Wednesday June 18th - From Kilrush to Ballyvaughan

I was woken early this morning by the sound of the wind howling against the bedroom window which is never a good start. I was on the top floor of a fairly exposed building so I hoped it wouldn't be so bad when I got down to ground level. Again we had split into two B&B's so after the biggest breakfast of the trip we met in the town square and set off at about 9.30.
We only made it about 200 yards out of town before the rain started falling fairly steadily and on went the waterproofs. It was a flat run north-west through a small village called Cooraclare and then on to Creegh and it would have been great for cycling had it not been for the weather spoiling the views. Robert from Mabchester (sorry-still don't know surnames) must have had three weetabix as he disappeared off into the distance. The second group was the Torbay boys with the remainder following at a more relaxed pace.
Just past Creegh when I thought we were going well I got yet another back-wheel puncture and the five of us stopped while I fixed it. It was now raining quite heavily so Pete stayed with me while Rob, Lee and John went on to find a cafe. I was hoping to get the tyre fixed before the rest arrived but it wasn't long before they came into view. They decided I needed to get some tyres that could handle Irish roads and I had to agree. They went on ahead and after Pete and I had fixed the flat we set off after them. I now had no confidence in the bike and I was expecting to get another puncture at any moment.
We reached the next town called Milltown Malbay and John directed me to a bike repair man who had two chunky second-hand Michelins which he offered to fit for me while I went up the road for a coffee with the rest of the gang. Half an hour later I picked up my bike and we went north along the coast road. We split into the same two groups as before and made our way towards the Cliffs of Moher which gave us the only serious climb of the day. It was close to lunchtime when we got there and we'd all had enough of being rained on so we stopped for a while. When the weather is good I could imagine this would be a really awe-inspiring place - you can see for miles along a really dramatic coastline, but today with the heavy rain, let's just say it lost some of its appeal. At the top of one of the hills they had something called a talking telescope - I guess you put in a euro and it describes what you can see. I thought, if I tried it today, it would probably say something like "Ya fecking eejit, whatya doin up here in wedder loik dis ?". We took a few photos, had lunch in the cafe and did our best to dry off a bit but we knew that as soon as we went outside we'd be soggy again in no time.
The time came and we had to get back on the bikes and made our way further up the coast. Before long the rain had died away and there were even a few blue bits up above.
We went through a little village called Doolin and, as we climbed a hill, we noticed a white mini-bus on the left parked at a strange angle. As we got closer we realised the front was smashed in, it had come to rest on top of a wall and a rather shaken-looking driver was climbing out of it. I resisted the temptation to say something like "Now I don't believe you wanted to do that". Anyway, we were all thankful that we weren't there a minute or two earlier.
After that bit of excitement we travelled north to an area called The Burren - a limestone rock area which reminded me of the Giant's Causeway, not quite so dramatic but much larger. We then followed the coast road up to the northern-most point called Black Head. This was the best bit of the day - the sun was now out, the road was either flat or downhill, the wind was behind us, there was a huge mountain on our right and great views across Galway Bay on our left. Possibly the best ten miles of the trip so far and really unexpected after the miserable morning.
As we reached Ballyvaughan we met Robert who had been there a while and he directed us to the B&B which the whole group was staying in. It wasn't long before the rest arrived and, after showers we headed off into the quiet little village for something to eat. Most of the group went into the first pub but the Torbay lot decided to have a look at a restaurant down the road a bit. As we walked down there we saw a lady about 100 yards down a lane shouting "I need your help - I've driven my car into a ditch". Pete and John heroically offered to go and see what the restaurant was like while Lee, Rob, myself and a few locals pushed the car back onto the road. When we got to the restaurant I ordered a steak and when I asked for chips with it the waitress said they didn't do any fried food. I ended up with steak, salad and a bowl of ready salted crisps. Heaven !