Greetings from Ireland, the land of sunshine and very friendly people! We left Roscoff in NW Brittany via Brittany Ferries and arrived in Ringsakiddy, Ireland the next morning. We had a nice berth with ensuite bathroom and a portal view of the ocean.
There were a number of bicyclists onboard and the next morning we followed two locals towards Cork arriving around lunchtime after a 20 km ride. We spent two nights in Cork sightseeing and climbing the Shandon tower to ring the bells of Shandon.
While in Cork I bought new rain pants and warm waterproof gloves in preparation for the upcoming rains. However Ireland has been unseasonably warm as a gentleman put it "hottest in a century".
From Cork we rode another 42 km and EG of 985 ft to just south of Macroom to Coolcower House on a lovely acreage just above the Lee River for one night. The next morning we left at 10 am and after 5 km as we were going up a hill passing through Macroom Anne's bicycle chain broke and fell off!! Not what you want to happen in a small town. I asked a woman walking by if there was a bicycle shop in town and she said no but you can check with the tire shop on the corner!
So we walked back but the tire shop did not look promising and the owner as I expected said they couldn't help. However there were two guys getting new tires and one of them said he would call to see what he could find. About that time another man (Dennis) arrived with his son and hearing of our problems said he had a chain tool (chain barker) and he would go home and get it!!
While he was gone I explained to the two original guys that even though I had extra chain links they were some 30 years old and I was not sure if they would fit the narrower free wheels. I had stopped carrying a chain tool years before having not had a chain problem in 40 years of touring.
One of the guys (Paudy) had a truck and said he was driving home after taking care of some business in town towards Killarney and would come back to see if we needed a ride. Dennis and I removed the broken chain links and put the chain back on, three links short. But I was worried that her chain would brake again in the middle of nowhere so when Paudy came back we accepted a ride and he took us all the way to just outside Killarney.
We then started our hunt for bicycle repair shop. The first one was closed, the next two turned out to be bicycle rentals only. The 4th one belonged to David O'Sullivan, a friendly and lovely man that said no problem I will fix it now! After an hour Anne had a new chain and David would only charge the cost of the chain and wouldn't accept any money for his own time. Irish have lived up to their reputation and much more.
That night we went to town and had dinner and hit a couple pubs and listened to lovely Irish music. Well it was mostly Johnny Cash songs sang by Irish musicians. You just gotta love this country and these wonderful people.
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