330km later I arrived back home last night, I had to leave the trip to sort some things out and decided to cycle across Ireland as you do. I started the journey on Monday and arrived Tuesday at 7 pm. I want to document what happened during the two days so here it goes.
Day 1 - I left Ballybunion at 11 am and my phone went out of battery, so basically I had no real clue of where to go so I decided to just follow the Shannon onto Limerick. The rain did not stop the whole day and I wasn't wearing the best cycling gear so I was sweating buckets from the inside and soaked from the outside. I cycled onto a town called Roscrea in Tipperary which was about 160km from my start point. When I arrived it was getting dark and I needed a place to stay then I seen an old man standing on the side of the road as I approached him he had a €50 note in his hand and asked me to get him a pack of fags. I thought jesus he has alot of trust in me because I could have done a runner and spent the €50. I came back with the fags and we got talking and I told him about the trip that I was on. He was a legend and loved what we were doing so offered me to camp in a field that he owned. Trust is massive and that's one thing that I learned, he placed his trust in me giving me that money, and I placed my trust in him with regards to accommodation.
Day 2 - I got up at 6 am packed up all my stuff back onto the big rig ready to set off. I cycled across the field on my bike which was a big mistake as the tire fell off and the tube was ripped open by a stone. I had to walk 5km with the bike and was constantly falling over because it was so heavy. I tried to flag down cars for three hours eventually an absolute legend called Mickey stopped and got me a pump and helped me repair the bike. I started out the second leg of the journey at 9:30 am with my new wheel mended up. I cycled onto Kildare with a few stops along the way to make sure the wheel stayed intact. From Kildare, I added an extra 30km onto the journey as I went the wrong way then I had to cycle on the hard shoulder of the N7 into Dublin which I would not recommend. The last leg cycling through Dublin was unbelievable.
I wanted to give up so many times during this journey especially when things did not go to plan i.e a wheel falling off my bike but I carried on battled through and I am so grateful that I did. I would not have experienced the jubilation of cycling through Dublin on the home stretch if I had given up. I also experienced how amazing people in this country are throughout each place I stopped, I was given food water etc. These lessons I will take with me forever, life like this journey has its ups and downs we need to stick out the hard times and enjoy the good ones. Someone asked me would you not just get the train or the bus, the comfortable journey back, I choose the uncomfortable journey and that made all the difference as I experienced so much and learned so much about myself.
