Dingle! June 30

Dingle June 30

Ahh, a cold, dark and dreary day here in Dingle. With gray clouds and spits of rain, the average tourist might be deterred. But now we, silly things we are. We went out earlier for some shopping, then, when the rain really started we turned tail and scampered back to some warm tea and good books. As it is, I'm under a warm duvet, sipping tea and debating a good nap. I debate because I slept in already, till almost 11, and it's only half three now. But my head is hurting and the cold is most unpleasant today.

Yesterday was beautiful, though. Absolutely gorgeous. We rented bikes from this tiny man here in Dingle, and then rode them forever and a day to beautiful sights. Well, we rode them for about four hours, including the one and a half hour stop for sandwiches and naps. Still! We made the first five or so miles pretty quick, stopping at a nice beach to rest a few minutes and take pictures of the view. There were families there with their children, all happily splashing about in the cold water. Well, it's comparable to the Pacific temperatures, but still, the wind was brisk and the sea was cold. We had a quick snack and water and then were at it again, with a quick detour at "The Prehistoric Celtic Museum" which turned out to be a tiny house with a man charging entry to see some various artifacts upstairs. We passed, but toodled about in the little shop for a while. The next few miles were harder, mostly uphill, and I fell off once when my bag unseated and took me into some brambles. No harm done, but it *was* embarrassing. When we stopped for lunch, around 1, we didn't expect to be stopping for lunch. It was more one of those "let's take some pictures, then hit the next town to kip for a bit" which turned into "wow what a breathtakingly beautiful view, let's stay here for a bit."

There was a couple already there, bikers as well, and we didn't really want to butt in on their lunch, so we wandered just a bit (because there wasn't much to wander to) and sat down on the side of our little precipice, a rock to our backs, moss under our butts, and a spectacular view of the rocks below us. The seagulls were very cheeky though, they did several dive-bomb attempts to grab our meals. Basic fare, we brought a loaf of bread and peanut butter and jelly, made our sandwiches there and then took a light siesta before we left. Many a tourist stopped to take pictures, as we had intended, and found us lounging about, and they laughed and took some pictures. We packed up about an hour after that and set off once more. Our plan had been to do the 4-hour route, but life has a way of laughing at plans.

So, earlier the day before, Air and C had been talking about renting bikes and doing a good trail out there. I laughed at Air and tried to tell her that 20 miles on a standing bike in a gym was absolutely different that doing even 10 miles up and down on pavement. She insisted that it wouldn't be that bad, something to the tune of "You can do what, 20 miles or so in about an hour at the gym?" I told her that if she did 20 miles the next day and felt as if she'd just "gone to the gym" that she's far more of an athlete than she thinks. And boy I was right. I bike a bit at home, not as much as I'd like, but there ya go. At the beginning she tells us that she hasn't really been on a bike in a long time; not really a problem, she and I could hang at the back of the class and make our way slowly to the end. We were both unhappily sore by the time we got to lunch; afterward was just unpleasant. The views were astonishing, but the pain (and my need to breathe) were outweighing our contentment. After I started walking the bike up most of the hills, we decided to not take the longer route (which, in reality, was one of the shorter ones) and cut off quick.

Earlier, I had wondered if the cut through was really going to be any easier due to the fact that any cut through would have to go over a mountain. I was not incorrect in my assumption. Air and C both started up the path and I walked my bike up behind them. Air lasted all of two minutes on the uphill before she got off; C was about four. The grade was steeper than we thought, and even pushing the bikes up was hard. We passed a house near the bottom and the occupants were all on the porch having tea or something. We smiled and panted, red-faced from sun- and wind-burn, as well as exertion and heat. They told us that once we got to the top, it was free-pedaling down again, which was nice to hear, and kept us going up that long, steep haul. C made it up in record time, in fact he waited at the bottom of the mountain for us about 20 minutes. Air and I took our time, and were waylaid several times by having to stand to the side for cars-- it was a one lane road. When we got to flat sections we rode, but they were few and far between. At last we topped the rise and were so incredibly relieved. We thought that at the end of the road here we were pretty much done-- not so, but that comes later.

We got on the bikes, set off on the last of the pedaling for a while, and coasted down about 3 miles of road. At first it was almost terrifying how fast you'd get going if you weren't careful, but Air was scared to go too fast, and after my own accident as a kid, I had a healthy appreciation for how easy it is to lose control at speed. So we went a little slower than C, who told us later that he'd just flown down the path without brakes and without meeting any cars. We did both, having to skid to a halt to let them pass was annoying at best, but it gave me time to snap a few pictures on the way down. The coasting was amazing, it made us feel like we could do this, get the bikes back and be happily on our way. What we forgot was that the cut through didn't take us to Dingle, it took us part of the way back to Dingle. We back-tracked our way to Dingle, much of it a scant uphill grade, but enough to hurt like hell. So, another half hour or so tacked on, we got back to Dingle, sweaty and sunburnt and proud of ourselves. When we turned in the bikes (10 euros for the day, and a 10 euro deposit for the return of the bike) the man laughed and said that the only reason people return the bikes is to feel like they're being rewarded for doing it. We certainly did! We stopped by the grocery store and picked up popsicles (well, ice cream bars for them, I got a popsicle) and we trudged up to the hostel. After taking turns for the shower, we made food and watched TV until we felt okay enough to head out again. We played hackey sack in the dying light of day and just enjoyed ourselves and our accomplishments. A wonderful end to our day.

Tonight we plan on going down to one of the pubs for traditional Irish music and dancing, so hopefully the pubs won't be too packed tonight, what with the rain and all.