Cycle Ireland on this Day in 2019
My on this day bicycle touring blog post comes from Ireland on the 24th of July 2019. Blimey, when I looked back over my posts to see where I was on this day, a couple of them were of me stuck in hospital with my ongoing hip infection. And this week’s post from Ireland was my first long tour after that first infection in 2018.
Wednesday, 24th July 2019. Ballymena to Newry. 57 Miles.
That was a hard day at the office. That wind has been relentless again; hopefully, tomorrow it’ll have eased off, or at least changed direction. I started the day off on a very busy dual carriageway, which really wasn’t much fun, even by my standards, I thought it was busy.
It was then that I decided to give Belfast a miss. I couldn’t think of any reason to go there, and it would’ve been a nightmare getting in and out, if the road I was already on was anything to go by. After that initial start on busy roads, I soon found some quieter ones, although I still had that headwind.
Along The Newry Canal
To be honest, I’d had enough about 20 miles back and was going out of my way to find a campsite. But then I came across the Newry canal way, which was going in the direction that I really wanted to go. So balls to the campsite, I started to follow the canal and had a pleasant cycle for the last 20 miles.
The canal has fallen into disrepair and is no longer navigable, but they’ve made good use of the old towpath and made it into an excellent cycle/walking route.
Now I know that I can be a bit slow at times, both mentally and physically. And I’ve been wondering why it’s been taking me so long to get anywhere these past two days, wind aside, that is. The road signs are all in miles, not kilometres. Twenty miles is considerably more than 20 kilometres! I should be back in the Republic of Ireland tomorrow, and back to kilometres.
Explore More Of My Ride Around The World
- Yesterday’s Blog: Pedalling downhill
- View The Whole Tour: Cycling Ireland
- Tomorrow’s Adventure: Back to camping
Watch My YouTube Video From Today’s Ride
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