Day 3 Blackwater to Waterford 60 miles 5 hours 40

Waterford, Blackwater, Water on the knee.

Anyhow. This morning I was awoken by a biblical thunderstorm... I decided to let the weather clear before setting off, and after that, I saw not one drop of rain all day...

After picking my bike up from Ruth and saying my goodbyes to Pat and Lilly, I was headed for Wexford... Bad news. My biggest fear has raised it's head and my left knee is giving me gip. I'm a real princess and the pea cyclist and I do need my bikes set up exactly right or my knees start complaining... And they have. I need a new seatpost and soon or I'm in trouble...

So, with a slightly despondent mood, I did my first bit of 'straighlining' of the coast as there's no real route around the Rosslare part, and I'm going to avoid N roads as much as physically possible... After a little cross country detour via Bridgetown (3 guesses where it got the name) I headed towards Kilmore Quay. A brief stop and chat with a couple of guys building a wall cheered me right up, and they recomended I stop at Kehoe's for lunch.

Good advice, it turned out... Chris wouldn't let me pay and treatred me to a fabulous locally-caught fish lunch.

Everyone knows how much I love Scotland, but the one big difference between the two countries has to be the food... Really good quality, genuinely. And I'm not being paid to say that!

Kilmore Bay to Ballyhack for the crossing towards Waterford was in part the toughest part of the ride so far... A long, almost Roman Road dragged on for miles in a straight line where I could see all the hills in front of me... not fun with a dodgy knee. The Ferryman wouldn't take my cash either to Passage East. I was in county Waterford, and Munster after starting in Leinster and County Dublin...

After a pretty quiet day I sterted to get lots of waves and laughs and cheers as I got to Waterford... A Director of Travelodge, Richard O'Sullivan contacted me about me staying anywhere there's a lodge on my route, and I took him up on it tonight. I'm writing this on the Travelodge office computer, and, as I'm finding about Irish hospitality almost everywhere, the guys here can't do enough for me... I'm off to bed. Ray D'arcy's going to call me again in the morning and I want to do more than just yawn when he does... Zzzzz

day 2 - Brittas Bay to Blackwater 47.3 miles, 4 hours 25

Another late start to the ride today... After a fresh fruit salad and pancakes made by Polly, I spent the next hour trying to sort out my mobile phone situation. How exciting... Eily sprang to my rescue and talked the guys at o2 to help me out so I won't come home bankrupt by phonebills... after putting cyclemagic stickers on the kids' bikes, I said my farewells and wobbled up off the road with Conor for company. Hopefully the guys are going to join me in Dublin for a meal when I finish the journey...

So, off south in beautiful sunshine again towards Arklow... I was planning to stop and listen to Streets of Arklow by Van Morrison, but just kept on pedaling due to my late start... I made my way to Courtown on really quiet little roads where the only drama was supplied by a BMW X5 driver slowing down for his son to shoot me with a BB gun. I hope you're proud of yourself and your kid, whoever you are...

Courtown lifted my mood immediately. I found a nice cafe with outdoor tables and ordered a mountain of food... The ladies on the next table started talking to me about the bike, etc.
I have to say a huge thankyou to the McHugh sisters for buying my meal and sponsoring me for €50, too.

apart from getting lost and adding about 5 miles to my ride total for the day, the rest of the ride to Blackwater was pretty easy. I think the guy on the mountain bike who overtook me got a bit of a shock when I was still on his tail a mile later when he turned off. I'm MUCH faster when I have someone to chase...

Anyway, my Uncle Pat was in Blackwater waiting for me with his car to take me to Enniscorthy for the night. A lady called Ruth generously put the bike in her shed, and I was whisked off...

After stuffing my face again I went to Donohoe's bar in Enniscorthy, which is where stage 2 of the 1998 Tour de France started (if you're interested in that sort of thing) and where Pat knows everyone. I met the self-styled, and possibly accurately described 'Ireland's only Leicester City fan' Skinner walsh and he bunged me a Euros towards the sponsorship... Thanks!

Day 1... Dublin to Brittas Bay

Last night could be described as a Big Night... Eileen and her friends and Mike & Lara all made sure I was shown a good night in Dublin...

This morning I felt distinctly worse for wear and, yes, I know whose fault that is...

The first job was to pick up Eileen's new bike from the UCD bike shop. There I met Rob, possibly the most entertaining man I've ever met in the bike trade. Just go and buy something from him and you'll know why. Especially if he sees your mobile phone and doesn't like it...

Anyhow, Eileen led me through the insane one-way systems of Dublin on her new bike to our start point at St. Stephen's Green. Eileen's friend Catherine was to ride off with us, and Mike came to see me off... so far so good.

A guy from Chicago came up to me and asked me how long I had the tallbike... There's a big tallbike culture there apparently, and he knows some of the guys who ride them...

Anyway... Catherine is a force of nature and no mistake. What a star... If she were doing the ride she'd raise about 1000 Euros a day. She got me a free SIM card from the o2 shop, a free lunch from IN in Dalkey (which was really VERY good) and has been trying to drum up sponsorship and places to stay all over the place... Thanks! Shame she won't be in Dublin on my return, I reckon I owe her a beer...

So, after spending ages pootling out of Dublin and around Dalkey, I set off on my own... After being warned that the coast road was VERY hilly, I set off only to find I was in my easiest gear within 3 minutes. I spent a lot of time in that gear, if truth be told... The Hill out of Wicklow was the toughest today. I'm sure there is MUCH worse to come!

However... I have to say I couldn't have been luckier with my second hosts! Eily & Conor live in a beautiful extended cottage in Brittas Bay and, well, I'm living in complete luxury here. Really comfortable and I could easily get used to their lifestyle! I cannot thank them enough for their 'nothing is too much trouble' hospitality... they're drumming up sponsorship from their friends as I sit at there computer with my kit in their washing machine and a beer by my side. Amazing!

I'm very tired after my 46.5 miles. As if it needs saying...

I do feel a little bad that I didn't stop and talk to the family at Wicklow Head. I got a big round of applause and the offer of a drink, but I was completely exhausted and just wanted to finish the day's ride. Loads of folk have been waving, hooting, talking and just generally making me feel really welcome, and the drivers have been really patient too. I like it here.

Oh, one thing... the coast road? It's a LONG way from the coast in places... Short day to Enniscorthy tomorrow to see my aunt and uncle...

Dublin!

well, I'm in Ireland for the first time in 37 years! Simon and Anita made sure I got to the ferry port on time this morning after we had a really relaxing night with Simon's Aunt & Uncle in Shropshire. Thanks Elisabeth and Maurice!

The wittiest comment I've had so far on the bike was from the harbour gaurd at Holyhead: 'Not another one', which is a huge improvement on 'that's a quare bike'.

After getting lost within 5 minutes of leaving the port (the road signs are not good) I realised that Dublin is not really that cycle-friendly. I don't think turning right is something the Dubliners ever get to do. Seriously...

I met Eileen, my first host on the famous Ha'penny Bridge. It's then I realised just how heavy the bike is when pushing it up the steps. I reckon about 60 kg fully loaded. About the same as a small woman! Eek. It also wobbles a bit fully loaded and for the first time I'm actually really nervous on the thing...

So, we wandered up to the Focus Ireland office where Sinead took us for a sandwich and a coffee. Anyone who knows me realises you should NEVER give me cappucino...

Nice to get a bit of a reception rather than just roll up... I couldn't get any of the Focus people to ride the bike, tho. Shame!

Great news... I was on Ray D'Arcy's radio show in Ireland yesterday and he's done me a massive favour! I've been offered accomodation from Arklow to Connemara and it seems to keep rolling in... thanks to everyone.

I've also had my first Irish sponsorship which is brilliant, and I'm just about to break the £2000 barrier in the UK :-)

Also, my old mate from London from way back in the day, Mike Dolan heard me on the radio and got in touch... We lost touch a few years back, and I'm meeting up with him tonight... So far so good! just going to sort out my second night's accomodation now, and then have my first taste of the so-called Craic!

It starts tomorrow!

4 days to go...

In four days time, about now, I'll be wobbling around the streets of Dublin heading south toward Arklow. If I'm honest, I'm not at all nervous, even tho everytime I climb onto the tallbike it feels very weird. I don't think I'll ever get used to the staring, gawping and pointing. To be honest I'll be glad to get going... I'm starting to bore myself with saying 'I'm going to do this...' I just want to get on and do it.

Since my last post, my computer got attacked with a virus pretty much putting me out of touch with lots of people. Bad timing... A huge thank-you goes to Mr B for getting me out of a hole in time to read aand send my emails... Still. the Tallbike's had all it's woes remedied, and it's ready to roll again... so not much to report other than I'll be in Dublin about 3pm on Friday and I'll be riding around trying to get my bearings.

Tallbike damaged in transit!

I was awoken yesterday by the Leicester Mercury asking me how I felt about riding the tallbike at the opening ceremony of the Tour de France in July. Clearly it's something I'm really excited about as it's brilliant that Cyclemagic is involved with the World's biggest spectator event and it's in England, and I'm going to be on TV, etc... But if I stumble and fall off the tallbike in front of 100000 people i'm going to blush for a week... it's my chance to be famous, tho isn't it? I think I'll pass!

However, after a photoshoot for the Mercury, I noticed the tallbike needed a new wheel, one of the cranks was bent, the rack mounts were interfering wth the chain and that the forks were twisted... I'm not going to let anyone else ride the thing now until I'm finished the ride... Most of the afternoon was spent spannering... one week to go!

Tallbike goes to london...

It's REALLY looming now. The ferry is booked, my extended family know I'm coming, I've been in about 8 Irish newspapers and, well, there's no backing out.

The tallbike's been on tour this week. We took it to London on a Cyclemagic roadshow and taught about 20 people how to ride it, including a teenaged Ethiopian lad who looked more relaxed on it than Will or I do... Get in touch! You can do the next daft ride on it!

I also met Will Stevens for the first time... Will is one of the Tallbike Tour of Britiain brothers and a really nice guy. It all feels a little less daunting to meet someone who's done something like this already... It felt like he was passing on a batton.

I tried to convince him to ride the Northern Irish coast with me so he can claim to have ridden the entire coastline of the UK... I hope he can do it! Either way, without him and Ed having done their route last year it's doubtful whether I'd have come up with the idea of doing this ride...

The other highlight of the day was watching stuntman Rich Johnson pull huge wheelies on the tallbike... you can see a picture at http://www.cyclemagic.org.uk/images/rich-johnson-large.jpg... Truly impressive!

The night before the event Roger and I stayed in South London and went for a drink in The Kilkenny Tavern in Merton. Roger was immediately happy as there was a penny-farthing on the wall, but the music and atmosphere in there was fantastic... a taster of things to come... I still didn't have a Guinness, tho...

Less than two weeks to go!

So, I've done some miles on my racing bike as a nod to training, changed the saddle on the tallbike and come up with a loose itinerary. Still to do is buy my ferry ticket, work out my packing list, and hopefully raise the second half of the £3000 I've set as a target for Shelter.

Raising money in Ireland is altogether more tricky!
The homeless charities there work locally, and while Focus and The Simon Community have regional offices, if I raise money for the central (Dublin) headquarters it doesn't necessarily get divvied up in a way that will please people in the provinces.

I'm not going to be able to raise money with a bucket or tin because getting the permission to fund-raise involves writing to about 26 Gardai offices, and I just don't know where I'll be to have the permits sent if I do indeed get them in time. It's very frustrating.
Hopefully there'll be some volunteers in cities I do visit who can raise money with me?

If you can help, please get in touch!

I've been a bit of a media-tart in the last week or so...
The Leicester Mercury gave me a half page, but they did say I was going to do the route in 2 weeks!
I got myself on the TV news, too. Central ITN gave me a few minutes, and as soon as I work out how I'll stick it on youtube so you can laugh at my bike handling skills...

So, I have two weeks to go til I roll up in Ennsicorthy... I'd better phone my relatives Pat & Lilly MacNamara and let them know I'm on my way!

10th April... less than 3 weeks to go

April 10nd 2007
The news so far is that the tallbike is ready to roll! the brakes, transmission and tyres have all been replaced with new parts. The luggage rack has been fitted, I've bought my panniers and done lots of tweaking. At a rough guess the tallbike already weighs more that twice my mountain bike...

Until a few days ago, the longest ride I'd had was about 30 minutes on the tallbike, so on April fools day I set off with Roger on another tallbike and a few friends on normal bikes to see how a longer ride felt. 25 miles later I can report that apart from the saddle, which is seriously very bad, everything works really well. I managed to climb one of Leicester's most lung-busting hills without too much drama, negotiated some tricky junctions and even did a bit of off-roading.

I've yet to ride the bike with a fully-laden but I'm pretty confident I'll be comfortable on the trip once that saddle's sorted.

All I've got to do now is sort my ferry tickets out, find some accommodation in Dublin, work out what I'm going to bring, plan a route and an itinerary... And get fit!