Two mountain passes, add rain!!

        Another gorgeous day in paradise, no where could you find as nice a  location.  The sandpipers woke me up and I was on the road by 7:45.  Good thing I did not any further yesterday afternoon.   A mountain pass greeted me seven miles down the road.  After amillion revolutions in gear one, I reached the  top.  On the way down I went through three tunnels and dodged a few sheep. I arrived in Kenmare with twenty-three miles on the odometer but felt like fifty.  Bustling town but I found a Super Val supper market and foraged for a chocolate milk and a chicken sandwich.  Indulged in some chicken wings as well.  

      A few fellow bikers had warned me against riding the Ring of Kerry, tours and tourist buses everywhere. With time getting short and trying to take it easy on my left calf, I made the executive decision to pass up the Ring and ride directly to Kilarney.  I have been to countless fabulous spots all around Ireland , without any tourists, I felt it was the right decision.  Getting to Kilarney, though only nineteen miles, included another pass.  And then the rain; how good does it get. This direct shot from Kenmare is the in land side of the ring of Kerry, tour buses and all. The road included numerous tight turns on the way down and at one point I was riding faster than a bus.  As Kilarney come on slowly and so did the horse carriages, hotels, and finally the downtown with flags draped across the streets and thousands of tourists.  "It is no time for my sorry --- to be in this neighborhood."  Adding to the commotion, Ireland was playing Belgium in soccer and it being a Saturday, every Irish soccer fan was leglessly drunk stumbling out of every pub.  

     The tourist office found me a hostel around the corner, dead center on the middle of the city. After the usual clean up, I cruised around town, did some shopping for the folks back home and found refuge in a nice hotel where I had a delicious dinner. Add a pint of ale to that. Back at the hostel, I watched a Denzel Washington movi

e and talked with a French med student and college kid from Florida.  The American turned me onto this straw device that allows you to drink from a stream or somewhere similar, purifying the water up to two hundred and fifty gallons. Very cool device for someone hiking or bicycling.

     Tomorrow, early, I will ride over and see the Kilarney castle or whatever it is called and then head north.