Blue sky morning! Weather is supposed to be between 13 and 17 degrees Celsius today. Our trusty app tells us it will be a side wind for most of the day. Okay . . . blue sky! Who can ask for much more on this Emerald Island?
We set off with that steep descent down to the main road that led us out of town. Shortly after leaving the town limits, we turned off onto a "tiny" road. You see, we created this route by studying the Wild Atlantic Way and the Eurovelo 1 routes. As we created each day we would look for smaller and less busy roads than those recommended by the books. Today is a shorter day - only 66 kilometers - and we scheduled several sections off the beaten path on smaller roads. By the time we came off the first Phinney chosen section we wondered what we had done to ourselves. It was either up or down on a very narrow two track road that was somewhat paved. All that was fine; the difficult parts were the short but steep (think 12%+) ramps. At 10 kilometers we came back to the main road which is he "usual" route. As a result of our choice we had only completed 10 kilometers after the first 45 minutes of the ride. Oh my!
More colorful rhododendrons as we leave Glengarriff. By the way, Maureen O'Hara used to have a home in Glengarriff.
View of Garinish Island from that stinker of a little road. Garinish Island has a micro-climate and has become a famous garden island. We didn't have time to take the ferry and tour the island on this trip.
The luxury of touring is that you can do whatever your heart desires. Our only responsibilities are to stay upright and to get to our destination in time for showers and dinner. Since today is shorter, we decided to take a side trip. When we came to the turnoff for Healy Pass we decided to climb up to it. Try as I could when planning this trip, I couldn't fit the climb to Healy Pass into our route. If we did the climb, we would miss the "Ring of Beara". So when we came to the turnoff, we realized we could climb up to the pass and then come back down and continue around the Peninsula of Beara. What a fantastic addition to today's route!
This little guy was so adorable. After posing for several shots, mom walked away. He scampered after her. She wanted to take a wee, but he wanted to feed (which made her stop her business). We were so amused that we didn't think to take a photo. They were within a couple meters of us.
We rejoined our route and climbed a couple more hills, passed a Buddhist retreat/coffee shop, decided to not venture out to the cable cars that cross over to Dursey Island, and summited to the pristine valley where Alliheis awaited our arrival.
The Wild Atlantic Way has created waypoints of interest. This one was "Gour".
Since we arrived early enough in the day, we were able to enjoy an ice cream - yes, it was warm enough to wear shorts and eat ice cream - as we hiked up to some of the old copper mines surrounding the village of Alliheis.
We're headed up there to what appears to be a smelter. We later learned that it was an engine house for the steam engine that lowered and retrieved the miners from the mine, not a smelter.
After reading some of the signage we discovered that these are the remains of the steam engine compound that was installed to pump the water out of the mines. The deepest mines were 240 feet below sea level.
This is the Mountain Mine. It mined for copper from 1813 until 1882. Something like 297,000 tons of ore were taken from this area and sent to Swansea in Wales to pass through the smelter.
We're staying at the Sea View B&B and the tandem is housed in the storage area behind the village grocery store. Lovely accommodations once again. We have a fantastic view of the bay and we are currently watching a very pretty sunset as we type.
Street scene in Alliheis. Because it is such a sunny day and it's Saturday, the tables outside of O'Neills Bar were full of people. We ventured inside for a great dinner at the pub accompanied by Murphy's stout.
It was a perfect day for a ride in Ireland. Even our arms saw some sun for the first time. Shorter days do allow for more opportunity to explore. I must keep that in mind when planning future rides.
Day 4: Glengarriff to Alliheis (a bit longer than originally planned)
Accommodation: Our stay at Sea View B&B was fantastic. The host was absolutely amazing, lovely, and welcoming. Mary made the stay fantastic. Tandem parking was easy in their store storage facility. Breakfast was great. Loved this place!! We would stay here again.
Today's ride: 72 km (45 miles) Total: 315 km (196 miles)
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rod dayJust loving all the scenery pics even though there is not a mountain in sight! Reply to this comment 6 months ago
