9/17/2002 12:13 AM PST…but…it’s actually 8:13 am here at the Zetland Country House in Cashel, Ireland. We’ve been blessed with “nice” weather so far…that is, no rain and mild temperatures. But before the notes on the trip, the strangest thing happened in Heathrow airport, terminal 1. We had 4 hours to kill there – VERY boring. And after the first hour I ran into a guy I used to work with at Mannesmann Mobilfunk in Germany (MMO D2 – now part of the Vodaphone network). He and his wife Dagmar – who I also met a MMO and their 16 month old daughter Charlotten were on their way back to Duesseldorf from a week in England. We had lunch together – it was fantastic!

Our first day was sunny and we’ve had afternoon sunshine too. Yesterday was the first full day of riding. Our crew consists of a couple from Edmonton Canada, a couple from Vancouver, my dad and myself. Yesterday we left Rosscahill (at the Ross Lake House Hotel) and pedaled to Cashel. We had quite a little hill – 6 miles – to begin the day and get warmed up. It was fun to weave around the sheep on the road on the other side and as we descended into the bogs of Connemara on the opposite side of the hill had a great view of the unspoiled Irish countryside. One of the interesting things about this rural part of the country is the preponderance of the Gaelic, or as they say, Irish language. English is taught as a second language here and all the signage is in Irish. As we pedaled through miles and miles through the bogs (on a paved road of course) you could see people cutting it by hand and piling it on the side of the road. Apparently something like 90% of the bog generated over a 4000 year time period was removed since the turn of the century and the Irish government had forbidden mechanized bog removal. They now cut newspaper sized rolls of bog and pile them by the road, let them dry, and burn them as logs in the homes hear for heating. There are virtually no trees in the entire area, rather heather, bracken and furze dominate the area. Today we are riding to Roundstone village – “the most picturesque fishing harbour in Connemara” and end up in Clifden, where we will be staying at the Quay House for the next two nights.