And it's done, although the last day was not without its dark times and at one point, it looked like we weren't going to get there at all......
The day started inauspiciously when Declan popped into mine and Decs's room to seek a consultation from the "Druid" as Conleth was being increasingly known due to a mixture of his homeopathy pills and general ju-ju, on his sore knees. Believe it or not he is an actual qualified nurse and lecturer, despite his frankly quack beliefs! A few incantations and a bit of advice and we were packed and ready for the off, not at the planned 8am, but a little after 9. I knew yesterday was a one off!
Just for a change you'll be surprised it was raining as we donned the wet weather gear and set out on the long drag out of town towards the Barnesmore gap along similar unclassified roads as we were on for most of yesterday. 3 miles later we were at the side of the road as Kieran's knee was also giving him gip. He put one of his leg warmers on outside his shorts, got the Druid to say some incantations, took some painkillers and we were pulling onto the very busy N15 for the steady climb through the gap in the worsening wind. Conleths ju-ju must have worked as Kieran led the tightly formed peloton (apart from Dec stuck in the middle of the road as usual) over the top, helped, for once by a strong tail wind and we were pulling off to the right to take the quieter roads to Balleybofey for out first break of the day.
The back roads were quiet but the little traffic that past I was trying out my newly acquired "Fermanagh finger" as I was riding along with Conleth. What happens over here is that the acknowledgment you get from other motorists is a half inch movement of their index finger. This can mean everything to get out of the way to how are ya and I was cycling along just the slightest movement got one from the passing drivers. I was becoming a native! Kieran did comment that for full effect however, it was most effective from the wheel of a 50 year old Massey Ferguson tractor!
While on the quiet roads talk also meandered on to where we would go next year. After pushing North Wales I was told in no uncertain terms that this would be far to hilly, and that we would be stopping at Kieran's house, going for 4 laps of the local velodrome and back to his for tea! Dec then tried to persuade me that Northern France was really hilly and we should go there! Much merriment and laughing got us down to Balleybofey and spotting a Supavalue on the outskirts it was inside to honour the wishes of Kieran's susage roll fixation this morning, washed down by a hot chocolate to warm us up.
It was already after 11 however and we'd only done 19 miles. The original plan was to get to Malin Head then cycle the 33 miles back to Derry, but the weather and the idea of a 120 plus mile day and getting in at 10pm was wearing thin. We agreed to see what other solutions we could come up with at the Lucy stop near Letterkenny in 20 miles time.
Still on unclassified roads the route took us down an ever deteriorating road until once again we were on little more than an over grown, rocky, farm track. Cue the noise at the back as Dec protested we weren't going up that! But as you all know by now, "trust in the route!" and we were up and bouncing up the hill to the top, dodging the rope across the track to keep the cows out, not as Conleth thought to decapitate us and with him taking it easy I piled past him to crest the top first! Much to Dec's relief we were soon back onto solid Tarmac and rolling through Raphoe and we'd hit 40 miles stopping outside of Letterkenny for dinner. Soup and sandwiches all round and we looked at the bus times from Malin. The last one left at 4.15. It was 2pm and we still had 42 miles to go. No chance. Last option would be getting a taxi big enough for us and the bikes, but we didn't know what time we would get there, so we decided to get further on and phone some taxi firms in Derry.
At least over dinner, the sun had come out for a while, so we were quickly out on the busy N13 for 8 miles, usual chain with everyone taking a mile on the front until we dropped of the road to the left at Burnfoot and began the biggest climb of the day. As usual Conleth dissapered into the distance with what we now suspected was his hidden electric motor in his red frame bag which he had all gaffe taped up and had not been into all trip! However as me and Kieran rounded the corner at the back, Conleth was off his bike, it was upside down and there was obviously a big problem. Dec had seen Conleth had a problem but with him being as mechanically minded as he is a good loser, he had sensed his chance and steamed past. Once we stopped the seriousness of the problem became apparent, his chain had snapped. This was a real potential for us not finishing the trip, or at least not today. Luckily the airport security in Liverpool had not confiscated my chain splitter with the rest of my tools, so with some trepidation my and Kieran carefully wound the pin out of the next link and managed to reconnect the chain removing the broken link. Having done it before but making a right hash of it twice before I got it right, pressure was on to do it right first time and as we asked Conleth to try it out on the next little bit of the hill we waited for it to break again.......but it held! We were back on! It had taken us about 20 mins and just as we were finishing, Dec made his appearance coming back down the hill to see where we were......
Loaded back up, the next 10 miles were very beautiful, but horribly lumpy as we seemed to be going round and back on ourselves and with time lost to the broken chain, we stopped at the side of the road with 20 miles to go to take stock. It was 4.30 and we had 20 miles to go. We tried ringing a taxi, but had no phone signal so we ploughed on to stop at Carndonagh and to see if we could sort it there. A big climb followed then there was a glorious 5 miles stretch of open moorland road slightly down hill along the R244 and each one of us took the chance to open the taps on the big ring and the 5 miles to Carndonagh were dispatched in a little over 12 minutes! I stopped at the Carndonagh sign to take a video and through went Kieran followed by Conleth. Then Dec came over the summit but going slowly. As he pulled up it was apparent he had punctured. Aahhhhhhhh! Taking the panniers off we had the back wheel off and as Dec stood around like a chocolate fire guard I managed to find the thorn that went through his tyre, removed it, put in the new inner tube and get the wheel back on as rain started hammering down. Meanwhile Dec was going to ask Kieran to cycle back up the hill with the C02 canisters. I told him to get Kieran to see if he could sort out the taxi, we'd pump up the tyre and get back down the hill and use the C02 down there. Rolling back down the hill we'd lost another 20 minutes and it was now 5.15 and we still had 13 miles to go, or 49 if we had to ride to Derry. Catching up with the other 2 at the bottom of the hill Kieran had managed to get a taxi to come out from Derry but he could only make it for 6.30 as he had to be back in Derry for 7.30. It gave us an hour to get the 13 miles to the end, take some photos and get back 3 miles to the pub where he was picking us up. Pressure was on!
Through Cardonagh and the town of Malin, we turned left into the headwind along side the inlet. It was hard going and I can't remember much about it apart from how nice it would be to come on a still day when the sun was shining and could appreciate it more, until we rounded the head and saw the finishing post in the distance, the Tower at Malin Head. And looked at the massive steep hill that led up to it! It was the steepest gradient of the whole trip at 20% for the last 200 yards! Crawling up at 2.5mph we crossed the line together, ( well nearly, Dec had to get over first!) and we had done it! Fantastic! We only had time to take a few photos at the top admire the view for a minute then it was back down the scary 20% round the head to see the glorious site of the taxi doors open and waiting! Literally throwing the bikes in the back we bombed back to Derry and were unpacking the bikes, in the shower ready to go out for 8.45 after finally coaxing Kieran out from under his blanket with the promise of food and drink!
Despite being knackered, we had a great slap up meal and after that and a beer we had our second wind, and with Derry absolutely kicking on a Saturday night we found a really busy bar, had some more to drink and started talking nonsense for the next couple of hours, ending up in Tracey's bar, with a half naked gay man on the Karaoke singing Earsure's back catalogue! Now that is how to end a trip! With just time to give Kieran his first ever taste of salt n pepper chips from the Chinese it was a short walk and wait to get a taxi and back to the B&B at 2.30am! A fantastic way to finish a fantastic trip! Awards, jerseys to follow on the way home tomorrow.......
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