July 2, 2015
Dungarvan to Ballymacoda
It was a short hop into Dungarvan along a greenway, there was a nice causeway with the sea on both sides. I spent spent six years in boarding school in Dungarvan so I have mixed feelings about it, it was an odd feeling looking across from the causeway to my old school, I couldn’t have imagined myself crossing the causeway on a yellow tandem, loaded with gear and an amazing partner sitting behind. Funny how life works out, got to be grateful when it works out well.
Dungarvan was a revelation, I hadn’t been there for years, the square looked great, houses brightly painted, it was buzzing with a farmers market that morning. We grazed our way through the stalls, fresh coffee? Yes please. Pancake? Two of those. Sourdough bread with local cheese? Absolutely. More Coffee? Why ever not? One fantastic thing about touring is that you can never eat enough, no guilt.
Feeling very full, we waddled around the town; what had been a stinking tannery when I was in school was now a very fancy restaurant. It’s a really nice town, a river estuary, boats in the harbour, surrounded by hills, we had a really nice stop there. I also got a battery for the cycle computer which had given up the ghost.
Feeling stuffed, we headed out the very busy Cork road, it had nice views and a good hard shoulder, apart from the noise, it wasn’t too bad. We turned out for Helvic head, nice road out, as you travel out this headland you enter a Gaeltacht area, a native Irish speaking area, Colaiste an Rinn, (Ring College) is packed with second level students in the summer as they run three week immersion courses in Irish; ‘Going to the Gaeltacht’ is an Irish rite of passage.
We had coffee, using the flask at Helvic harbour and then headed west up a very steep hill at the back of the harbour. It takes a significant effort to haul a fully loaded tandem up a steep hill with a rough surface and we were completely out of breath when we got to the top. The run from Helvic to Ardmore is great, the road is small and quiet, local and farming traffic, high above the sea with great views. The only downside was the streams, each stream had cut a deep valley as it ran down to the sea, so each time we came to one of these little valleys there was a white knuckle descent down to the stream, at the bottom there was a bridge and a hairpin bend so all the speed from the way down was dissipated into very hot brakes, followed by a very steep climb back to the top of the cliff. Seeing stars at the top of each climb we’d stop to get our breath back and have a drink, so progress was intermittent on this stretch.
Ardmore is a very pretty village, busy with tourists, a nice beach and a very fancy hotel with a Michelin starred restaurant. We cycled up the road to the hotel, lovely houses, posh craft and gift shops with a nice view over the boats, reminded us of France.
From Ardmore it was backroads through premium farming country to the N25 the main Waterford to Cork road. We had to cross the Blackwater River to get into County Cork and Youghal town and the only route was the bridge on the N25. We were dreading this stretch as it was a very busy road and the bridge is long (by Irish Standards) and very narrow. As it turned out there was no drama, the last couple of Kms into the bridge is narrow, no hard shoulder and a low wall separating us from the sea, but we had a good breeze behind us and we steamed along, traffic was light on the bridge and cars could pass, so not as bad as feared.
We hit Youghal, another touristy seaside town in the evening, it was starting to get late and we were keeping an eye out for a camping spot but nothing much. As soon as possible we left the main road and headed back to smaller coast roads, ending up in the village of Ballymacoda. Just outside Ballymacoda there was a really nice public area, picnic tables, an old boat turned into a flower bed and some nice smooth grass, perfect camping spot. no discussion needed, we hid in copse birch trees and set up for the night.
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Today's ride: 77 km (48 miles)
Total: 215 km (134 miles)
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