Andrew McHattie's Tour of Ireland - Day 6 - Ballyvaughan to Castlebar

Tour of Ireland 15th-29th August 2010

Day 6

Day 6 - Ballyvaughan to Castlebar - projected distance 76 miles.

Dragging ourselves away from our comfortable B&B and its very chatty owners, we set out in the wind this morning. For me it was straight around Galway Bay and then north; for Sarah and the children the day started with a look at the dolmens in The Burren, and then on to a beach in Galway.

Shortly after setting off, accompanied by some music again (now that my cy-fi bike speaker has recovered from its soaking two days ago), the wind blew away the clouds and the sun shone through. This gave me some great views of Galway Bay as I skirted around its edge. Entering Kinvara, which is an attractive little town by the water, I saw a road sign with a picture of a cycle and the slogan 'burn fat, not oil.' Unfortunately I couldn't stop in time for a photo, so I kept on burning the fat and headed on towards Galway City.

At this point I upset my Garmin GPS when I missed a turn, and it repeatedly asked me to make a u-turn for the next ten miles. I was 90% sure I was heading in the right direction, so I ignored it. That other 10% nagged away at me though, so at the next petrol station I pulled in and spent four euro on a map. Sometimes the old 'technology' is best.

I was indeed heading the right way, but my route took me for a few miles on the busy N6 dual carriageway on the outskirts of Galway. Not a nice road, especially with its gritty hard shoulder, but it was fairly direct. Passing into County Mayo, I clocked up the first 50 miles of the day in 2 hours and 54 minutes, which is faster than I normally ride.

At the southerly end of Lough Mask I had decided to take a small detour into the town of Cong. About five miles before the turn there was a small foodstore called 'Kings', and I thought as I passed what a pity it wasn't in Cong itself. Kings of Cong has a certain ring to it.

The strong breeze continued all day, and as I neared Castlebar I spotted a wind farm - only the second one I've seen so far in Ireland. I'm a little surprised. With plentiful land and the Atlantic weather fronts I would have imagined this area would meet the criteria.

Arriving at the hotel I noticed a rythmic bumping of my back wheel, and looked to find that my rear tyre has a hole in it. I'll replace it tomorrow. Check-in at the Breaffy House Hotel then turned out to be the most arduous part of the day - we finally settled on the third room we were allocated. Not the loveliest hotel, overrun by noisy kids in Manchester United shirts, but we'll have a break here, enjoy Flora's birthday tomorrow, and regroup for week two.

Drove into Westport this evening for our first glimpse of Clew Bay and a perfectly acceptable fish supper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Statistics and Photos (scroll down)

Distance covered today: 83.1 miles
Time: 4 hours 54 minutes
Average Speed: 16.9 mph
Top Speed: 31.8 mph
Distance covered (cumulative): 390.4 miles
Maximum heart rate: 165 bpm