Alrighty....took us awhile to find an internet cafe and this one still uses french keyboards, so bear with me on errors. A quick recap of what has gone down in the last week:
Sunday- Mom and Dad drop John and I off in a suburb of Dublin called Rathmore. We check into Globetrotters Hostel, grab our bikes and go over the gear one last time. Stress over the ferry price (130 euro!) and go to bed.
Monday- Leave Dublin and ride to Arklow. We only make it probably 50 km because Im battling food poisoning all day from my last goddamn "Irish Breakfast" EVER (more meat than most families consume in one week). The effects are so bad Im fevered and constantly searching for public toilets. We have to splurge and get a B&B.
Tuesday- I feel a million times better. We do our best to push all the way to Rosslaire by 1430 to catch the ferry, but John starts to bonk out and I realize that we woke up far too late to ever make the ferry. We manage to get a taxi for 25€ and make it to port on time. I only have 20€ and the driver lets us slide. We get aboard the ferry and are thankful we have a cabin to ourselves.
Wednesday- Get off ferry. At a stop light I ask a French guy on a bicycle which direction the street we are looking for is. He tells us to follow him and proceeds to lead us on a total legbuster right over the mountain out of Cherbourg through Les Glacieres. He takes us all the way to the top of a pass, winding through many quiet backroads. Davidon points out where we go from there and then with a au revoir turns around and goes back the way we came. I think he just did it for fun...wasnt even where he was going. He didnt know any English. Amazingly kind. John and I proceed to blast down the French equivalent of a greenway or the American Tobacco Trail, the "Voie Verte". Finally roll into a small town and find a perfect pay campground just as they are closing up. Drink a bottle of wine, eat some cheese, bread,salami and pass out.
Thursday- We ride up the coast visiting the D-Day beaches along the way. I am in awe of the fact that guys my age or younger performed such heroic acts to free people they had never even met. Heavy stuff. End the day in a small town called Courselles-sur-mer qrriving too late to find a campground. We cook in a park, scurry into a nearby patch of woods and hobo camp to the max. Proceed to drink a bottle of wine each (after the experimentation I think we have determined the optimum wine consumption after a day of riding is between a half bottle and a bottle each).
Friday- Crank all the way to Le Havre. Come into the port city on the frightening and stark industrial port side. Proceed to search for a hostel and realize this place is way too grizzled for that. Find a one-star hotel and post up. John goes to bed while I search out a pint. Le Havre might have some cool bars if you arent an exhausted, broke cyclist.
Saturday- I spend about 30 minutes fixing the rear tire of the kid whose mom runs the hotel. Turns out to be a fair exchange for some baguette and coffee. John and I head up the coast shooting for Dieppe. We only make it to Saint Valery sur Mer. Standing in front of a boulangerie, looking confused we are approached by 3 French men on bicycles. They start talking to John. He begins to look more confused. I come out of the bakery and ask teh guys if they know where the 2 star campground is (no fancy stuff for these two bikers!). They say they arent sure, but we could stay in their yard, joking that it is only "no stars". Never turning down free stuff, we follow them out to their house. These are absolutely amazing people. They not only let us store our bikes, they proceed to treat us like family. It is Laurence's birthday. Laurence and David live in Paris, but this is their weekend house. There is champagne, homemade foie gras and 5 more courses. They let us sleep on the floor INSIDE!
Sunday- Morning brings an amazing spread of croissants, pain au chocolat, baguettes, homemade marmalade, coffee, hot milk....too good to be true. I play games with the little girls. We do a thorough check on our bikes and the folks give us tons of stuff to eat for the next few days! We get a very acceptable late start and make it to Bernard le Grand for another campground.
TODAY! Rode up here to Berck sur plage. Unsuccessful in finding a campground. One lady wanted 22 €. The second convinced us at 20€, but then told us hammocks are not allowed. It is too late now to find one probably, so I guess we'll be hoboing it which is fine by me because now I can pay for the internet cafe access for this entry!
Tomorrow we head to Lille. Probably take a day or two off there before going on up to Ghent, Brussels, Antwerp and then north to Amsterdam. John has a friend who is supposedly studying in Lille, so I hope we get in touch with her. I look forward to a day of sitting around after 7 straight on the bike. We are getting better at putting in the kilometers, but still need to start earlier I think. The route is a bit intimidating lately as I wonder how long the weather will hold out. Im starting to think I may head over to Prague and then down Italy rather than back to France and through Spain. Just not sure yet.
I hope this entry finds everyone doing well. I know that as I was starting this new adventure many of you are returning from your own or beginning something new. I hope school is going well for you (Patrick, Troy and others). Hannah and Richard, hope you are re-adjusting to the States ok. Rich and Marshall- hope you guys are saving up and getting ready to come join John and I. Kees- stay outta trouble and keep honing those blood-sample skills...Ill have some real good stuff for you after all this riding!
To all the other folks, please keep reading and drop some comments on the section there. Nothing motivates me more than an audience. Love you all and until the next update, keep the rubber side down!
P.S. Photos are up, but may not be edited and sorted. Link is on the right there --->
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
La France
Just a quick note from Cabourg France. This french keyboard is difficult to type on, so I zill be hopefully finding a better cafe and updating with pics and video soon. Probably tomorrow if we can do another 50 km today and get close to the larger port of Le Havre. Thanks for your patience as I get things rolling more smoothly on the blog...stay tuned please, I promise the photos and stories will be worth it!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Ireland...it rains
So, I wanted to believe that Ireland wouldn't be totally rainy and cold, but it is. Thank goodness we'll be getting off this island soon. Next stop is France. We've decided to skip England and head straight there. The boat ride is going to be brutal...we've heard people tell us anywhere from 17 to 26 hours on the boat from Rosslare to Cherbourg. Have no idea what it will cost.
Traveling with the parents is going well...its nice to be chauffeured around and to get to live on such a high standard without breaking my budget. It is going to be a rough transition to sleeping like hobos and eating low-quality food. Regardless, I can't thank my parents enough for the support and love they have shown John and I as we embark on this crazy journey.
We've had some great treatment here in Ireland. Picked up the parents in Dublin on Wednesday morning and drove to Athlone, visiting some neat ruins at Clonmacnoise on the way. Delicious Italian food in Athlone that night and the next morning we headed to Galway. Crammed alot into that day as we visited the Connemara as well as Galway City. In Connemara John and I scrambled up Diamond Hill to narrowly beat a rainstorm at the top. Very cold, very windy.
Last night we drove from Galway to Dingle. Absolutely beautiful at the Cliffs of Moher. Great night in Dingle, staying at a super fancy hostel and enjoying some "craic". Today was spent driving from Dingle down to the Ring of Kerry. I don't know why everyone told us it was so beautiful...I found Dingle much nicer. Tonight we are in Kenmare. I'll post some more stories and photos, videos, etc. soon. Gotta jet before my 1 euro charge jumps to 2! Ciao!
Traveling with the parents is going well...its nice to be chauffeured around and to get to live on such a high standard without breaking my budget. It is going to be a rough transition to sleeping like hobos and eating low-quality food. Regardless, I can't thank my parents enough for the support and love they have shown John and I as we embark on this crazy journey.
We've had some great treatment here in Ireland. Picked up the parents in Dublin on Wednesday morning and drove to Athlone, visiting some neat ruins at Clonmacnoise on the way. Delicious Italian food in Athlone that night and the next morning we headed to Galway. Crammed alot into that day as we visited the Connemara as well as Galway City. In Connemara John and I scrambled up Diamond Hill to narrowly beat a rainstorm at the top. Very cold, very windy.
Last night we drove from Galway to Dingle. Absolutely beautiful at the Cliffs of Moher. Great night in Dingle, staying at a super fancy hostel and enjoying some "craic". Today was spent driving from Dingle down to the Ring of Kerry. I don't know why everyone told us it was so beautiful...I found Dingle much nicer. Tonight we are in Kenmare. I'll post some more stories and photos, videos, etc. soon. Gotta jet before my 1 euro charge jumps to 2! Ciao!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Busy week behind, busy weeks ahead
Alright then....out of the states and on the emerald isle. John and I drove up to DC on Friday and were welcomed with a delicious mexican cookout at Alex and Orr's house. Alex cooked up some delicious steak and chicken fajita/burritos with homemade salsa and guac while Orr made some really amazing cocktails. We went out to a bar briefly and then hobo'd all over their couches. Thank you very much for the hospitality!
The next day I was blessed enough to have my wonderful cousin Kate come down to DC and visit along with the riotous Uncle Ev and (relatively speaking) mild-mannered Aunt Linda. It was really nice of them to come down from PA and bid me a farewell, especially since I haven't been able to see them in nearly 3 years! Thanks again guys, love you very much and good luck with grad school this fall Kate!
Saturday night John took it easy at my brother Matt's apartment (who played gracious host to us the rest of the weekend, including giving up his A/C to us!). I headed back up to Columbia Heights area to go to a party thrown by Kate, a very outgoing friend of Alex and Orr's whom I had met the night before. A great party, some free Yuengling and plenty of interesting people to talk to. I even met a young lady who had just moved from Asheville to Carrboro! Made me a little nostalgic as I rattled out a few of my favorite haunts for her to go explore.
Sunday we kicked it around town, ate the most delicious burger of my life at Hellburger and John and I went out to East Falls Church on the metro to visit my homeboy and penultimate shredder of the gnar, Brad Copeland.
Monday John and I wrapped up loose ends around DC while Matt worked a halfday. Matt came home around 1 PM, we packed our stuff into the Trailblazer and swung by the pharmacy to get my anti-malarials. $150 for those pills! NOT covered by my health insurance! Damn....still cheaper than getting malaria I suppose. Won't even need them for at least 3 more months.
Got to the airport uneventfully. Everything went pretty smoothly until Irish customs kind of gave John and I a hard time. Luckily we were towards the front of the ever-growing line so I think they kinda gave us a break. Phew!
Assembled the bikes in the airport (minus some fenders as my frustration and fatigue was mounting). Rode on out into our first taste of wild Irish traffic. We were so intimidated by the whole left hand side thing and the crazy traffic roundabouts we ended up going about 20 or so km north towards Belfast! It was cool, drizzly, grey....just what I was told to expect but what I didn't want to imagaine, hahah! Eventually we asked a postman where we were headed and after some trial and error we got ourselves pointed for the City Center. A few more detours later and we arrived at our hostel, Globetrotters on the Lower Gardinier.
Globetrotters is an amazing value....a bit pricey in comparison to other hostels, but I've never seen a hostel this clean, comfortable and with so many amenities. John and I worried ourselves about finding a place to store our gear for the next week. Ate some fish and chips (great cod, who cares about some fries..), checked some bike stores. Everyone was saying they were too crowded to help us and we became slightly stressed. Finally John struck paygold at a local internet cafe/luggage storage. 7.50 for everything per day. I sure hope they are trustworthy...I had some doubts but we took some photos of our stuff in the storage room and the people working there seemed nice enough. Only time will tell I suppose!
After such ordeals Jon and I went over to a famous pub for our well-deserved Guiness. Okay folks....no matter what people say, you will never understand what they mean about Guiness tasting better over here. It is like night and day. I may have ruined Guiness outside of Ireland for myself...it is THAT GOOD! Amazing full breakfast here this morning at Globetrotters. I can't recommend this hostel enough.
Alright...we are about to catch the public bus up to the airport and try to meet Mom and Pops at the car rental place. Then it is on to Athlone. Sure hope Dad is up to the challenge of driving...this should be an interesting experience. I'll try to check in this evening or tomorrow...stay posted!
The next day I was blessed enough to have my wonderful cousin Kate come down to DC and visit along with the riotous Uncle Ev and (relatively speaking) mild-mannered Aunt Linda. It was really nice of them to come down from PA and bid me a farewell, especially since I haven't been able to see them in nearly 3 years! Thanks again guys, love you very much and good luck with grad school this fall Kate!
Saturday night John took it easy at my brother Matt's apartment (who played gracious host to us the rest of the weekend, including giving up his A/C to us!). I headed back up to Columbia Heights area to go to a party thrown by Kate, a very outgoing friend of Alex and Orr's whom I had met the night before. A great party, some free Yuengling and plenty of interesting people to talk to. I even met a young lady who had just moved from Asheville to Carrboro! Made me a little nostalgic as I rattled out a few of my favorite haunts for her to go explore.
Sunday we kicked it around town, ate the most delicious burger of my life at Hellburger and John and I went out to East Falls Church on the metro to visit my homeboy and penultimate shredder of the gnar, Brad Copeland.
Monday John and I wrapped up loose ends around DC while Matt worked a halfday. Matt came home around 1 PM, we packed our stuff into the Trailblazer and swung by the pharmacy to get my anti-malarials. $150 for those pills! NOT covered by my health insurance! Damn....still cheaper than getting malaria I suppose. Won't even need them for at least 3 more months.
Got to the airport uneventfully. Everything went pretty smoothly until Irish customs kind of gave John and I a hard time. Luckily we were towards the front of the ever-growing line so I think they kinda gave us a break. Phew!
Assembled the bikes in the airport (minus some fenders as my frustration and fatigue was mounting). Rode on out into our first taste of wild Irish traffic. We were so intimidated by the whole left hand side thing and the crazy traffic roundabouts we ended up going about 20 or so km north towards Belfast! It was cool, drizzly, grey....just what I was told to expect but what I didn't want to imagaine, hahah! Eventually we asked a postman where we were headed and after some trial and error we got ourselves pointed for the City Center. A few more detours later and we arrived at our hostel, Globetrotters on the Lower Gardinier.
Globetrotters is an amazing value....a bit pricey in comparison to other hostels, but I've never seen a hostel this clean, comfortable and with so many amenities. John and I worried ourselves about finding a place to store our gear for the next week. Ate some fish and chips (great cod, who cares about some fries..), checked some bike stores. Everyone was saying they were too crowded to help us and we became slightly stressed. Finally John struck paygold at a local internet cafe/luggage storage. 7.50 for everything per day. I sure hope they are trustworthy...I had some doubts but we took some photos of our stuff in the storage room and the people working there seemed nice enough. Only time will tell I suppose!
After such ordeals Jon and I went over to a famous pub for our well-deserved Guiness. Okay folks....no matter what people say, you will never understand what they mean about Guiness tasting better over here. It is like night and day. I may have ruined Guiness outside of Ireland for myself...it is THAT GOOD! Amazing full breakfast here this morning at Globetrotters. I can't recommend this hostel enough.
Alright...we are about to catch the public bus up to the airport and try to meet Mom and Pops at the car rental place. Then it is on to Athlone. Sure hope Dad is up to the challenge of driving...this should be an interesting experience. I'll try to check in this evening or tomorrow...stay posted!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Down to the wire
Oh boy...a little overwhelmed. A lot of loose ends to tie up and I leave North Carolina tomorrow! I'll be heading up to DC to spend my last 3 days in the States with friends and family. Pretty excited....cookout with Alex and friends tomorrow evening, tour of the Capitol on Saturday.
Packing up 24 years worth of belongings in 4 days is proving more difficult than I imagined. It is hard to distinguish between what is worth keeping, what is necessary to keep and what is merely fodder and byproduct of my pack-rat nature. I'm making pretty good progress however and should be all done by tomorrow morning. A few odds and ends to go out and buy today:
I just got back from the dentist. She was not very happy. Apparently my lack of checkups has resulted in some pretty sensitive bleeding gums, so I'd better stay on top of the brushin' and flossin' out there on the road. I felt bad because she kept saying that when I get back I should check in with her, but I honestly don't know when/if I'm coming back! Speaking of health, I've got to go try and hunt down 90 malarial pills. Apparently no pharmacies around here stock that many. Great. I may check UNC hospitals if I have to go over there to pick up John tomorrow. I also need to go make copies/scans of all my documents before I leave.
As you can see, I've got a ton to get done today! Hopefully I can knock it all out so that later I can have a few pints with a couple of folks I haven't gotten to say bye to. Also supposed to cook up some duck breast for dinner...luckily that's a pretty quick, simple recipe. Alright, that is all for now; I'll drop another post once I clear town I hope. Until then "Go n-eiri an bothar leat"!
Packing up 24 years worth of belongings in 4 days is proving more difficult than I imagined. It is hard to distinguish between what is worth keeping, what is necessary to keep and what is merely fodder and byproduct of my pack-rat nature. I'm making pretty good progress however and should be all done by tomorrow morning. A few odds and ends to go out and buy today:
- A pair of footwear. I don't know whether to get another pair of Saloman trailrunning shoes or a pair of Keen sandals. I'm leaning towards the shoes because they'll be better in cooler temps and the last two pairs I've owned were some of the most comfortable and durable shoes I've had.
- Assorted repair kit gear: tube, chain, new barwrap, bolts
- Cable and lock
- Frank Sun, a filmmaker friend of mine, encouraged me to get a small HD camcorder. I'm torn on this issue. I totally agree with him that having some of this on film is almost a necessity, but then again...that equals more batteries/chargers, more memory cards- just more to be concerned with in general. I'll check them out today and decide
- A international converter/charger of some sort. I've considered the Solio solar charges...I'll check those out today as well.
I just got back from the dentist. She was not very happy. Apparently my lack of checkups has resulted in some pretty sensitive bleeding gums, so I'd better stay on top of the brushin' and flossin' out there on the road. I felt bad because she kept saying that when I get back I should check in with her, but I honestly don't know when/if I'm coming back! Speaking of health, I've got to go try and hunt down 90 malarial pills. Apparently no pharmacies around here stock that many. Great. I may check UNC hospitals if I have to go over there to pick up John tomorrow. I also need to go make copies/scans of all my documents before I leave.
As you can see, I've got a ton to get done today! Hopefully I can knock it all out so that later I can have a few pints with a couple of folks I haven't gotten to say bye to. Also supposed to cook up some duck breast for dinner...luckily that's a pretty quick, simple recipe. Alright, that is all for now; I'll drop another post once I clear town I hope. Until then "Go n-eiri an bothar leat"!
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