Thursday June 19th - From Ballyvaughan to Oughterard

We all stayed in the same B&B last night and as we got the bikes ready we were hit by the heaviest downpour of the trip so far. Fortunately it didn't last long and we were soon on our way east around Galway Bay with the first destination being a small town called Kinvarra. The sun soon came out, the waterproofs came off and the gang split into the same two groups as in previous days - myself, Pete, John, Rob and Lee going on ahead.
When we arriced at Kinvarra we were all ready for a coffee and we found a place near the river which had internet access. This was about the first time we had found this and I wasn't going to miss the chance to upload the website. We got coffees and I got the laptop out and spent the next half an hour doing my bit. The rest of the group came along as we were ready to set off again so we carried on together for a while with great views of Galway Bay on our left.
The weather had turned a bit showery so the waterproofs were on and off a bit until we reached the surprisingly busy town of Oranmore. From there we went north along a very busy N18 until we arrived at Galway. As it was lunchtime we decided to stop there and it was nice to take a bit of time out to have a look around the town. We had lunch in a typical Irish bar in the town centre and then we got the map out and some twerp suggested a change to the planned route. Instead of heading north-west directly towards our final destination of Oughterard I thought it might be good to head west and follow the coast road along the rest of Galway Bay. It meant adding about 15 miles to the planned 55 and we would be riding into the blustery headwind which was coming from the west. On the plus side I thought there would be some good views across the bay. If we took this route we would have to travel west into the wind for about 20 miles and then we would have to go north east with the wind behind us up to Oughterard. We put it to the vote and Rob wasn't keen but the rest of us quite liked the idea. Rob decided he would stick to the planned route so after lunch we said our goodbyes and Pete lead the other three of us onto the coast road. We had to take it in turns to lead into the wind which was much harder than slipstreaming behind someone else. When it was Lee's turn to lead he soon became a dot in the distance so we told him not to bother anymore. I wish I'd thought of doing that !
After about 10 miles we came into the town of Spiddle which had a really nice, sandy beach and great views across the water. At this point we could have turned off and gone north-east back towards the original route but we decided to slug it out to the end. We knew that once we got to the end of the coast road and turned right the wind would be behind us and the cycling would get easier. Somewhere along this road my gps decided it had had enough and gave up. It was reading 48 miles while the more reliable VDO bike computer was showing 55. It did this to me a few times last year - so much for modern technology !
After a snickers-stop we reached the turning and were all relieved, not only to have the wind behind us, but also to be on a road much quieter than the one we had just left. This road was a minor one and the surrounding countryside looked just like Dartmoor to me. We could see mountains in the distance and hoped that we would reach Oughterard before we reached them. Even though it was now about 6pm the sun was out and it was ideal cycling weather, we had the wind behind us and the road was deserted. We had hoped to find somewhere to eat along this road but that was too much to ask for. The hills soon got steeper and I was starting to curse the nutter whose idea it was to make this detour. After a few miles climbing through roads surrounded by forest we reached the top 800 feet above sea level, from there the only way was down and it went down for 5 miles with stunning views of Lough Corrib in the distance. Thankfully, as we had all had enough by now, the bottom of the hill brought us into Oughterard and we found the B&B. Rob had already arrived, as had Robert but, to our surprise, the rest of the gang had not appeared yet. Just as we were on our way into town they turned up, they had also gone along the coast road but had turned off at Spiddle and then got lost a few times. They did 67 miles which we only just beat with our 70 - the longest ride of the trip so far for both groups.

The map of the first 48 miles with the remainder sketched in blue