting the both spill over the outside of the cup. I watched as several people ahead of me politely though reluctantly took their soup from him. I was encouraged though when several folks came back for refills. The man repeated continued this routine, giving everyone a sticky cup, including myself. Then it occurred to me, he was trying to be sure everyone got a portion of the lamb that was in the cup. The broth came out the fastest so he was having difficulty getting the lamb in before the cup was full.

The soup turned out to be the best part of the meal. I had seconds and I never asked what part of the lamb was the cew. I don’t want to know.

Tonight I finally got an email from my daughter, giving me Larry’s new cell phone number. Immediately, I called. He answered the phone and said hello three times, I responded each time, then finally I said, “this is Kristal, your wife.” He said I didn’t sound like me. Hummm, one week gone and he forgets my voice? This is not a good sign!

We had a nice conversation and after hanging up I realized I was too keyed up. I ended up not sleeping that night. The camp was very restless. Our route tomorrow was to ride over more hills for 80 miles to the Hollyhead ferry, which was to take us to Ireland. There was a choice of 2 ferry’s, one leaving at 1:45 and the other at 6:30. Many riders were trying to leave early to catch the early ferry. I knew I couldn’t make the early ferry so I planned on going on the late one.

All night long I could hear people getting into the lockers, sliding stuff in and out. I had set up my tent much too close to the gear trucks, lazy me and now I was paying for it! Next time I must lug those bags further!

Once again Arthur volunteered to take the group on a National Cycle Network trail. Today we were on the Taff Trail for the first 20 miles. After that we were back with the Odyssey tour.

Arthur took us on a side trip to a castle. Of course being cyclists who start early in the a.m. we got there before the castle was open. Rather than wait, we took a few group pictures and moved on. The route up to the castle was very difficult and steep (25%). I along with many others had to walk it. The grades in Wales are very difficult sometimes. Climbing a hill or a mountain can be easy if the grade is gradual. If the grade gets over 10% it gets harder. We have had some grades that are in the teens and even 20%. They are impossible to climb for any length of distance.

The side trek to the castle had us all pushing our bikes up hill both coming and going. I was glad to get back on the trail. Progress was very slow, we had so many riders and the gates were still locked on the trail. Every time we came to a cross street, we would have to dismount and walk our bikes through these really stupid gates. They are built to keep motorcycles off the trail and cyclists from getting hit by a car. For us, it made speed impossible.

After getting off and on the bike at least 20 times, I decided to find a the main street and take it to the next town. I rode for 10 miles or so before I saw a really nice sign welcoming O2K to a certain pub. By the time I got to the second welcome sign, I decided it was time to eat.

The pub turned out to be the place Arthur was bringing the group for lunch. I lucked out, by getting there before he and the 70 people who were following him arrived. Success! I was done eating by the time the group came in. The owner of the pub came outside to chat while I was getting ready to leave. She told me all about her father who used to be a national cycling record holder. He was a friend of Arthur’s before he died. She was a lovely lady, who was delighted to have her pub packed full of cyclists. I wished I could have stayed and talked with her longer. But, I still had a long way to go and time was getting short.

Today was my second day riding alone. I have noticed that more locals approach me now that I’m by myself. At least it seems like they do or maybe the people in Wales are just more friendly and curious. I was stopped twice today. Once while I was riding a car stopped me to ask what we were doing. Mostly they ask if it is a race. I always wonder why I look like I’m racing, I have panniers on my bike that weigh a ton and I don’t really go that fast. Why do people think it’s a race?

Another gentlemen stopped his car and approached me while I was stopped for a “Kodak moment”. He was interested in the route and shared with me information about all the hills I had in front of me. Great, I love that sort of news! This gentleman also told me once I got over the “flat top” it would be all down hill to Builth-Wells from there. Usually people driving in cars haven’t got a clue what “downhill” means. I never trust what car drivers give for mileage or downhill information. Well this guy was absolutely right.

It took over an hour but when I reached the top of what I thought would be called “flat top” I had the best downhill run of the week. It went on and on. The route turned off onto a bike path before I could see the end of the downhill. I stopped to discuss which way to go with Dick, I decided to continue to ride on the main road, leaving Dick to take the trail. As it turned out the rest of my ride was downhill. It was a good decision, I merged with the Odyssey tour about 7 miles later and I was way ahead, the trail was so slow.

On the way down, I did discover that my brakes were not sounding very good. I could hear metal on metal so I made a mental note to change the brake pads, soon!

The countryside is so lovely. The route took us along a ridge where I could see for miles in the distance. The fields were all green and littered with hundreds of cute woolly sheep.

Our campsite was located in the Royal Welsh Showgrounds. The place was deserted except for Odyssey, but I could see when it was open it was probably similar to a state fair. My tent went up easily tonight. I was tired but felt very happy to have completed two days of hilly riding.

Dr. Rod was kind enough to instruct me on the proper installation of my rear brakes. It was easy once I learned which screw to loosen the brakes and not remove the brakes! Thank you to Dr. Rod’s parents for having him! He’s a lifesaver.

Our dinner was served from a portable catering wagon. They prepared a wonderful meal of hamburgers with boiled onions, baked potatoes and salad. Sounds common, to some, but we never seem to get really good hamburgers. I enjoyed the meal this night. The vendors had done a great job on such short notice, it was Sunday, they had just gotten the call from TK&A on Friday. I always wonder how much better job folks could do if they actually knew we were coming way ahead of time!

Sleep was easy for me this cool night. I once again was tired from a very fulfilling day.

Day 176

Bath Upon Avon to Cardiff, Wales we passed 3 castles today…ho hum. They are everywhere! Day one on my fixed bike was a good one. No troubles, just a little bit of head wind and more hills than I care to discuss!

We crossed over the Severn Bridge into Wales. It was a long 2 mile stretch of bridge with a terrific wide bike lane. While I was crossing an older lady (even older than me!) was riding her bike across. I greeted her as I always try to do to locals, she remarked “it’s a bit breezy to today!” No kidding! It was so “breezy” on top of that bridge, I almost dumped my bike.

The Brits sure have a way for saying things, lightly. CJ can attest to that, she was dumped her bike on gravel. At the hospital one of the nurses looked at her, all scraped and bloody and said, “I see you left your bike!” We all enjoyed that story.

My first stop in Wales resulted in a few experiences that I will always remember. Children are so much fun to talk to, on this Saturday, the kids were out of school and seeing us, they gathered at the local food place, where we all were stopping. Five young boys on dirt bikes kept us in stitches. They wanted to know where we were from and if we knew their Uncle so and so who lived in California. Most of all I loved listening to them talk and figuring out what the different expressions meant. We sat enjoying each other for quite awhile.

Before leaving I went to use the WC (restroom) only to find that it was broken. Since the line for it was long and there wasn’t any other place to go that we could see. I decided to try and fix it. With Jane’s help we took my water bottle and tried to get enough water in the tank so the toilet would flush. My water bottle wasn’t big enough, so Jane dumped the trash out of the trash can and we formed a “bucket brigade” until we could get enough water in the tank. It flushed. Success!

Odyssey not only eats it’s way , but as we go we leave a string of lost clothing and broken toilets! Not today or at least not after Jane and I were there!

Leaving the rest stop I rode directly to checkpoint. By the time I got there I was tired of riding on the quaint little lanes making a turn every .4 mile, so when I saw Ramona and Michael going on the main road I followed. I knew Michael would take the fast way to camp and I was ready to go a more direct route. We didn’t have a map, but we followed the signs pointing to Cardiff. We were doing pretty good until we got to Newport, a large city. Then we had to ask a local for directions.

We followed the directions and much to our surprise we merged with the Odyssey route at the Transporter bridge. It was a funny looking bridge. At first we all thought it was a bridge under construction. As we got closer to it, it was apparent that the bridge was not a bridge at all, but a unique way of ferrying vehicles and people across a river. The picture is worth a thousand words, fortunately I took a couple.

I left camp this day knowing my bike should be just fine. I signed “off route” because once again Arthur was leading us on a route different than the Odyssey route. We were taking a trial out of the city for about 20 miles or so, before rejoining the Odyssey group.

It was a very different experience for all of us, because we almost never ride in a large group. Normally, riders leave camp in the morning in small groups or single. This morning we all waited for Arthur to show up so we could follow him. There were about 60 of us.

The UK has been building a huge network of bike trails, covering 8000 miles. The work won’t be done until 2005, but this year the first 3500 miles of trails were opening. We were traveling on one of these bike paths and it was opening day! Very cool!

I love the vision of the National Cycle Network. They project that traffic will double by the year 2025 and are working to help the congestion, by building bike trails to go through the middle of most major towns and cities in the UK. Half of the Network will be entirely traffic-free, built along old railway lines, canal towpaths, riversides and derelict land. These high-quality routes will be open to cyclists and pedestrians. It is an awesome undertaking, but one who’s time has come.

Our route that morning was delightful. We traveled at first along the canal side, waving to the boats as we rode by. After awhile we continued on the railroad route, making it a very flat but scenic ride out of town. Eventually, we met up with the group to follow our DRG.

This was our last day in England. For the most part, the weather had been good. In a week it only rained on two days, I would have place money on the reverse!

We are all ready to go with Arthur after breakfast to tour the trails along the canals and see some of downtown Bath. Arthur is one of the Odyssey riders who makes his home in Bath. It was an unusual experience for us to have a personal tour like this and I was excited.

My excited turned to major annoyance at the first hill. Replacing my chain had not cured the problem with my bike. It was still skipping, keeping me from down shifting to climb hills. I had to drop out of Arthur’s tour before we even left the campground.

I went directly to Dave who informed me he hadn’t worked on that problem. He had only worked on the jamming problem. And he was now off duty. Terrific, knowing I couldn’t wait for someone to get in the mood to act like a real mechanic who gave a damn, I inquired of the nearest bike shop. It was 3 miles away, so I set off with my bike walking it uphill and riding it downhill.

The bike shop I found was just the kind of shop I was hoping for. They had a wonderful huge shop, with several guys doing nothing but fixing bikes. They took mine in immediately. The mechanic who worked on it actually took it for 3 test rides to be sure it worked before handing it back to me. I ended up changing out the cluster and the 32 or middle ring. That solved my problem. It still shifts loud and rough, but it doesn’t jam or skip. Thank you www.bikeshop.uk.com

To make amends to myself for missing Arthur’s tour, I rode around Bath, by myself for awhile. I didn’t feel like being a tourist, but it was nice to be back on the bike again. I just went where ever, not worrying about a DRG or asking anyone “should we go here?”

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I slept like a log that night. The tent was soaking wet when I put it away, because I hadn’t set it up as good as Larry always did. Oh well, everyone has to learn! The worst part was stuffing it into the gear locker. I now had 2 lockers to put all the junk in and I was having trouble getting it all together. Oh well, I will work on that as we go.

My biggest problem was to get the old bike in shape to ride. My favorite mechanic was off for a couple days so I had to go to Dave. I explained to Dave what was going on, he thought about it then decided I needed a new chain, because the one that I had just put on my bike was too short. Bummer. He replaced my chain for $30, I had already paid 10 pounds, which is $15 just 2 days before. I didn’t have any extra links and neither did Dave.

While Dave was working on the bike I had to make a decision to ride the sag from start of day or risk having another problem on my bike. Since I wasn’t sure it was only the chain problem, I opted for the sag. It was leaving before Dave could be finished. We talked about the bike and he agreed to put it on the truck when he was through.

Sagging can be ok when you need it, but when you are healthy and wanting to ride, it can be torture. The day was looking really good and checkpoint was to be at Stonehenge. My only happiness came when we had to go to checkpoint immediately and wait for Brit-Simone to pass. The sag was full today. We had one pneumonia, one broken but almost healed collar bone, one lost bike and me, the broken bike.

The lost bike is a great story. Winslow is the retired Doctor who broke his hip in Greece a few months ago. He was riding down a wet and slippery mountain road when he lost it and fell. He was picked up by Joyce, a staff member and taken to a hospital. Joyce radioed in to tell the tour people “no one here speaks English, what should I do?” And was told, “leave him there, we need you back on the road”. Well Joyce reluctantly left Win at the Greek hospital. Win was in dirty bike clothes and in very much pain. His only resource was Larry Dolinsky ( a rider) who showed up at the hospital to help him make telephone calls and get him out of this remote town to Athens.

Win was transported with Larry Dolinsky’s help and finally did get good medical care. He went home to recover and is now back with us. Except he is not riding. Why? Well, TK&A needed space for other things and left his bike, somewhere. The problem is, they weren’t quite sure where. One thought is was in France, another in Rome! Win had to ride in the sag wagon, while his bike was located and delivered to him! It took a few weeks, but the bike finally did turn up. In the mean time we kidded Win everyday about going out looking for his bike.

We stopped at Stonehenge for a few hours that day. I was lucky enough to walk around and snap a few pictures before the nasty weather blew in. The place is rather remarkable, my favorite view of it was from afar. Located on a hill top, the stones can be seen from a distance. It is amazing, how did they get them there?

We left Stonehenge and headed for Bath, our next overnight location. Bath is a neat city, built by the Romans. The next day I was scheduled to go on a bike ride with Arthur and his local cycling group.