Day 2- Waterford to Cork - projected distance 84 miles.

A wretched start to the day: at breakfast I managed to break a tooth while eating muesli, which meant I set off in rather low spirits. Feeling pessimistic, I added my rain jacket and a spare inner tube and tyre to my small backpack.

My GPS quickly took me over some small hills on (very) minor roads, but it was a long meandering route, so afer a few miles I decided to get back on the N25 to cover some miles. It's a good, fast road, but it is featureless. The highlight of my first hour was overtaking a tractor on a downhill section. The last time I can remember racing tractors was in Hereford on another one of my long rides.

Reaching Dungarvan, I took a detour into the town in honour of my redoubtable friend Michael McCarthy, who was born there. I snapped a picture of the big buoy, resisting the temptation to say "aren't you a big buoy then?" Climbing up the big hill out of Dungarvan, I heard Michael's voice in my head, urging me on, "go on Andrew, get up there."

A few miles down the road I somehow managed to resist the attractions of Ardmore, in spite of its proud boast that it was voted the 'tidiest town in Ireland' in 1992. I was heading for Youghal, pronounced 'yawl', where I was hoping to meet the family for a sandwich. We met by the splendid clock gate and had our lunch under grey skies.

It started to rain very gently as I passed Youghal's beach on the way out of town, on my way back to the N25. It was a bit of a slog after that, but 15 miles from Cork I veered off onto some smaller roads, passing a couple of smart golf clubs and more interesting scenery. My route took me across the River Lee on the ferry (one euro for me), and into Cork. After an unintended tour of the city, which took me past a shop bearing my mum's name, I eventually found the hotel where two smiling children entered the foyer just as I was waiting to check in. George was very enthused by their visit to the Waterford glass factory, which he later recounted in great detail.

Off to Killarney tomorrow - in the rain again, I think.