July 6 - Lisdoonvarna to Galway
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Lisdoonvarna to Galway - 62 miles141 viewsMix of sun, rain and wind. Includes stop at Burren Perfumery near Carran.
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My bike and tandem at the B&B117 viewsWe had to lock them to the fence, not because of security, but to keep them from blowing over in the wind!
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Noughaval Church155 views
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Countryside near Carran116 views
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The road that defeated me123 viewsImagine the steepest hill in San Francisco. Now imagine that stretching on for about 10 city blocks, with only a tiny bit of leveling off near the end. That's what this road (near Carran) was like.
I made it up about halfway, and finally had to give up and walk the rest. I felt that perhaps had it been earlier in the week I might have made it all the way; however one of the guides from my tour company told me that she also had to walk this hill. The downhill side of it was also so steep I had to brake substantially the entire way down.
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Road near Burren Perfumery105 viewsThis picture shows the typical road quality of many of the smaller Irish roads. Many of them were either full of potholes like this, or consisted of loose gravel. I was glad for my mountain bike with fenders!
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Burren Perfumery119 views
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The Burren110 viewsThe hill in the background shows a lot of the limestone formations typical in the Burren.
I think it was about here that I realized that my front brakes were dragging on my wheel after all the extended braking a few miles before! The squeaking stopped and the riding got a bit easier after I fixed them....
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Dunaguaire Castle105 viewsIt's a nice big old building, but there's not much to see otherwise.
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Picnic after Kinvarra112 viewsThis shows one of my typical roadside picnics, with a can of beans and some fruit that I bought at one of the local shops.
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