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| The outward route (till my GPS battery died) |
Bike ride. 77 miles riding, max speed 44.3mph (descending from Wicklow Gap), average 11.4mph. Plus some walking and running (barefoot of course). And now my legs feel like jelly! As usual you may click on the images to enlarge them.
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| Cloud rolling onto Wicklow Gap |
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| From Avoca to Brittas |
New in today's route was the cross-country route from Avoca to the sea. This involved a steady climb followed by a scary descent to the N11/M11. It was scary in that it had been recently and copiously dressed with very loose chippings and the gradient was so severe that I had to use both rear and front brakes most of the time. There was of course grave danger of skidding - but I survived.
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| Nutwood-like view between Avoca and Brittas near the summit |
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| Google-maps view of the beach and dunes |
New also was my first destination. I had chosen this destination because it is known to be used by naturalists and I prefer to swim naked and you can't generally do that in public. Interestingly Google-maps cites the entrance as "Brittas Nudist Beach Parking" which is strange because there is no car park, and also the beach was deserted apart from a group far to the south: hard to tell but think they were clothed. So I enjoyed my swim and was thankful to be alone. After I got out I had bad cramp - this often happens on a rigorous bike ride and I suffered it on and off all the way back home. After due stretching exercises to mitigate the cramp I ran around the sand dunes for a bit as one does (see map) and then set on my way to my second destination.
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| The beach south of Brittas bay |
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| Sand-dunes behind the beach |
The car park at the southern end of Wicklow town has a footpath down to the beach and our family often goes there. You can then follow a cliff walk to where it ends in Lime Kiln bay. But the first stretch has suffered many landslides and the local council had erected more signs and fences since my last visit. And yet the path around these obstacles was well worn - I met a man who told me he was part of a local action group trying to get something done about it - more than just erect more signs. He said plenty gets spent on golf but few are interested in preserving this hidden "jewel".
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| More of the cliff walk has collapsed |
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| On the way to Lime Kiln bay |
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| Looking out from my secret changing room |
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| Lime Kiln bay |
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| Lime Kiln bay - the black blob is probably a seal |
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| The gorge access to the bay |
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| The path is very overgrown |
The golf course extends both sides of the footpath down to the beach and there are two bridges over it to allow golfers to get across without contaminating themselves with the riffraff. Playing golf seems to me as alien an occupation as doubtless they would think my running barefoot or cycling for miles or jumping in the sea was. It is as if there are two universes that meet at those bridges. As I walked under, a boy, perhaps 13, was walking across the bridge, followed I suppose by his older brothers who looked much more stereotyped. He was smiling as boys should and appeared to be quite normal, but he couldn't have been because he was in that Other Place. Had he glanced down at me doubtless I would have appeared to him to be an alien.
At this point my GPS watch battery died. So my stats are from my faithful little bike computer which is many years old and still on its first CR2032 coin cell. My route home was through Wicklow town, Rathnew, Ashford, Devil's Glen (my legs were so worn out that I had to dismount on this hill), Annamoe, Laragh, Wicklow Gap. With frequent stops to stretch the cramp out of my legs.
