{"id":3591,"date":"2023-04-26T10:29:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T15:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=3591"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:50:17","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:50:17","slug":"230426-blues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/230426-blues\/","title":{"rendered":"230426-Blues"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The anticipated rain hammered the area all night, continuing through the morning. Yet my energy levels were up, and spending the day at the edge of town I found &#8230; unappealing.<\/p>\n<p>Weather forecasts for the day were all over the map! I finally determined that while rain fell at my current location and destination, the intervening space was clear, likely for the next 4 hours. I had 60 km to my next destination, a lovely hostel I&#8217;d stumbled across when looking for a hotel, and a break in the rain. Time to go!<\/p>\n<p>After a quick ride out of town I routed onto smaller roads. After the night&#8217;s rain, they turned to slush and mud. My progress slowed as I dealt with the quagmire that had been my road. Eventually I found myself walking, slower than riding but far less work than fighting the bicycle in the mud.<\/p>\n<p>By the time I emerged from the mud onto asphalt there was no way I&#8217;d outrun the rain. Yet, somehow, I did! As I stepping into the hostel, the sky opened up behind me with torrential rain.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3589\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/230426-blues\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,388\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015-300x146.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-3589 alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1113487092661588494062015-768x372.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Check-in at the hostel was quick (mostly automated). I settled in to one of the nicest hostels I&#8217;ve ever stayed at. Late in the evening two travelers from the UK arrived, here in this small town that proclaims itself, &#8220;the home of the blues&#8221;. Well, that explained why tourists might come to this rural town.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"3590\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/230426-blues\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"800,388\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266-300x146.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266.jpg\" class=\"wp-image-3590 alignnone size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266.jpg\" width=\"800\" height=\"388\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20230507_1114056355640635318438266-768x372.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 984px) 61vw, (max-width: 1362px) 45vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The anticipated rain hammered the area all night, continuing through the morning. Yet my energy levels were up, and spending the day at the edge of town I found &#8230; unappealing. Weather forecasts for the day were all over the map! I finally determined that while rain fell at my current location and destination, the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/230426-blues\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;230426-Blues&#8221;<\/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-3591","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\/3591","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=3591"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3599,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3591\/revisions\/3599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}