May 12, 2024 to May 13, 2024
Our Brief Introduction to Dublin
Days -2 and -1
Let the adventure begin. Of course, the very first step had a hiccup. The train service between Foix and Toulouse has been down for a week due to construction on the lines near Toulouse. We imposed upon Dan & Suzanne, our house sitters, to drive us to the airport. The flight to Dublin was perfectly uneventful and we were quite content since the airtags showed all suitcases on the plane with us. We've been missing one tandem bag on our last two airline trips . . . so we were a bit apprehensive. But now we build extra time into the start of our trips.
It had been my intention to take the bus from the airport to our accommodations, but as we exited the airport with our 4 suitcases in tow it seemed like a bad idea. We hailed a cab instead which turned out to be the perfect plan. Apparently there was the final match for football happening and the traffic on the motorway was blocked solid. The sweet cab driver took all the backroads and dropped us off at Egans Guesthouse.
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After settling in, we went in search of a pub so we could experience our first real Irish Guinness. We consumed our pints while watching the Gaelic football final on the big screen. As we started watching the game, we couldn't figure out what we were seeing . . . it's kind of like soccer, but they use their hands, it's kind of like basketball because they dribble the ball (alternating between foot and ground) while running with it. After some googling we discovered Gaelic football is another type of football game. Who knew?
Then it was time to build the bike. Luckily today is dry day in Dublin and we were able to set up in the small garden courtyard at the B&B. As we were getting close to being finished, the skies opened up and we scampered with the tandem into the narrow hallway to wait it out.
For dinner we wandered about until we found an interesting looking pub and enjoyed some comfort food and another pint. At this point we decided one pint a day is plenty and two is a bit much.
After a good night sleep, we woke to a stormy day. We discovered a flat front tire . . . ugh! Chuck found the culprit and fixed it. But the front fender was not fitting properly. So we ventured off on the tandem in the sprinkles with our raincoats on in search of a bike shop. The third one we found was able to help us fit the front fender. It was an interesting shop! Hawaiian!
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3 months ago
When we headed back to the B&B it was raining. We laughed and decided we will just have to get used to it. We saw lots of other bikes out and about in the weather, too. By the time we got back to the B&B the front of Chuck's pants and shoes were pretty wet. The blow dryer solved that problem.
Since it was so wet outside, we decided to pack the panniers and bike frame bags to make sure everything fit. We did this at home in advance of packing for the airplane, but practice makes perfect. After several tries, we got everything in. Once the rain let up, we just wandered about the streets looking at the architecture, the bilingual signage, and listening to all the different languages being spoken.
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3 months ago
Although the rain interfered with our exploratory plans, we had a great day and are ready for whatever lies ahead.
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Now about that puffy jacket . . . we decided to go with the layering effect instead of carrying the jackets. Decision was based on space. Our panniers are full and weigh about 8 kilos each. Trunk bag is full and weighs about 2 kilos. And the frame bags are holding the rain gear and warm weather gear, so maybe another kilo.
We'll have to come back to Dublin some other time to explore the sites.
Today's ride: 4 km (2 miles)
Total: 4 km (2 miles)
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2 months ago