smiling at irish eyes

My legs hurt, my back hurts, my bum hurts, my neck hurts... everything hurts. But it was so worth it. Yesterday, Erica and I took bikes and rode them for over 40km in and around the lakes and mountains of Southwest Ireland. We are in a town called Killarney (east of Cork) that is surrounded by beautiful areas to explore. The ride was much hillier than we expected and never seemed to end.

The first stretch was getting out of town along highways and such. Then we got to the Gap of Dunloe which was absolutely breathtaking. We rode along a couple lakes and creeks through two big stretches of mountains and rocks on a road that was only wide enough to fit one car. And there were cars coming in both directions occaisionally. Once we hit the end of the Gap, we got to ride down the most magnificient downhill slope ever. An incredibly long and winding gravel road took us all the way to edge of Kerry Way, when the road turned into a hiking and bike trail for another several kilometers. Then we reached Killarney National Park and had another hilly ride though the woods for 4kms. We finally hit a highway again, which was terrifying. There were two narrow lanes and cars speeding up and down the motorway. It would have been terrifying enough to drive down that road in a car, but on a bike, it was 100 times worse.

But again, the scenery was beautiful and we came out unscathed. Except for the bruised sits-bones, aching legs, and broken back. We rode through tree covered roads, along sparkling lakes, mountains in the distance, creeks running along or under our paths, and finished up as the sun was starting to set. And we're off to do another adventure today. We're heading out kayaking on the lakes of Killarney and checking out Ross Castle.

Our two days in Dublin before heading down to Killarney were great. We took another free tour of the city with a local tour guide. Saw the Dublin Castle, old Viking settlements (that have been paved over by the city council :S), and experienced Dublin nightlife. We spent one night in a comedy club which turned out to be pretty terrible, but fun nonetheless.