A little noisy last night at the Old Imperial but after the last two days of riding, no on really had any trouble sleeping . . . and a yummy breakfast!!

. . . soon the group was assembling in the courtyard for todays ride . . . only 30 miles!!!

For the first six miles we road on the national highway. Great 7 foot shoulder . . . you can see the size of the chipstone in the asphalt. Pretty typical for most of the roads we have been riding. Rough riding on 25mm tires.

Tides out . . . just tie your  boat up in the middle of the river and wait for it to come back in!!!

As I rounded a corner it look like traffic was stalled ahead, maybe an accident or a police stop . . . no just EVERYBODY in a ten mile radius stopping at this little diner. If I hadn’t just eaten breakfast, I would have stopped in for a cup of Joe.

Oh, there have been accident death markers along the way in Ireland but most are not as elaborate as this one . . .

. . .and I haven’t seen much roadkill or even varmints along the way. This is evidently one you can run into (hopefully not) . . .

. . . and here is a distant cousin.

There have been flowers the last several days . . .

. . . just growing along the road. Nice to look at as one bikes by.

Soon we entered Altmore, where the language had suddenly seemed to change from English to Gaelic.

This towns claim to fame is the old monastery, church and graveyard . . .

. . . the tower at one time was the highest free standing tower in Ireland . . .

I’m surprised it is still standing when see’s what settling soil had done to the gravestones.

The tower was used to escape the bands of Viking marauders that would sweep through the area. They would load their books, food and themselves in the tower, pull up the ladder and seal the door. Must have worked unless the Vikings were willing to wait them out.

Tides out again and folks were walking the beach.

There is a nasty invasive species problem here with the Japanese Knotweed. Signs all over the place . . . the Irish are trying to do the right thing.

Stopped to talk to this mother and daughter team. Very inquisitive . . .wish I had had an apple!

Along the way there were lots of ‘Stately Wayne Manors’ built in the suburbs of Dungarven.

Just before I got to town it started to rain. I pulled over into a driveway to put on my rain gear and this herd of young ones came from across the field, in a stampede, to say hello . . . fun!!!

See movie above!!!!

We are staying at the Park Hotel tonight, a lovely place . . .

. . . soon Monika, Liz and I headed into town for some lunchy . . .

. . . I had the soup and sandwich special which in most pubs is PLENTY for lunch!!!