Day 2: Glengarriff to Killarney

Straight into a hill

We awoke on our second day to the now familiar sound of light rain pattering on the tent. Undeterred, we saddled up and as soon as we'd turned the corner out fo the campsite we were straight into a hill climb.

The hill soon morphed into a full scale mountain, with the purple line of our route on the GPS displaying the tell-tale shape of switchbacks up ahead. The land dropped off dramatically to our left exposing magnificent views across huge valleys below. We were gaining altitude rapidly, but somehow the ascent wasn't taxing our fresh legs.

Suddenly we'd reached the top and begun a long, fast descent. We swooped into the little town of Kenmare, which we'd designated as a lunch stop. As we slowly rolled down the busy high street, someone was shouting Greg's name. Puzzled, we all looked around to see Emily, Mum and Holly strolling down the pavement! We dived into the first cafe we found and tucked into a huge lunch to replace those burned off calories.

Unfortunately, while we were having a nice time stuffing our faces and reliving a heroic mountain crossing, the rain had intensified outside. We saddled up and struck out into a heavy shower.

We had one more mountain range to cross before we reached our next camp site, and this one promised to be tougher than the first as it hosts Ireland's tallest mountain, Carrauntoohil. We were soon back into a serious climb, which didn't look like ending. The rain hadn't relented and we formed a little chain of blinking red as we were forced to turn on our lights. Tom started to pull away as we rode through Moll's Gap and soon found himself pushing up through the clouds with only a few soaking sheep for company.

Stopping to wait for the other riders was impossible on the exposed mountainside, but soon he reached the peak and the welcome refuge of a cafe came into view. Dad and Greg somehow managed to spot Tom's now shivering form, huddled in the middle of a group of Italian tourists for warmth. We guzzled some energy bars then set off over the edge for a sweeping descent through the beautiful Killarney National Park. Right on cue the sun finally came out and for the last ten miles of the leg, we were bathed in warmth as we took in the majesty of the park's huge lakes.

The final stage of the leg took us down ever narrowing lanes through what appeared to be a private estate. Just as the GPS was running out of route, we came across the entrance to the site and found Mum and Emily next to a fully prepped van and fully formed tent. That night we walked down the road to the local hotel where we sampled our first Murphy's and tucked into fish and chips. The bar was lined with a crew of local old men engaged in a loud and animated discussion. We stood next to them for a while as we waited for our pints, listening intently to try and pick out words we recognised, but came away at a loss as to whether they were speaking English or not!