Saturday June 21st - From Westport to Tobercurry

We had split into three separate B&B's the previous evening and had arranged to meet in the town at 9.30am. I had spotted an internet cafe on the way in and decided I would let the others go on without me while I got the website up-to-date. It was meant to open at 10am but at 10.15 there were still no signs of life so I asked in the shop next door and the lady said his opening time depended on how much he had drunk the night before - not the first time I had heard that on this trip. He eventually appeared at about 10.25 and I was on my way by 11 o'clock.
I tried to follow the planned route north along some minor roads but somehow ended up on the main road east towards the town of Castlebar. I knew I needed to be heading north so I turned left down a lane which turned out to be a dead end and then, having got back onto the main road, I tried another left turn about a mile later. This went in a big loop and brought me back onto the main road again not much further along. At this point I decided it would be best to go into Castlebar and then head north.
The rain had been showery all morning and the wind was from the north which wasn't helping. I checked the map and headed for a village called Pontoon along a quiet but exposed road across some moors. On a sunny day this would have been a nice ride with views of the mountains off to my left but it was nothing special in the drizzle. Somewhere along this road my gps died again. I noticed fairly quickly, reset it and only lost about 2 miles worth of data. When I reached Pontoon the first thing I saw was a nice looking pub overlooking a lough on the right. There was a big sign outside saying they had free wireless internet there - typical. If I had stayed with the group I wouldn't have gone that way so I wasn't too peeved. I timed my lunch stop well as the qualifying for the French Grand Prix was on and I watched that while eating my soup and drinking my coffee. When I got back on the bike I noticed that the vdo bike computer, which is normally very reliable, was showing 58 miles an hour even though I wasn't moving. As soon as I set off it started behaving itself again.
I was now heading to Ballina in the hope of catching the rest of the group who should have been passing through there at some point. It was another quietish country road that took me there and I arrived at about 3pm. I stopped to look around and a german chap came up to me and said "your friends - down there on the left". I rode around for about ten minutes hoping to see a collection of bikes parked outside a pub but I couldn't find them. The town was really busy - traffic jams everywhere so I decided to go on to Tobercurry. I thought the group would have split into the usual fast and slow sections and I now thought I was somewhere between the two.
The next ten miles were hard work partly because I was riding into the north-easterly wind and partly because it was a constant, gradual climb. I didn't realise how much of a climb until I reached the top of the Ballina-Ox mountains and looked down over the other side. These were probably the best views of the day and I just wished it had been sunny, but then, this was Ireland. I was really glad of a downhill section which gave my legs a bit of a rest. At the bottom of the first descent there was a turn off to the right which went to an observation point for Lough Talt. I decided to go down there and take some photos and, at that point, I caught a glimpse of a red cycling top coming through the trees. It turned out to be Pete with Lee, John and Robert behind him. I couldn't understand how I had ended up in front of them but apparantly they had stopped a few times along the way.
We had a chat and then Pete lead us off for the last 8 miles into Tobercurry. The road was fairly flat now and sheltered from the wind by trees and the others decided they were going to go for it. For the next four miles we averaged about 20mph which I would never had managed if I hadn't been slipstreaming Pete all the way. That spurt took us into the town and we found our B&B and we met Maeve who ran it.
What can I say about Maeve, she was a right character. I think she had been celebrating something before we arrived and we all had to dive for cover when she moved her car so we could put the bikes in her garage. She said there had been what she called a slight over-booking and asked if two of us would mind using her attic-room. Lee and I 'voluntereed' and after tea and cakes she showed us up there via the 10 inch-wide staircase. When we got up there it was basic but ok, I did point out to Lee that, if there was a fire in the night, we had a choice of burning to death or dying by climbing out of the velux roof-window and splatting on the ground below. It was also a little worrying that the 4-way adapter in our room worked only when we fiddled with the wire going into it and also when I turned on the shower downstairs the bathroom light dimmed for a second. Still, the bog-standard, professional B&B's are instantly forgettable - ones like this get talked about for years to come.
While we were getting ready to go out the remainder of the gang arrived in dribs and drabs. We headed off into town and ended up in Murphy's bar and restaurant as recommended by Maeve. The meal was absolutely superb, the best so far and plenty of it and before long all 14 of us were there. At 10 pm there was a band in the bar playing some traditional Irish music and we went in there for a listen. The first tune they played was really good, then they played it again, and again and again and again. No wonder they played it well - they had had plenty of practice. By about the tenth time we decided it was time for bed and we headed back in the rain. It had been a pretty tough 58 miles fro me today and even the noise of the rain bouncing off the velux window wasn't going to stop me sleeping.