This morning we were greeted by a beautiful blue sky and bright
sun. It had all the makings of a great
day on the bike. The bikes had been
cleaned and chains oiled so we were as set.
The new route Jos and I had plotted the day before took
us out through some very poor and rough sections of Belfast so I was glad we
were rolling through them at an early hour.
There was a number of turns and twists but we found the bike path easy enough. For the first while there were a lot of
walkers and other bikes however they thinned out quickly and in no time we were
out in the country. The Combs Greenway
worked great for getting us out of town.
Jos had arranged for Agnes to meet his wife Lynne and her
mother Gladys for coffee in Grey Abbey and we were to join them. It took almost an hour longer than Jos had
origninally estimated however we did get there and it was very nice to see
them.
After a quick visit we rolled down the street to see the
Gray Abby which was built in the 1100’s.
The abbey operated for several hundred years before it was finally
abandon. All that remains is the huge
stone walls. However they are still
impressive. Buildings operating for
several hundred years and today we abandon buildings after a few decades.
We rolled down the road crossing from Strangford Lough
across to the Irish sea. It wasn’t quite
clear enough to see the Ilse of Mann but it was pretty close. We were just sailing along past quaint
fishing villages and little towns. It
didn’t take any time to get down to Portaferry where you take the ferry across
the Lough to Strangford. As we
approached the ferry we could see it was preparing to depart so we hustled down
and made the ferry. It is only about a
20 minute crossing but if you miss it you have to wait an hour.
Making the ferry had its downside as there wasn’t much
for lunch on the Strangford side and we had to make do with some really bad
premade sandwiches out of a Spar store. However
we were all hungry as it was already 1:00 PM.
We continued on down towards Downpatrick with only a few
kilometers to go when the rear shifter on Kens bike let go and the bike went
into the smallest gear on the rear cassette. His bike has an old style Sram indexed bar end
shifter and the whole assembly was loose. So we tightened it up and headed into
Downpatrick where we found a bike shop and had it worked on. They tightened the assembly and adjusted the
tension in the shift cable. It seems to be working.
We were off course but knew how to find the B&B where
we are staying tonight. The Inch School
B&B is a 100 year old school house which has been converted to a B&B.
It is beautiful old stone building. Of
course 100 years seems to be nothing as we had supper in a café and bar called
Denvir’s which is in a building constructed in the 1300’s and has been in
operation since 1642. Then we drove up
to see St Patrick’s Cathedral where he is buried. and there is a stone cross
dating to 900 AD.
Today was another great day on the bikes. We covered 92 kms and climbed 671 meters, rode down a tree lined bike path,
got to met Lynne’s mother Gladys, took a ferry ride, and saw a lot of beautiful
green hills. It just doesn’t get any better.
Terry
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