Biking Day 3

(from my journal)

Today I had a great breakfast with a family (British grandmom, her son, his 2^nd wife, his daughter, and the daughter’s husband) crazy linkage. They made me feel right at home, well even though it was none of our homes. I washed my clothes the night before and they weren’t dry so Chris (The B&B owner) took them over to the neighbor’s house to use her dryer. Chris then helped me figure out a better route for the next three days. Athlone it turns out is a cool large town with a big castle. It will be a great place to spend St. Patrick’s Day! After I left Chris’s house, it took only one minute on the bike before I realized the gears weren’t changing…at all. I looked in my bike guidebook to see if what to do, borrowed a screwdriver from a telephone repairman across the street, and fixed it! It’s such a simple thing, but it is a perfect example of why I like to travel alone. Because you have to rely on yourself (and God -> see day 1) and as a result, you realize how capable you really are.

Some random observations of Ireland:

-People like to lay concrete all around the house, all the way to the edge of the house. No bushes.

-The houses always seem to be painted DRAB colors. No exaggeration there.

-There are a lot of baby animals, especially lambs.

-People still use the hundreds year old stone fences to keep their animals in.

-Drivers most often give a nod when passing me. Sometimes they just life a finger from the steering wheel. Always one of the two, sometimes both.

-The Irish use peat, which comes from the bogs instead of coal. I read that it makes less smoke than coal. They’ve used up a lot of the bogs says Chris, so they are trying to conserve them. I read they are also making artificial ones.

-The people in the small villages don’t stare at me as much if I put my green corduroy pants over my black spandex. I also took the visor off my helmet. Both helped. People still stare at my “shock yellow windbreaker.”

-The animals are always covered in mud. I feel bad and want to give them a bath.

-Chris gave us Baileys for our porridge and it was awesome!

-The dogs like to follow/chase me down the road. This has happened at least 5 or 6 times.

-The sheep “baaa” when I say hi. Seriously.