23 miles and 21 gears, no walking!

I am not a cyclist.  I like to ride bikes, I grew up having a bike, and I currently have a bike that is mostly a modern art statue in my entry room right now.  However when planning my trip to Dingle Ireland, I fell in love with the descriptions and photos of the "Dingle Loop" and it became one of the "must do's" while I was in Dingle, despite the description consisting of the phrases "55 km" and "5 hours".

For those of you who keep chuckling when I say the word Dingle, get it all out now: hahahahahahahaha
Ok.  Moving on now.

My chosen day started out cloudy and rainy and the idea of cycling 37 km (23 miles) in the rain didn't sound very enjoyable but I got lucky and by 1pm the clouds parted and other than a bit of humidity it was looking like a glorious day.  I rented a bike.  I packed food, water, camera and an extra layer or two should the weather turn again and set off.

Map of the peninsula.  I started in Dingle (lower right) and followed the red path, until I got to An Mhuirioch and then I took the orange path back to Dingle.

So roads in Europe are already narrower than what you might be imagining.  There are no Hummers and very rarely do you see an SUV on the roads in Europe.  In Ireland it was also rare to find bike lanes and on the Dingle Peninsula they were nonexistent.

After riding for about an hour I came to a place to pull off (circled point 6 on map), walk a couple minutes up the hill, and see the "Beehive Huts" that were built around 2000 BC.  They were carefully stacked flat-ish stones, with each layer placed a little closer toward the center of the hut than the next.  There was no mortar used and would be finished with one large stone over the last open area.  It was impressive that these structures are still standing.  The walls that separate the fields that cover the hill are made in the same manner.  No mortar, just careful stacking.

I had a nice chat with some other people that had stopped there and I took in the sights for a bit longer before climbing back on my bike to continue the ride.  There are really only 2 ways to "see" the Dingle loop.  You can bike it, or dive it.  There are a lot of buses that do driving tours, and going around those curves on a bike, on the "wrong" side of the road, with a bus coming towards me was, interesting at times.

Cross at the Western most point of the Peninsula: Slea Head (Ceann Sleibhe)  

About a half hour later I was pedaling up another hill when I reached the peak and, from a distance, I saw this fantastic beach in the distance (the green dot on the map).  It was practically calling my name.

I rode down the parking area and most of the way down the ramp, parked my bike, removed my shoes and I stepped onto an Atlantic beach for the first time in my life.  This little alcove of a beach was practically singing.  I walked to the water's edge and felt the cold (but not icy) water flow over my toes.  I didn't want to leave.  Unfortunately I had not come prepared for beach-ing, and my late start to the day forced me to leave long before I was ready to.

I walked back to my bike, dried off my feet and put my shoes back on and continued my ride.  Looking out over the water I knew I would be back because this place felt like home.

The rest of the ride was beautiful, but since I was worried about riding a bike on the road without lights or things to make me visible I didn't make any additional stops.  I rode past some beautiful towns, historic churches and hill after hill of patchwork farmland in variations of green that I didn't know were possible.

If you look back at the map at the top, you'll notice that my "short cut" home using the orange route took me through a bit of an incline.  I didn't have 20 more km left in me, so I cut through the hills to ride the 10km route back to Dingle.  As I pedaled up that hill, I was passed by some serious cyclists, but I am proud to say that I did NOT get off that bike.  I use all 21 of the gears on the bike and I may have been going slow, but I did it.

When I go back to Dingle I will do the loop again.  Maybe on a bike, maybe in a car, but I will take as much time as I want.  Maybe stay in one of the multitudes of Bed and Breakfasts that I passed along the way and really get time to soak in the beautiful sights that feel so much like home.

Shamans, Brides and Devils.

I realize that I haven´t updated in quite some time but things have been busy and the computers have been slow.  We´ll see how this one does.

Last week we left Quito for the quieter, safer and greener town of Baños.  Known for its natural resources and the spas that seem to be around every corner, it was a perfect escape from the fascinating, but loud, city of Quito.  It is a tourist destination so the food was a bit more expensive but there were decently prices hostels, lots of things to do that didn´t require you to pay $40 and we met a lot of fun people in the hostel we stayed at for three nights.  On our first wander around the city in the daylight we saw quite a few interestingly painted buildings (mostly bars) but this one stuck out quite a bit.  Can you name all of them?

With one of our new friends (Amelia) we visited the natural hot springs baths.  They were crowded but it felt SO good to soak in the water!

The next day we found three other people that wanted to do the waterfall bike ride with us and the five of us headed out at around 11 in the morning on our rented bikes.  Rory (from Australia), Kate and Oliver (from New Zealand) rented bikes from a place near our hostel.  They didn´t have ones that worked well for Jose and I so we traipsed across the town to another place that had many bikes to choose from, different sizes (small for me, large for him), comfortable seats and REAL helmets (not just skid caps).  I am SO glad Jose found that place...you´ll find out why later.

The first part of the bike ride was mostly downhill.  I was telling myself "Its ok that you haven´t rideden a bike in years, you can do this!"  Then we reached the turn off for the first waterfall.  I looked at is in astonishment.  The hill was REALLY steep and I could barely walk up it so riding up it was totally out of the question.  By the time I reached the top I could barely breathe.  I haven´t had any issues with asthma in years but something about the sudden change in altitude (I hadn´t had any issues up to that point, even in Quito) or having to push the bike up the hill with me just about did me in.  Once I could see again I looked around and saw a very underwhelming waterfall.  I did all that work and all I got was this:

Cascada de Chamana (Waterfall of the Shaman)

Pretty, but I wasn´t sure it was worth it.

Back down the hill we got back onto the road, ready for the next waterfall when Rory´s back tire got a flat.  Fortunately the shop had provided an extra tube and a hand pump.  The boys made quick work of changing the tire and when we looked at the old inner-tube we saw it had three patch jobs, all of which were not very well done.  Well, at least they had given them a spare.  Heaven help us if someone else got a flat.

Oliver in orange, Rory is the one "helping"

Back on the road and onto the next waterfall we passed a dam, some workers on a bridge that were wearing hard hats but no ear or eye protection using a sledghammer, welding or cutting steel rebar with an electric saw.  Goodness.  Then Rory looked down at his tire and it was flat again.  I guess the extra tube they gave him also had a hole in it.  Well then.

The second waterfall was beautiful and we could see it from the road, no need to climb a horrid hill!

Agoyan

This is what we were looking at as we were riding.  Not half bad huh?

The third waterfall was really pretty to see.  From the road you had a very clear view of both of them and there were places to rest and just take in the beauty of the scenery...and for Rory to pump up his bike tire again.

Manto de la Novia (Mantle of the Bride)

Looking around we saw a path that you could take to get to the base of the waterfall.  With our trusty waterbottles in hand we went down the hill (probably at least 1 km down) and across a bridge to get to the entrance to the waterfall.  There we were greeted by a lady who wanted 50 cents from each of us to enter her property.  The thing was that they had made a wall with barbed wire around her property to prevent anyone from going around and getting there anyway.  While 50 cents isn´t all that much, it was kind of a jerky thing to do.  Once at the bottom Oliver and Rory told us that we should take off our shoes and socks before going closer because they were completly soaked.

At the base of the waterfall we could hear the thundering of the water on the rocks and we could feel the force inside our chests.  Removing our shoes and socks, we ventured closer, pushed back by the force of the water, the sound reverberating through our ears and bodies.  Soaked within seconds, I turned tohave the sun at my back, and saw a circular rainbow going around my body.  

What a fantastic place this was!

 A little farther down the road we came across a superman cable that was 1 km long, for only $10.  Jose talked the lady down to $8 and Oliver and Rory decided to go.  The three of us then rode down the road to meet them.  Jose took one of the extra bikes and one of the ladies rode the other one down.  Rory´s tire was once again flat.  (I began to be extremely thankfull that Jose and I got our bikes from a different place)

Down the hill to what we hear is the best waterfall on the ride, we pass the turn off at first and then see a glimpse of it from the road.

Pailon del Diablo (the Devil´s Cauldron

We backtrack a little, park and lock up our bikes and make the 1km hike down the hill to the waterfall.  This time the cost was $1.50 but once we got there and saw all the work that had been done to make it a wonderful experince we didn´t mind.  The path down the hill was well maintaned, there were stairs and platforms that you could stand on and feel the waterfall.  

There was even a little pathway/tunnel thing that you could use to get to the upper viewpoint and then get behind the waterfall.  It was phenominal! 

Kate took this from the first platform, we are on the second platform.

Hiking back up to the top we were looking at our map and seeing that there was one more waterfall that we could see.  However we were all pretty tired, hungry and it looked like it was going to rain.  We all opted to get somthing to eat and then catch a bus or something back to Baños.  There was a woman with a sign for empanadas near where we parked our bikes so we stopped in there and ordered a couple.  They were unbelievable!  Cheese, chicken and cheese, banana and chocolate, banana and mora (like blackberry).  We were SO happy.

Then we found a man with a truck who was willing to take the 11 of us (we ended up in the same place as another group of 5 riders) for about $1.5 each.  It wasn´t a better deal than a bus but it probably would have taken longer to wait for and ride the bus.  We piled into the back and then the bikes were loaded in.  We hoped that the driver didn´t make any sudden stops or accelerations because otherwise we would have been smashed by the bikes.  Not the safest ride I´ve ever gone on.  We drove thorough some tunnels of questionable structural integrity and around some corners that were a little narrow.

Back in Baños we showered and collapsed in our respective rooms to relax.  Back at the hostel I realized that the back of my hands were really irritated.  I looked down and saw that they were blazing red.  I had remembered to put sunscreen on before our 6 hour adventrure in the sun...except the back of my hands. It turns out they were second degree burns.  This is what they looked like a week later:

Baños was fun and beautiful however the next journey we set out on has given us such fantastic experiences that it needs a post all its own.