M2M - DAY 2 & 3 - INTO THE BEAUTIFUL WEST

Posted on

 

 
 
 
 
 

DAY 3 - Claremorris to Lahinch

 

Click HERE to see Gerry Greene talk about trip so far

 

DONIE'S DIARY – DAY 3 - CLAREMORRIS TO LAHINCH

What a beautiful, beautiful day!! looked out the window when I woke at 7:30... clear blue sky...YES!!!

Mark is still rolled up in the onesey, but it looks like the colour is returning to his cheeks. Not a single snort out of him again last night (good old bamboo), but unfortunately the teeth chattering didn't stop 'til 4:00 am. I ran him a warm bath just to be sure.

Today we're joined by Ciarán Gowing, who came down yesterday to complete the last three days. Only 130km today so no need for an early start. Plan was to leave at 9:30. But when Ciarán took his bike from the van something was wrong with his front derailler, we fiddled around with it for half an hour, and got it partially going but a bike shop was needed. The local Garda Seargent (Pat Cunningham's brother in law) who was helping to escort us out to the dual carriageway, recommended a good one in Tuam. Now I'm not paranoid but this really smells of the boys from Sherwood who've fecked off early again.

So off we headed, group of eight today, hit the bike shop in Tuam an hour later. Repair guy had it repaired in 5 mins. We whizzed on through Claregalway and into Oranmore Lodge Hotel for lunch. Lunch was booked for 12:30, when we got there it was a bit early and who was sitting outside gloating about how long they'd been there? Yep, the forest dwellers. I bit my lip and said nothing. By 12:30 the whole gang arrived and we had a great laugh over soup and sandwiches. Robbie Kelleher joined us here for the rest of the spin to Lahinch.

Bomber and the chairman are now getting on great and I think a few other "bro-mances" are developing. Three nights sharing with the same person, no female company, and enduring the same level of tortuous pain, can only lead to one thing........attraction!!! Handshakes after completing the first day have turned to hugs after day three. Apparently those cryogenic baths were taken in pairs!! 

Sorry'¦'¦. I'm getting distracted..........we all rolled out of Oranmore together, 32 cyclists in single file, down to Clarinbridge and on to Kilcolgan........quite a sight to behold!! From Kilcolgan we turned on to the N17. From here the pace picked up dramatically and the Merry Men had to join us because they didn't get a chance to feck off. We burned up the road through Kinvara, along the beautiful coastline basked in glorious sunshine and into Ballyvaughan to regroup. Fair play to the boys, they stuck the pace!! Special mention to Dave "Bradley" Byrne who also stuck the pace, testament to all the hard training he's done, and a marker laid down for others to follow.

The whole group set off again towards Corkscrew Hill which was to be the biggest challenge of the day. By the time the lead group reached the bottom of the hill only one of the merry men remained and when the summit was conquered he hadn't featured in the placings. Hee..Hee.. Hee !  Welcome to cycling girls !!

The 8 lads then carried on into Lisdoonvarna. Thank God the matchmaking festival wasn't on when the main group arrived. God knows what would have happened after those fecking baths !!

The lead group took a diversion up to the cliffs of Moher, and I have to say it was absolutely spectacular in the glorious sunshine. So the final part of todays spin went through Ennistymon and down to Lahinch for the night. Staying in Sancta Maria hotel. It was still really warm and sunny when we had all finally arrived safely and we all headed for a swim in the sea (I hadn't the heart to try to hit them for the 15euro). This was really good for the now tired legs and a lot more manly than what went on last night.

Tomorrow is another big one,160 km down through the rest of Clare, ferry to The Kingdom and down to Kenmare.

Nice little hotel this.......have my own room...........hope Mark's ok.......

Night all'¦..Donie

 

M2M - DAY 2 - INTO THE WEST

 
Today's cycle was from Donegal to Claremorris - 190km.
 
All cyclists have arrived intact and are reported to have been indulging in the local Mayo therapeutic remedies.
Check out the photos below to see where the 'real' cyclists go to recover .......
 
 
 
Two interesting short video clips below- catch up with the action on M2M.
 
Click HERE  to see the cyclists on the road 
 
Click HERE for an quick summary from Denis about Day 2 and his views on the trip to Lahinch for Day 3
 

DONIE'S DIARY - DAY 2 - LETTERKENNY TO CLAREMORRIS

Great kip last night,thank god for the bamboo and the couple of drops of chloroform I put on each of the lapels on Marks new jammies. he was out cold before his head even hit the pillow,hee hee !!
 
190km to do today so Bomber decided to split us into 2 groups,1 leaving at 7.30 and 1 leaving at 8.30. 11 of us were in the 8.30 group and when we got down for breakfast the first group had already gone. Pat Halpin was assigned as leader of our group and much to our disgust when we arrived down at 8.20 he had already fecked off with a select few.  We're big boys so this wasn't a big deal. the cycle started with an immediate 2km climb out of Letterkenny which was quite nice as it was a little bit nippy and trying to rain. we rolled on by Ballybofey and down through Barnsmore gap and into Laghy where we met up with Mr. Halpin and his merry men,who fecked off again as we were buying coffee !! 50km done.
 
From Laghy we headed by Ballyshannon, Bundoran, Grange and into Sligo for lunch,which had been organised by Kevin Mulligan's sister...great grub. The whole group were here so it was good crack. needless to say Mr. Halpin and his merry band fecked off again before the rest of us !! Not to be seen again till we got to our final destination.
 
Now something happened (which i didn't see) when we were leaving Sligo, somehow the club chairman got left behind. He had no directions or back up vehicle but thankfully he made it to Tubbercurry where we stopped to fuel up again. He met Bomber on the footpath outside the hotel we were in, and even though he's a trained negotiator, let's just say I wish he'd had a snickers before he opened his mouth !! Anyway they made up quickly afterwards and everyone is happy now.....except for Ronnie Murray who tried to intervene and they both turned on him !!
 
Weather was quite nice now and we blazed our way on through Charlestown and Knock and into Claremorris for the night. 190 km today and 270km in total. I must say everybody is holding up very well so far.
 
It gets a little bit girly from now on. Mí­cheál Mullin has a physio friend with a practice in town with a cryogenic bath. He offered a "rub and bath" to us for €25 each. 27 suckers took up the offer thinking they'd feel better in the morning. Yer man pocketed €675 and the lads are still frozen. Tomorrow in Lahinch, Sean Hogan and myself are only going to charge them €15 for a dip in the sea....easy money !!
Mark is so cold here in the room that he's discarded the new jammies and replaced them with a 'onesey' and he even has tomorrows cycling gear on underneath to try to get back to normal. Looks like i'll have to stick on the bamboo on his nose as he's nearly taken his eye out twice already !!
130km tomorrow down into the Banner.
By the way.....you lads from Sherwood forest...don't think i've forgotten ye !!
 
Regards and Good night ......Donie.
 
Club, KC Wheelers.