Day 96
January 7, 2022:
Up just past 1 am in Dungloe still editing blog. I can hear the rain falling outside. Made my plan for tomorrow. Will ride north along WAW towards Falcarragh. Will rain heavily. There’s an expensive hotel there I may use. Otherwise, plan would be to camp on the beach. We’ll see how it goes. It’ll probably be miserable given the weather.
I actually ended up staying up until about 2 am. I decided to publish a lot of my notes as-is instead of fulling expanding them into more complete blog entries. The new format may be more sustainable for me.
This morning I woke to see snow on the ground outside. It melted pretty quickly. I skipped breakfast but got Jack so I could pay for the extra day I stayed at the hostel in Dungloe.
It was sunny when I left, with thick cumulus clouds approaching from the sea. The route today took me along R259, a bit of N56, and R257, past Knockfola to Gortahork. All day, I was dodging rain clouds that swept through. I’d ride transversely to a storm to dodge the rain, then slow to stay under a blue spot of sky. I managed to keep cycling all day without rain. There was a spot of hail, but it bounced off my clothing rather than soaking in.
I took a few pictures and video with my gopro, angling my bike in order to get shots. The waterproof case got damaged a while back, so now I can’t tighten it to the mount as well, so the camera shakes a little in cinematic shots.
In Gortahork, I stopped at the Eurospar to pick up some food. I got a pre-packed banger and mash meal, two fruit scones, vine tomatoes, and a sleeve of strawberry cream cookies. Just up the road, I saw the hotel I had identified last night. I was feeling good, all dry, and still had energy to keep going. But it’d be a windy night, and there’s no assurance I’d be able to find an acceptable campsite near the beaches just north of Gortahork. I figured there was no harm in asking what their rates were. Booking.com said 114 Euro, but this often isn’t truly reflective of off-season rates. The lady at reception said the B&B would charge 60 Euro. “How much if I skip breakfast?” “60.. We don’t do it that way..” “I was hoping not to pay more than 50 Euro. If you can find a way to get it down to that, I’ll take the room.” After a minute, she looked up. “Yes, I found a way to do that.” “Excellent. Let me just get my wallet from outside.” She showed me where to stow my bike so it would be secure overnight. I got all the stuff I’d need off my bike and carried it to my room. It’s a very nice space. I set out the dinner I just bought and started eating. Pretty tasty, surprisingly. As I was eating, it started to rain outside. Wow. Good timing.
