Day 36: Letterkenny to Ballyliffin

June 19, 2024

A day in the sun

Sunshine!! Blue sky!! A perfect day to go for a ride. When we stepped outside to load the bike, it felt warm. We both appreciated and welcomed the change.

Ardlee House B&B, Letterkenny, County Donegal.

We worked our way through the busy streets of Letterkenny to some quieter rural roads. As we rode along, the first thing that came to mind is that we have returned to civilization. We have once again rejoined the Eurovelo 1 route and we rode some of their route plus some of our own. You see, whichever road looks better is the one we choose. Passing along a viewpoint overlooking Lough Swilly near Manorcunningham we stopped to read the sign about the birds living in this particular area: geese from the Arctic, swans from Iceland and Siberia, and Arctic terns. These terns fly 20,000 kilometers to the Antarctic and back every year.

Fields are sculpted along the hillsides and separated by hedgerows now instead of rock walls.

Blue sky and the greenscape were a pleasant site.

As we rode along, we came across this guy. Very clever!

The area of Lough Swilly inhabited by the Arctic tern.

Lough Swilly looking a pretty blue - thanks to the blue sky. Yesterday it was rather gray.

At one point the EV1 turned right and we turned left. After a few kilometers, we came to a halt. We had happened upon a two track dirt road and we decided to give it a go. We wanted to go, but the tandem said no. Flat front tire. Once Chuck had the tube replaced and we pumped it back up, we turned around and rode back to a house we'd passed a little earlier that had a sign that indicated that bicycle repairs were done there. We topped off the air in the tire, threw the ball a few times for the playful Border Collie and learned about Inch Island. We took several paved roads and ended up about 300 meters from the spot where we flatted and another unexpected adventure began.

Our route. The EV1 route was a wider and more evenly paved road. Don't you think this one would be more fun?

If we had known it was only 300 meters, we'd have walked it . . . but then we wouldn't have had the opportunity to visit the local bicycle repairman.

We rode across the "level" to Inch Island in the middle of Lough Swilly. As we rode across the level, we had to stop due to the cacaphonie coming from the birds. We were entertained by swans, geese, mallards, and tufts floating around. The noise was coming from the black-headed gulls, the sandwich terns, and the sedge warblers. This estuary houses hundreds of birds. The swans and geese were numerous; sadly the photos of the large swan colony didn't work. Eventually we came to the road that took us back across the lake to the mainland and we continued on our way towards Ballylaffin.

It's really hard to see the swans and geese, but there were a lot of them there.

Did you ever wonder about the origins of the song "Amazing Grace"?

As we came toward the northwest end of Inishowen Peninsula, we had a decision to make: do we climb and descend the Gap of Mamore or not. We've read about this gap and know that it is extremely steep on both sides. Our concern is more about the descent rather than the climb. Last night we made the decision to not do it, but once we were there and looking at it . . . we couldn't decide once again. We gave it a start, but there was a significant side wind now. Deciding to be smart, we turned around and took the alternate route and climbed over the hills in a different direction. We know we missed incredible views in light of the beautiful sunny day that it was. But we had a couple of fantastic descents instead.

We watched a bus come down and a van go up. It is steep! Steeper than anything we've already ridden.

Looking south from the summit of the alternate road we took.

Looking north before the very long descent into Clonmany.

We arrived in Ballyliffin and noticed that the town's accommodations seemed to be filled with large groups of golfers. County Donegal seems to have a LOT of golf courses - some affordable and many that are extremely expensive. We learned the next day that the local golf course was hosting the 129th Amateur Championships over the next four days.

View from the front saddle: End of week 5

We had our third flat tire thanks to a shard of glass. There was a lot of glass in the bike lane leaving Letterkenny and we spent a good amount of the first 40 kilometers of the route on the shoulder of a major road. So, no idea where we picked up the glass. It hasn't been bad to only have three flats over the last five weeks of riding. Thanks to SRAM videos, and some trial and error, the shifting on the front derailleur has been improved greatly.

Note to ourselves: We rode with arms and vests, but shed the vests fairly early on. Lovely warm day with NO rain.

Accommodation: We're staying at the Ballylaffin Hotel. Nice accommodations. Good food and friendly and helpful staff.

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 2,399 km (1,490 miles)

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