April 2017 was a great month for my cycling. I was working in a place where I only worked Monday to Wednesday, so what I would often do was, get up early on the Thursday, go on an adventure, and have a three day weekend to recover from my excursion. Luckily the weather was good for most of that month, so it was a good time to go on a cycle to Bridgetown Priory.
I got up at seven o’ clock, and cycled out to the Nagle mountains. But I would be committing an act of sacrilege and not going up there but passing the mountain range by. I had been there many times before, and my priority this week was to get to the Priory. If I had energy on the way back I would take a walk into the Nagles.
And when you pass the Nagles, this part of the cycle is so much fun! It’s all down hill! WEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!! Who’d have thought gravity combined with wheels could be so much fun? Actually, everybody thought that, what am I saying?
I decided to stop for a rest in Castleblagh Woods. This must have been a been in the saddle too long rest as opposed to a tiredness rest, there was no way I was overexerting myself going down that hill!
Description of the wildlife. Pity this sign had so much dirt on it!
Lovely Path On A Nice April Day
Good and Pleasant
Through the trees to the sky
After getting a good rest in the peacefulness of the woods, I cycled on to Bridgetown Priory. It’s a 13th century monastery, and thankfully, quite a lot of it has survived throughout the centuries, so you can go for a proper walk through it, a walk through a place that was already quite old when my great grandparents were born. Such an amazing span of time.
The priory is over 800 years old
I apologize that my bike photobombed this one!
Very Well Preserved
The surroundings are is so green and beautiful
The History
The Kilcummer Viaduct in the distance
The Graveyard
Green and Blue and History
Some birds stopped by
Love these old style windows
So much green this is paradise!
Still it stands!
A beautiful river is behind the priory
Enough blue and green to melt any heart!
Wonderful!
I must say Bridgetown priory is in one of the most beautiful locations I have ever been to. It is so peaceful, so tranquil, there are very few houses in the area and you can just get lost in it. The green of the fields and the trees is just so soothing. This would be so wonderful and joyous by itself, but when you walk out to the back of the priory, what do you see but a beautiful river! It is simply a calming and joyous place.
The Nagle Mountains in the distance
From the priory you can see the Nagle Mountains. This was my first time seeing this wonderful mountain range from the south. In fact, during the course of this cycle, I could see the Nagles from a lot of different angles that I had never seen it at before. I mean literal angles not metaphorical angles, although it could be argued I also kind of mean metaphorical angles, but mainly I mean literal angles.
The Kilcummer Viaduct
I knew I had to pay a visit to the very well preserved Kilcummer Viaduct during my visit to the priory, but I was worried it would be blocked off. Fortunately this was not the case and I was able to get into the field and take a few photographs.
Sunny Viaduct
From the Viaduct so much green in the distance
A lovely river by the Viaduct? I’d forgotten about this until I’d looked through my photographs honestly. This is the location that just keeps on giving!
Such awesome architecture!
How many decades or centuries will it remain standing?
Does this trip win some sort of prize for wonderful greenness?
Like a solemn sentry guarding the landscape
I stopped off in Ballyhooley to get some food, and probably some water. Now, remember, the hill that was so much fun on the way down? Yeah. Not just yeah, but giant yeah. A yeah that can be seen from space, a yeah that can be seen from outside the solar system. A great big yeah.
That hill that brought me so much joy on the way down, brought me so much despair and leg murdering on the way back up. I wonder is that how Newton really discovered gravity? We all know the thing about the apple isn’t true, but maybe what really happened is he was cycling back from the priory and he said, “Well fuck this, there must be some evil force in the universe that makes cycling terrible.” You can’t prove that didn’t happen!
But, it wasn’t just the hill to blame. I lost so much energy that I stopped on the side of the road, wondering what the hell was going on? So I decided to eat something. I took out a banana, and there I had my answer, because the banana was gone in a fraction a second. I had been so focused on the cycling, that I couldn’t hear my body screaming that it was hungry! Sometimes listening to your body can be hard on the bike. The act of cycling can often dull the sensation of hunger, or sometimes though no always, thirst, until you suddenly just have a massive energy loss. If I’m doing a long cycle, I’ll often have a policy of, eat even if you don’t feel hungry, drink water even if you don’t feel thirsty, and even sometimes, rest even if you don’t feel tired. Because your body’s signals that it needs something will either increase or decrease, and if they increase, great, you’ll know what you need even more so than normal, but sometimes, the bodily signals that you need food, water, or rest, will just go silent, and then you’ve got to say, “It’s a while since I had food/water/rest, it doesn’t matter if I don’t feel it, I know I must need it by now.”
So, the food got me to the point where I could peddle again, but the question is, would I commit sacrilege twice in a row by passing the Nagles again? In any case, passing them by would be a double edged sword, sometimes if you’re tired on the bike a walk is what you need, because often times what is making you tired is being in the same position for so long, and cycling uses different muscles, so by going for a walk you’re still getting a good rest. So I decided to stop and go up the Nagle mountains, specifically Knocknaskagh mountain which is the mountain I usually go up, and even though I was quite tired I made it up somehow.
I reached the top of Knocknaskagh mountain, YAAAAAY!!!!
Dark times on the mountain. Figuratively, it was actually a really nice day, just a bit cloudy around this time.
Epic!
Distant Mountains
After I got back on the bike, I stopped by the Mass Rock. But this time I decided to explore another place on the other side of the road from it. The Famine Walk. Because of my tiredness I wouldn’t do as much of the Famine Walk as I did several years later, but here are some pictures of my brief walk there.
The Famine Walk
Trees!!!!!!
A nice stream. I actually tried to come up with a joke but it’s crap, it’s about how if Netflix sold water it would be called a streaming service. An awful awful joke, don’t laugh at it or nobody will respect you.
After the famine walk, I crossed the road to the Mass Rock. This is one of the most serene and tranquil Mass Rocks I have ever been to, just the green of trees and a lovely stream, so soothing!
So peaceful
A Garden
The stream going about its merry way
I love these rock formations
After taking a much needed rest at the Mass Rock, I cycled home, and thought about the wonderful places I had visited that day. I feel blessed that so many amazing places like this are only a bike ride away from where I live.
Ponderings Of An Autist 