{"id":1655,"date":"2017-08-31T13:51:50","date_gmt":"2017-08-31T18:51:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=1655"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:52:58","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:52:58","slug":"170831-another-sunny-dry-flat-day-in-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/170831-another-sunny-dry-flat-day-in-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"170831-Another Sunny Flat Dry Day in Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

All trip I’ve woken up at about 6:30 am, but gone back to sleep until around 7:30 am. With rain in the forecast for early afternoon, I had a long way to go, and a short time to get there, so this morning when I woke I started moving in the cold morning air. I hung the tent up to dry in the sun, but did not have the patience today to wait for it to dry, and I rolled out by 8. The first 45 km were, effectively, flat, and I made great time.<\/p>\n

As I started to search for a place to eat lunch, I encountered a McDonald’s, which solved two problems at once. I also hoped to use their Wi-Fi, but failed. I’ve mentioned previously that much of the Wi-Fi in Europe now requires activation with a text message. Given that I can’t get a text message until \u00a0have Wi-Fi … \u00a0Some of the restaurants (including McDonald’s) sometimes have an option buried deep within their site to activate the Wi-Fi without a text message, but not so today.<\/p>\n

After lunch I turned towards the Wicklow Mountains. A long day of climbing after that, but with grades averaging only about 5%; whenever I needed a lower gear I still had one to reach for. However, as the day progressed the sky began to cloud up, and temperatures dropped. \u00a0Approaching Rathdrum, rain began to fall with intent. Dashing forward, I pulled into a covered walkway mere moments before the sky opened up. I opened an e-book on my phone, and settled in to wait.<\/p>\n

Within a half hour the rain tapered off. A woman sharing my refuge told me the rain was done. She pointed out the direction of the wind and the clearing skies in that direction. We both ventured forth. I stopped at the next intersection to check the GPS, and she, walking down the sidewalk, called out to me that I was going the wrong way and pointed me in the right direction.<\/p>\n

Only 2 km from Glendalough, the rain caught me again. Another 30 minute wait in an opportune bus stop, yet I still arrived in Glendalough by 2:30 pm, 79 km from where I started in the morning. At least some of the earlier shorter distances I now blame on Wales.<\/p>\n

As I checked into the hostel, the sky opened up again, and rained for the next couple of hours. Once the skies cleared, I left to explore the surrounding area. Glendalough is a hiker mecca, and the Glendalough International Hostel lives up to its name. This is clearly a core destination just outside of Dublin. People are here from all over the world.<\/p>\n

I returned to Trinity Church, a ruin nearby I had passed on the rush to the hostel. I also explored the nearby ruins of an old monastic village, including one of Ireland’s round towers, where monks would seek refuge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From there I cycled up into the valley and the upper lake, hiking further in to explore an old mining village and waterfall at the head of the valley.<\/p>\n

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Returning to the hostel I met Bill Weir, which was a lot like meeting a mythical character. Bill’s been touring Europe, Asia, and the US constantly for decades. You can read about his travels at http:\/\/www.crazyguyonabike.com\/billweir . I’ve met other cyclists who’ve spoken of meeting him.<\/p>\n

From here I have no plan. I’m a day of cycling out of Dublin, with three days before I need to head to Dublin! I’m tempted to take a rest day here tomorrow and hike the surrounding area. But then I’m still two days ahead of schedule with the same problem, and I’m convinced I can come up with a better plan with three days than two.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All trip I’ve woken up at about 6:30 am, but gone back to sleep until around 7:30 am. With rain in the forecast for early afternoon, I had a long way to go, and a short time to get there, so this morning when I woke I started moving in the cold morning air. I … Continue reading “170831-Another Sunny Flat Dry Day in Ireland”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1655"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1759,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1655\/revisions\/1759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}