The Boatiest Cycle I Ever Did

You’ve read about the hardest cycle I’ve ever did (assuming you’re read my other blogposts, it was presumptous of me to assume that but I did it anyway.) Then, in what may have been the most anticlimatic way of putting out blogposts ever, you read about the second hardest cycle I ever did, then the most moderately difficult cycle I ever did, then the easiest cycle I ever did. And now, an answer to the question that is been plaguing your mind for the last few years, if not decades, what was the boatiest cycle I ever did?

First, a definition of the word “boaty”. The Oxford dictionary defines it as, “A word some guy made up because he thought it was funny to use in his blog”. Okay, let’s get started then.

In 2017 I did a good few long distance one day cycles, but for years I’d started to feel a certain frustration with one day cycles, because, fifty percent of your energy has to be spent on getting back, instead of using that energy to see something new and interesting. I can do (give or take) forty miles cycling in a single day, which really means I’m only getting to see something of interest that is twenty miles away. Not a lot of ground covered! If only someone invented a service where for a fee you were allowed to stay in a bedroom in a property not owned by you. So wasn’t I lucky that such a service was invented thousands of years ago!

So for several days I’d been looking for various stuff on google maps, just kind of aimless browsing of the streets of Ireland, when something suddenly clicked with me. I would be staying in Ramsey Hill for my holidays in a few weeks. And I realised that Ramsey Hill was only 37 miles from Baltimore (the original, not the one America copied!) From Baltimore I could get the boat to either Sherkin Island or Cape Clear. (That’s why it’s the boatiest cycle, okay, you get it, grand.) So I realised by getting a place to stay somewhere nearer my destination, I could go on an island adventure. The multi day cycle was born!

It was a tough decision choosing between Cape Clear and Sherkin Island. They’re both great destinations. While Cape Clear is not a cyclist’s friend, all of the hills that make your legs fall off means the view from the higher points is amazing. And on Cape Clear I would have the opportunity to stay in a yurt. I’d love to do a cycling adventure to Sherkin some day, but Cape Clear was what I decided on.

Due to my travel anxiety there was a lot of panic in the weeks leading up to the trip. My brain was throwing an avalanche of “what if’s” at me. What if the bike broke down, what if the weather was bad, what if the boat was cancelled. So I listened to a lot calming sounds to try and help my worried mind. And, I did a lot of cycling. In a weird paradox, I have travel anxiety, but long distance cycling helps with it, because physical excercise acts as an anxiety suppresent. So then the day came when it was time to cycle to Baltimore, and I began the journey.

The cycle to Clonakilty was fairly uneventful, I stopped in a supermarket for some provisions. The toughest part of the cycle would be from Clonakilty to Rosscarbery as I was about to find out.

The rain started, unforgiving, merciless, rain, the kind that makes you freezing even when it’s a reletively warm day. And I had cars passing me within inches at high speed. West Cork is usually better than the city for careful driving, but not so much as you get nearer the big towns. I arrived in Rosscarbery and the rain stopped. However, my clothes were so soaked that it might as well have rained for the remainder of the journey. If you’re out in heavy rain and you don’t have the opportunity to change your clothes, it really doesn’t matter weather the rain stops or not I find, which is why I can sometimes have an enthusiasm for cycling in the heavy rain when my destination is my own house, because then I get home, change my clothes, and vegetate for the rest of the evening, AHHHHHHH!

The other issue that came up was that I ran out of water while I was passing through Leap, and to this day I have no idea why I didn’t just stop for water there, but I didn’t, so my mouth was dry as the Sahara as I hoped it wouldn’t take too long to get to Skibereen. Once there I got water and food and had a bit of a rest.

The next part of the cycle would be the most annoying, not necessarily the worst part, just the most annoying. I’d go up a hill, and then, is that Baltimore up a few metres? No, that’s another hill. This must surely be Baltimore, oh no, it’s another hill. What about now, I’ve cycled so long my legs are falling off and, oh, no, that’s another hill. After this hill surely I deserve, oh, after this hill that is destroying my legs and sanity there is another hill, okay.

When I arrived in Baltimore the check in time to my hotel wasn’t four a big stretch of time (my first night was on Baltimore my second on Cape Clear.) And Baltimore’s a nice place, perfect place for just wandering around and seeing the sights, but it meant I had to do so in my drenched clothes. So the first place I visited was Baltimore castle which is also a museum. I asked could I take pictures and was told it’s okay if they’re only for personal use, so out of respect I won’t be putting them in this blogpost. But I’d recommend going to Baltimore castle yourself and have a look at the museum, and the view from the top floor is excellent!

Then I walked up a nice tranquil road to the Baltimore beacon. When you’re cycling you get one of two types of tiredness “cycling specific tiredness” and “everything tiredness”. “Cycling specific tiredness” is where you’d walk five miles or more happily but the thought of going anywhere near a bike pisses you off. “Everything tiredness” is after a cycle when you only have the energy to watch you tube videos and you’re so tired you have no idea what the videos were even about. Fortunately I had the first type of tiredness so to the Baltimore Beacon I went!

Quiet Tranquil Road Leading Up To The Baltimore Beacon

Unquestionable beauty. Stop questioning the beauty!

Such A Nice Day!

And There It Is! Difficult to Photograph All Of It Up Close It’s So Tall!

The Baltimore Beacon is 15.2 metres tall. Someone asked me to photograph them next to the Beacon, and it’s a challenge to make sure the person is in the shot and as much of the Beacon as possible is in the shot. A Beacon was built here following the 1798 rebellion. But this first beacon, due to poor construction and vandalism was destroyed, so it was decided to build a bigger and stronger beacon.

Such A Beautiful Part of The Country

And here’s what it looks like from somewhat far away

Bird!

This place is nice!

Later check in time came for the hotel, and I was finally able to have a shower and change my clothes. You see I wasn’t just soaked from the rain, the whole time I had been covered in a horrific substance that I like to call swain, that’s what happens when you’ve been cycling in the rain and your sweat and the rain combine into the most horrific substance that makes your skin feel like a bastion of evil. But now my suffering was over.

Forgot about this until now, probably my nicest picture of a rainbow

I went to a local restaurant and had some of the nicest four cheese pizza I’ve ever had. Then after some walking I went back to my hotel to relax. I read the comic I had with me, iZombie, but to be honest I couldn’t really get into the comic and preferred the tv show. It ran for five seasons. Some shows go on way past their sell by date, such as the Walking Dead, and some shows like 1899, are cancelled before they can even tell their story, but I think iZombie got just the length it needed, it neede five seasons to tell it story but I don’t think they could have done anything with a sixth season, so I’m glad it ended when it did.

Next day I had my breakfast and got on the boat with the bike. I was worried about the weather given the day before, but I was ridiculously lucky with the weather that day. Here are some pictures of the boat journey.

Blue Skies, Blue Ocean, the Best!

Distant Hills

Mountains!

You Have Reached Your Destination

I enjoyed the boat trip and the views over the ocean and surrounding landscape, and for the most part I found the rocking of the boat to be pleasant, but when it rocked a lot it brought back some memories of my experiences on planes and my fear of flying. But all in all, a nice trip. I love the ocean.

I reached Cape Clear and headed for my yurt. Normally I don’t shy away from cycling up a tough hill, but, well, imagine an island, made out of Patrick’s Hill, someone saw Patrick’s Hill and said, “Nice hill, but it should be an island.” When you see the tough hills on Cape Clear it doesn’t take you long to see the benefit of getting off and walking! And this is the yurt, by far the most interesting thing I ever stayed in.

I’ve no problem with the concept of glamping, I just wish they’d come up with a different term for it, a term that wasn’t invented by somebody who hates words.

So staying in the yurt was amazing, but more on that later, because I had to explore the island!

This would be the only time I would ever cycle off the mainland, so I did a short cycling trip on one of the few parts of Cape Clear that was flatish, and I visited this beautiful lake.

I swear the fact that I was so lucky with the weather had nothing to do witchcraft or a pact with the devil

There is a message near the lake telling a sad story, many years ago a child drowned in this lake. Felt sad to be somewhere so beautiful and know something tragic is associated with it.

Such Amazing Views

You may find yourself cursing the Patrick’s Hilliness of the terrain on Cape Clear, and wonder why you didn’t visit somewhere else, such as a 2d universe that only has the dimensions of length and width but not height, but when you see the amazing views, then the hills feel well worth it.

Amazing Mountain Views

I don’t know what the purple flowers are called but I really like them.

BLUE!!!!!

How Did I Ever Leave?

After this walk into the hills was done, I got back on the bike and cycled back to the yurt. I realized it was wiser to the leave the bike back at base, because without it I could wander around freely instead of making sure my trip takes me back to where my bike was parked. And then I started a walk up probably the steepest road on Cape Clear.

What A Noticeably Viewtastic View

Peace!

Wish I had a camera with a better zoom function back then, took my so long to realize that a camera without a proper zoom function is no camera at all!

At the top of the hill is a nice museum, it’s great so see the history of this island documented.

From a time long before the mobile phone became ubiquitous.

A Model of the Luisitania, a ship torpedoed by a U-boat during WWI, killed almost 2000 people. Just in the shot is a recruitment poster for WWI, “Irishmen Avenge the Lusitania”.

Unfortunately I can’t remember the significance of this ship’s steering wheel

Or this one, why didn’t I take notes while I was there?

After the museum, I went looking for the lighthouse on Cape Clear, and couldn’t find it. And when I was on Bear Island a few months before that, I couldn’t find the lighthouse there either. Such bad luck. Or was it? Maybe island communities are making sure I can’t find their lighthouses as part of a massive conspiracy. Has it anything to do with the Kennedy assassination? How deep does this go?

Annnyway, what I really loved about walking on Cape Clear is that you can walk wherever without really having to worry about getting lost. Just head off, in a random direction, the island is only 3 miles long, you’ll find your way back. While at the same time, it’s amazing to think it’s an island only 3 miles long and you won’t see everything in a day!

I went down to the restaurant for a pizza, and then, time for yet another walk into the hills of Cape Clear. Cape Clear has so much packed into a small space. It reminds me of my bedroom which contains most of my musical instruments. Or is that my recording studio that contains my bed?

On this beautiful walk I took you can see the yurt I was staying at in the distance.

The sun’s glow on the water.

The walk I was taking was probably on the most peaceful part of the island. And that’s saying a lot, because the whole island was peaceful. And I might sound like I’m being hyperbolic, but I’m honestly not, after staying just one day and night on Cape Clear, the sounds of Baltimore, which is a village of only 300 people, seemed so, so loud.

Walked by so many others before me, and hopefully for a long time to come.

Purple, purple, purple!

Purple, blue and green.

And I soon came to one of the highlights of the trip, seeing this sea arch. Certain geographical features just fascinate me.

The mighty sea arch!

Shortly after I saw the sea arch I ran out of water, so I headed back towards the yurt despite wishing to complete the loop walk I was on. But if life has taught me one lesson repeatedly it’s don’t risk getting dehydrated. I was walking at an easy pace on a small island, it’s unlikely the dehydration would have caused me serious problems, but when you feel that dry sensation in your throat, well, the outdoors just isn’t fun anymore!

I walked out later to get a picture of the sunset before it disappeared behind a hill.

I presume it gets dark sooner on Cape Clear because of all the hills.

And as the evening turned into night, what I experienced was so peaceful, I literally don’t ever remember my mind being so calm, so relaxed, so free of worry and stress. Let me explain.

After sunset, I brought one of the beanbags out of the yurt, and just sat down, pretty much motionless for hours, I had no need of anything but seeing the moonlight on the ocean. I must have just sat for six hours, I had no need to move, to do anything, it was a perfect state of peace that I have never been able to repeat. For someone like me, with an overactive brain, a brain where I have four hundred tabs open at the same time, all the time, I would love to figure out how to get back to the state of pure tranquility I was in that night, but I don’t know how.

This picture doesn’t do it justice

But only 399 of the tabs in my brain were closed. There was one still open. As beautiful as the moon was that night, there still a small disappointment. I has been hoping, with the skies of Cape Clear being almost free of light pollution, to gaze upon the universe in all its glory. To just stare at the skies above all the night. But, there was a nice astronomical surprise in store for me, and I could have easily missed it.

I glanced up at the sky and saw a satellite. Normally I don’t bother looking up at satellites, unless it’s the I.S.S, but I thought, this is the only astronomical object I’m going to see tonight, and so I kept looking and I’m glad I did, because all of a sudden, the satellite flashed!

What I was seeing was an Iridium flare, a phenomenon when a satellite passing overhead suddenly catches the light of the sun, and all of a sudden, there is bright flash of light. If I hadn’t looked up at that exact time, I wouldn’t have seen it, and I haven’t seen one before or since.

About 1:00 am I went to bed, and through the thin walls of the yurt, I could hear the sound of the ocean and the seagulls. It was so tranquil I went to sleep pretty much straight away, but in a weird way it was a shame to sleep and miss out on these wonderful sounds.

The next day I got up, got on the boat and went back to Baltimore, and had a big breakfast to prepare me for the cycle ahead. It was fairly uneventful, I stopped for a while in Clonakilty to have my dinner, and then headed back to Ramsey Hill.

I enjoyed this whole experience so much I would do many more cycles like this over the next few years, and while Covid and other factors put a stop to them, I hope to get back into these kind of adventures this year. While this wasn’t a motorless journey in the truest sense of the word, there is something wonderful about covering a huge distance using only the power of your own muscles, which is why I did it many more times over the next few years. And I don’t know while I ever experience the feeling of peace I felt that night ever again on Cape Clear, so I think for the remainder of my life it will remain one of my most precious memories.