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July 3 Monday cloudy 20º C Bicycle touring Wales and Ireland We cycle back to St David's, Wales. In the days of yore, the Bishop proclaimed two pilgrimages to St David's was equivalent to one pilgrimage to Rome. So here we are for our second time. Now I can say I've made a pilgrimage to Rome. We pull our touring bicycles to a halt and celebrate by finding a bakery and tucking into powdered lemon jelly doughnuts at a bench in the local deserted playground. At the ferry terminal in Fishgard, Wales, we find out we can't take our bikes with us at the day excursion fare of £11 return to Ireland. We have to buy a one-way at £22. Yep. Makes sense to me. Sharon must have been feeling homely by the time we left on the Fishgard ferry. Two people, on two separate occasions, have mistaken us for two lads -- all in the space of an hour. One fella asked us, "Do either of you lads know how to use the phone?" And another chap asked, "How long have you two lads been on the road?" "Too long," was Sharon's quick reply. I was beginning to think that myself. We left on the Fishgard ferry at 3 PM and arrived in Rosslare, Ireland, at 6:30 PM. Two German cyclists were on board also. They are bicycle touring to the northwest corner of the island. Have to bicycle tour in Ireland to check out those red waterproof Ortlieb panniers. What better place than Ireland? I think I'm going to like the Irish. A muscular red-haired bloke directed us to a wall to lean our bikes on as we boarded the ferry. "You don't have to lock 'em," he says. "They'll be all right." "I bet you guys just want to ride them around," I said. Quick as a flash he said, "Oh, we don't do that anymore. We used to, but we kept falling off and the deck is hard." He resoundingly stomped his foot on the metal deck plate. A lady in the sitting lounge keeps commenting on the Fishgard ferry's state of cleanliness affairs. "This ferry is filthy. Filthy!" she keeps repeating to anyone within earshot. If she thinks this is bad she should see the Italian ferries. This is a floating 5-star hotel in comparison. Upon disembarking from the Fishgard ferry, we cycle for a ways past the ferry terminal and then cycle onto a small side road. Since it is past 6, we are looking for a free bicycle camping spot. We see a gate across a gravel road and hoist our bikes over the top rung. There is a clump of bushes that we camp behind amongst a thick cloud of no-see-ums. Gak! Those little buggers are ferocious. |
