Monday June 16th - From Kenmare to Tralee

On the way in to Kenmare the previous evening we saw a bike shop and decided it would be a good idea to go there first thing in the morning to get me some new bottom bracket bearings. Also John wanted to get two new inner tubes to replace the couple he used on Day 1 and Lee wanted to get a water bottle. So, after a very nice fry-up we headed off down there only to find it closed. I asked in the Post Office opposite what time the bike shop would open and the chap said it was meant to be 10am but it depended how much the owner had drunk the night before. We gave it until ten past ten and then knocked on the door. About five minutes later a man on crutches with his foot in plaster hobbled out and managed to find two inner tubes but he didn't have the bearings or a water bottle. My bottom bracket axle was already rattling a bit but I didn't think it would fail on me so John, Lee, Pete and myself set off to catch up the rest of the group that had gone on ahead.
About a mile out of Kenmare there was a sign saying Tralee was 64km away so we were left wondering what that 143km from the previous evening was all about. The road out of town was a gradual climb, nowhere near as steep as yesterday's cliff-face, however, this one went on for five miles until we reached the summit at a place called Moll's Gap and stopped in the cafe there where the rest of the group were waiting for us. The plan now was to head off down a minor road towards Tralee which Pete described as 'challenging'. I know what that means. The bike shop owner said I would be able to get some bearings at Killarney which meant taking a different, flatter route along the main road. Maurice and Dave said they would come with me and off we went down the hill.
I couldn't have gone more than 100 yards before running over something sharp and puncturing the back tyre. I shouted as loud as I could to the other two who were ahead of me but they were gone. I rolled as carefully as I could down the hill thinking they would soon stop to see where I was but it was about a mile before they noticed I wasn't there. Back wheel punctures are a pain to fix at the best of times but they're even worse with heavy panniers. Anyway we got it done and set off again. The road was being resurfaced and literally 200 yards later a large stone jumped out in front of me and I had no choice but to run over it and down went the front tyre. The air was blue. Out came inner tube number two and ten minutes later we were off again. This time I made it about 300 yards down the road before the front tyre went flat again. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't had three punctures in the previous year and now I had three in half an hour.
I was conscious of holding Marice and Dave up so I told them to go on ahead and I would catch them up. I put my last good tube in and off I went. The scenery here was stunning and the road went downhill for a few miles. At one point I felt like a slalom skier going down the hill sharp left then sharp right then sharp left again. After a few miles I caught up with Maurice and Dave and we arrived in Killarney at about 3pm. We found a bike shop and I got my bearings for a very reasonable 3 euros and he even threw in a tube of grease. We had lunch in the town and then got going towards Tralee. The weather had been quite bright until then but at that point it started turning grey and it wasn't long before my fluorescent yellow waterproof jacket made its first appearance. There was barely a hill on the Tralee road but the wind had picked up and that slowed us down a little.
We arrived in Tralee at about 7.30pm, found the B&B, dumped our stuff and headed off into town for some well-earned food. We did 45 miles today and compared to yesterday it was easy (if you don't count the punctures !). From the stories I heard from the other group about 1 in 4 hills that went on for miles I definitely made the right choice.