Wales is Beautiful but…HILLY.

So we have been travelling through Wales for 4 days now and we have discovered it is quite a hilly place. The first day of riding we thought would be a mellow 25 mile day but we ended up following a national bicycle route that took us up down and around and we ended up doing about 45 miles after we got of the ferry around 1 pm. Camping that night was very cold especially for Gen whose camelback leaked in her tent. We woke up the next day quite damp and didn’t get out of camp until close to 12 noon. Once on the road we almost immediately started climbing again. We believe we went over a 1300 foot pass. Luckily there were lots of sheep to distract us from the burning in our legs. They must have been quite frightened by us because every time we would pass one they would run a few feet down the road squat down and pee. Since what goes us must come down we did have a nice long down hill to cool us off. After several hours of this up and down without finding any convince stores we were all about to keel over with exhaustion when we finally found a restaurant/bar. We had a nice warm meal of beef pie (huli and I), potato’s, mushy pees (Gen) and coffee. We had a nice chat with one of the men at the bar who said we must be from the east coast of the USA because we were friendly enough to talk to him. Sorry for the bad rap west coasters. We were glad to hear from the people at the restaurant that it was all down hill to a campsite half a mile away. After spending several hours in the restaurant we were happy to roll right into camp. It was a warmer night than the pervious one and we were all well rested and able to get on the road by 9:30 the next day. We continued the down hill trend all the way to a village were we thought we might find a map ( I have only had the GPS to navigate) but there wasn’t one. We continued on the main road until the next town with an information centre and finally got a map of Wales. Now we could see that we had taken the road straight through the “mountains.” We continued to follow the main road which went mostly down and slightly into the wind until it started to drizzle and we decided to set up camp. One of our fellow campers told us the weather was going to be nasty for the next 3 days so we got permission to set up camp under the pavilion and just as it started to lash we grabbed our tents and ran them to cover. It was quite rainy when we woke up this morning so we decided to give our selves a rest day here. The weather is now starting to clear up so hopefully it will stay this way for tomorrow.

Wales is a beautiful place full of rolling and steep hills with green pastures, lots of sheep and cows, a few pigs and chickens and some massive dogs. Overall we have all loved the landscape and the people here but will be glad to continue on tomorrow.

Signing off...Emma

ps. sorry for any mistakes but i was typing very fast since i only paid for a half hour on the computer.

IRELAND IN THE BAG

From Malahide, we cycled through Dublin, a total of 75.6 km (47 mi), to a campsite in Wicklow right on Georges Channel. The day was a breeze thanks to the 20mph tail wind. There was a bit of swell when we arrived and we were tempted to hop in the water, but it was a bit chilly out and we would have had to pay for a warm shower. We woke in the am to sheep baa-ing and we were off to Arklow for some coffee. Most of the day was full of riding as we headed south toward Wexford where we hoped to have camped for the night. Unfortunately the camping season had ended and we continued further south to a campsite called St. Margarets. We cycled a total of 109.5 km (68.04 mi) that day. This am we awoke to he same cow that moo-ed us to sleep, and we cycled an additional 8 km (4.9 mi) to catch the ferry from Rosslare, Ireland to Fishguard, Wales. We are enjoying the down time on the ferry and hope to update again soon. Catch you later!

dublin!

first note from the girls! gen emailed me (georgia) and asked me to put it up. still can't believe they're already there! can't wait to meet up...

This unfortunately will be a short post, as I am typing on a iPod touch ( I apologize now for any spelling errors, the keys are incredibly tiny).

We made it to Dublin around 5 am Wednesday morning. After strolling casually through what we would later find out was customs, we eagerly headed to the baggage claim where were greeted first thing by our bike boxes (two of which had been inspected and I little banged up). Happy to have made with all of our gear we set out to find the taxi that would take us to the house we would be staying for the night. Maria W. and family (friends of a friend) were graciously willing to house us for two days, once we realized that more time maybe in order to sort out our first days route. A smart move which allowed us to venture into down town Dublin, see the sights, have a pint (for Julie) and meet up with a friend from home who has been studying abroad in Ireland. We've found it mind boggling the age of the city in comparison to home. Buildings dating back to the 1100's more than twice the age of our earliest settlements. We will have our first day of riding tomorrow, a 60 mile (about 100 km) ride along to coast to Wicklow. There is a 20 mph north east wind expected, brought with potentially for the first frost of the season. That's all for now... Stay tuned!

Gen+ company

Ps- Riding on the other side of the road should be interesting. We almost lost Emma a few times today while trying to cross the streets of Dublin. It is a interesting concept to adjust to. Wish us luck!

departure

THEY LEAVE TODAY!

i really can't believe it actually. while i'm terribly jealous that i can't be going with the first group (gen, emma, huli) to dublin today, i'm sending them off with all the good wishes i can. because we will be reunited in rome on xmas eve. can't really complain about that, can i?

so- good luck girls, be safe, check in every once in a while, and we'll see you in 3 months!

-georgia

Our European Bicycle Tour