Stats and maps are back!

I managed to get to sleep only once the lads in the field next to me finished their game of ‘How England Are Going To Lose To Spain On Sunday’.

I’d spoken to the oldest lad, who was about 15 years old and sitting on his football having a rest, to ask what the big wooden sticks shaped like the bill of a duck-billed platypus were, that three girls were hitting a hard white ball with. ‘That’s hurling,’ he told me. ‘Is the ball like a cricket ball?’ I asked. He looked a bit puzzled. ‘I don’t know anything about a cricket ball, but it’s called a hurling ball.’ I noticed that he was wearing a Barcelona football shirt. ‘Are you a Barça fan?’ I said. ‘No, not really, I’m just wearing it because of how much I want Spain to win on Sunday.’

After breakfast at the tent…

…I set off down the beautiful Hook Peninsula, to visit somewhere very special. The weather was breezy but gorgeous.

At the very tip of the Hook is a lighthouse, but not just any old lighthouse. Hook Lighthouse is the oldest operational lighthouse anywhere on the planet. It was built by monks over 800 years ago, with walls 4 metres thick, and during the Middle Ages they would light a fire on top to guide boats away from the rocky outcrop of land.

Before visiting the lighthouse I walked out to the very end of the land where I got surprised by a big wave that had me running back across the rocks, then spoke to a coastguard called Tom, who was making a morning tour of the coastal hotspots in his van. ‘I saw you yesterday!’ he said. ‘Did you?’ I said. ‘Yes! Over at the Bannow Agri Show. You were riding along and looking all over the show on the other side of the hedge!’ I laughed. ‘And they let me in for free!’ I said. Tom told me that the show had been running for fifty years, and in the past farmers used to take the whole week off to really get stuck in to the whole thing i.e. it was a big boozy holiday. ‘Now it’s all over in one day, but it’s still the biggest day of the year’ he said. Tom was from Dublin originally, but had moved down here ‘For my mid-life crisis’. He told me what the Blow Holes on the warning signs were: ‘They look like just a hole in the ground in the cliffs, but they go down to the sea and if a big wave hits, the water bursts up out of the blow hole in a big spout, and people can be washed away in a second!’ He said he had watched me running around away from the waves on the rocks earlier, and couldn’t help from grinning at me and giving me a knowing look. He also told me there was a Scuba Diving Festival going on in nearby Slade this morning, so I pencilled it in for a look on the way back.

The ‘modern’ part of the lighthouse, the glass light added with the invention of giant lenses, is actually also very old (not sure of the dates).

This stunning spot is not only fascinating but also has a superb cafe, where they rustled up a coffee and fried egg on toast for me.

There was a guided tour of the lighthouse but it was quite long and a bit of a wait for the next one, so I decided to press on.

At Slade – which made me think of Susie who has just finished her MFA first year at Slade School of Art – I dropped in on the scuba people, who were all busy with air tanks and wet suits and dive belts, all the stuff I remember obsessing about when I used to do a lot of diving. One of them told me he was planning three dives that day alone, one at 12, one at 7pm, and if there was enough interest he was going on a night dive too. It was only about 10 metres deep in the bay, so the dives would all be a reasonable length.

I always hoped that I’d stumble upon unexpected places on this trip, and the nearby village of Slade was just superb., with a castle and a harbour, and one or two fishing boats busy preparing to go out or just returning from the Atlantic.

Then I turned around and began the more serious business of clocking up a few miles, with a strong headwind and regular tough hills. I’ve been a little under the weather on this trip and the effort felt more than I’d normally have expected.

Another great discovery was the seaside village of Duncannon. The moment I arrived an old chap came up to me and asked, with a really strong Irish accent, ‘Are you on the Tour de France? I’m guessing you probably are.’ I said, ‘If I am I’m either losing or winning the whole thing’. He asked where I was going and where I’d come from. He was quite a character, congratulating me on pretty much everything I told him. He had a great laugh, and was full of energy. He remembered the Tour de France coming there in 1998, and was surprised how after all the ‘fuss and so on’ they were ‘in and gone in about three seconds.’

After he left, another chap passed and said hello. I asked why no-one seemed to be swimming, and he said ‘That chap you were talking to just now, he swims every single day!’ Does he?’ I asked. ‘What’s his name?’ He said something I couldn’t understand, but now know (post research) that he was saying ‘Uinsean’. ‘But people call him Vincent too!’

It’s a ferry day!

I did know that I’d be taking a ferry today, and it was another highlight, of course. The ferry is simple car ferry that connects County Wexford with my second county of the trip, County Waterford, for a fee of just €3. I met Katrin, a German girl on her bike waiting at Passage East. She was from the Alps and touring Ireland for three weeks. I spotted a travel guitar on the back of her bike, and then she suddenly saw my ukulele in the same place on mine. It then transpired that she was also a keen amateur violinist, and was a bit freaked out at all the coincidences. I didn’t point out that the shop we were outside was called ‘Ponticelli’ *

Then it was a very hilly ride indeed down to Newtown Cove Caravan Park on the other side of Waterford Harbour from the Hook. This place is brilliant because they always keep one spot just for hikers and bikers, and I got it!

I got a message from Susie about the enigmatic sign at the shrine of Our Lady yesterday. To refresh your memory, it said ‘You will never be lonely when you are at home with the one you are alone with.’ Susie’s insight into its meaning was: ‘I think it means if you like yourself you won’t be lonely.’

And another great message, from Friend of the Blog Rob Yeomans, who sent a nice quote from a favourite brewery of his: ‘Guinness. So much more than a breakfast drink.’

That’s all for now – I’m done in but loved the day. Where did this weather come from?

Oh, one last thing – I am yet to pay more than 16 euros a night to camp here in Ireland. €15 tonight. After the regular $60+ fees in the US it is SUCH a relief.

Adirondack Chair Shock

Signs That Are Funny

Rich pickings today.

*Ponticello is playing with the bow very near the bridge, making a ghostly ghastly scratchy effect, beloved of all film composers looking for a bit of edge amongst the schmaltz.