At the end of August, an old friend invited me to join her and her father on holiday in their cottage in County Donegal on Ireland's Atlantic coast, where her father grew up. I decided to travel to Donegal slowly, on my Brompton, camping my way across the country.
The only time that I'd cycled in Ireland before was back in the early 80s when I was a girl. A schoolfriend and I got the boat from Liverpool across the Irish Sea, and rode round the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle peninsula. We had basic bikes, a cheap tent, those dark green Karrimor panniers that a lot of people had in those days, and the same Trangia as I have today. We ate mostly jam and bread because we had no money, and came back brown as berries, because for the whole trip we had miles and miles of glorious sun.
In the 30-odd years since then, I have not been much to Ireland - one short holiday, and a couple of work trips. So I don't know it at all, despite it being so close, and I was very excited about doing the journey to Donegal by bike, so I could actually see things. I planned to ride basically in a straight line, and see what I found. I took the ferry from Holyhead to Dublin, and headed west. And I found beautiful roads, met lovely people, and eventually worked out how to find fabulous spots to camp wild. And once again, I had miles and miles of glorious sun. Sometimes it does work like that!
Huge thank you to my friend Henrietta and her father Roger for inviting me. As you can see, I loved this journey.
Music:
Honey take my Hand - Cody Francis
It's All for You - Volcan Peaks
Beauty Lives in Me - Johannes Bornlof
On a Wire - The Eastern Plain
Stay Brave - Bird of Figment
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