Whilst I could barely walk yesterday, I awoke and the pain had pretty much gone. Must be all the well wishes I received, but I’ll be writing to the Journal of Medicine with a note on the healing powers of two pints of Guinness and two Ibuprofen. In seriousness, I have spent the day nursing the ankle.. keeping it fairly rigid whilst walking, less getting off the bike (as pushing off again is painful) and continuing to ride with the saddle lowered and foot placed way forward on the pedal. I stayed late at my room until checkout time at 11 to give a decent amount of rest. It is the thing I’m most worried about and will continue to do my best to keep it rested as best I can whilst continuing to make progress.
The blue skies have gone, replaced by strong wind and rain. I ate all the leftover food I had in my bag for my breakfast (a couple of protein bars and an apple), put my jacket on and headed out.
The first 30 km were spent cycling out in the exposed windswept Galway landscape, made harsh by the fact that Storm Hector is approaching. There is no shelter, houses or even any sheep for many miles. I’ll have more of this tomorrow too. After a couple of hours cycling I came across a fairly large and new visitor centre. I have no idea what it was for (!) but it gave me a chance to get a hot drink and food and warm up a bit. I put on my arm warmers, leg warmers and insulated gilet and went out again into the rain and wind.
After a while the route turned onto a busy main road for motor traffic. Constant flux of fairly fast moving traffic. Had to pay lots of attention to positioning etc and the time went by quickly. A few stops at petrol stations to warm up with a hot drink.
I reached Galway but passed through the centre without stopping. After the main town I stopped in at a Spar which was serving hot fresh food and had seats where I could drip (I was soaked through), eat and keep my eye on the bike.
Didn’t see any other TAWers today. Did see a few commuter cyclists near Galway.
Booked a hotel room in Kinvarra – somewhere I could get to by 10pm. The winds are going to be dangerously high overnight so I wanted to get in somewhere at a decent hour. From the hotel blurb: This hotel is the largest thatched-roof hotel in Ireland. Hoping the wind doesn’t blow it off tonight 🤔
