So far we have traveled over 680km through Ireland! We started in Standhill, Sligo on Monday 31st May and have made our way through Dromore West, Ballina, Loch Cullin, Cong, Clonbur, Galway, Inishmore-Aran Islands, Doolin, Cliffs of Moher (felt like my heart was going to jump out of my chest!), Lahinch, Spanish Point, Killimer, Tarbert, Listowel, Tralee, Castlegregory (where we rested up for a few days), over the Connor Pass – 1800ft ascent, Dingle, Killarny, Ladies View, Caha Pass (more grueling than Connor Pass – never ending up hill winding road, beautiful though!), Bantry, Clonakilty and Timoleague where we’re resting up for a few days.

Whilst resting in Castlegregory we went charter fishing where the Mackrel basically jump on your line without any effort what-so-ever! We enjoyed fresh BBQ’d fish that evening and then fishcakes the next day! Tasty as, and quite the feed!

Castlegregory is also where we parted ways with Cam, a bloke who knows his bikes back to front. He was a good egg to have around when our bikes decided to go haywire! However, his bedside behavior was a little peculiar at times. He had a thing for sleeping naked … no matter where ever we were! Whether he be in his tent, in the same dorm as us or staying in one of Kates friends places under her clean sheets – he would, without a doubt, nude up! Scary when you wake during the night to see him in the nud walking to the bathroom! Good old Cam left with an impression when he bit off the head of one of the Mackrel we had caught while out at sea.

Video to come soon, please remember to revisit!

After our break in Castlegregory we were all pumped to get cycling again, and it was Connor Pass which was first on our list of feets to overcome. And what a feet it was – I swear I almost had a heart attack! I was panting like an out of breath dog! The Connor Pass is 1800ft above sea level and we had to cycle up it! When we reached the peak, it was cloudy, overcast and so unbelievably windy! The hard work was over and it was time to enjoy the cycle down the other side … However, with the wind being so strong cycling down proved to be more dangerous that the cycle up! On too many occasions we were nearly blown off the face of the cliff from the sheer force of the winds! Extremely dangerous and scary!

We reached Dingle in time to enjoy a couple of local (and weird) pubs. One of which, Dick Macs, was a half shoe shop with boxes still on shelves and half bar! The other, Foxy John’s, which was a half hardware store half bar! Worth a look – odd but worth it.

After Dingle we headed to Killarny. Compared to the Connor Pass this was a breeze! After conquering the infamous Connor Pass we all thought no hill would be able to defeat us …

That was, of course, until we cycled from Killarny to Bantry via Caha Pass and Ladies View! This was easily one of the most scenic and beautiful cycles I have done since starting this trip but one of the hardest I hope I will ever encounter!

That day’s cycle was only 65km but took us 8 hours! Since we’re averaging 20km – you can probably only just imagine the hills we cycled for it to triple our average cycle time! The Caha Pass was breathtaking, so beautiful! Throughout the route there were stone tunnels through the mountains – the last one at the top would have been a couple of kilometers long, pitch black and covered in potholes!

The cycle down the other side was just as beautiful and for about 10km I didn’t even have to pedal once!

By the time we reached Bantry we were wrecked, everyone was out on their feet that we couldn’t even muster the energy to cycle to the camping site (which we some how missed on the way into town) and ended up staying in a hosted by the water.

The next day we were all dreading the cycle to Clonakilty – hoping not to repeat the hills from the day before! We were lucky enough to have a reasonably easy 65km cycle. However, with every easy cycle there is always something that must go wrong and it was yet again my bike to suffer the problem. I had yet another puncture – my third for the trip so far along with my broken weld on my pannier rack! It’s only a slow leak and we were able to make it to Timoleague where James, a fellow from Sligo, contacted Kate and offered to put us up for a few days! James is a top bloke and has basically given us full run of his house, he even dropped us off in town last night and took us home at 2am! Unbelievable hospitality!

The pub he took us too was holding a 40th dress up party and when we walked in, it was like walking into some sort of time machine for all sorts of characters! Great night, even Kate and Erin got up on stage to sing Johnny Cash – foltson prison! We were even coaxed up on stage to sing waltzing matilda which unfortunately we didn’t know many of the words!

Great time so far, we still have to make our way to Cork and then France. Looking forward to the adventures to come!