The deeper I go, the darker it gets...
Friday 6th, another sillily late and dark cycle. (I think it was 'on the bounce' from a trip down to The Island for some other nefarious purpose, but memory flags.) Went up Shanakiel, along Blarney Road, and onto Kerry Pike. Had thought to go down to the Lee Road at the turn appearing on my OSi map as Mackey's Cross, and on google as Ballysheehy, but evidently I missed it. Stopped to ask a couple of locals, who might not actually have been that local as they seemed to be fairly clueless about matters geographical. Went on the next crossroads, and chatted to a chap taking the air outside the pub there, The Rest Bar. He was rather more informative (and informed), but was still somewhat confused after I went down that road, ending up crossing Healy's Bridge over the Shournagh. Recognised this, but couldn't quite get my head around where I thought I ought to have been on the map, and what I was seeing. At this point, someone from a car asked me if I needed help, and I asked if the Tower crossroads was "thataway", to which they said it was. Only as they left saying they'd see me tomorrow did I have any notion that it must have been one of the An Óige cyclists. Went on, and only gradually did I realize I where I actually was, and that I'd need to turn down to Innishcara, and back from there. Did so, though increasingly worrying for my own right mind. Nice Christmas lights outside the Inniscarra Bar.
And the next day... Shockingly early start, with the people going away for the weekend down in Courtmacsherry leaving from the Opera House at 9am. Groggily joined up with them at the start of Waterfall Road. By jove, there were a lot of them! And really taking the "Christmas cycle" theme to kitchy extremes: tinsel on bike bars, Santa hats variously under, on top of, and instead of helmets, and so on. Route was an uncharacteristically straightforward up-and-over to Killeady, then on through Crossbarry and on to Innishannon. Stop on the plummet down for mulled wine, though; didn't partake myself, partly as I didn't want to bogart potentially needed reviving sustentance to those booked up for the whole trip. Likewise didn't bother with the regulation tea-and-scone stop in Innishannon. Just three of us going back, it transpired. Some interesting navigation had us end up on one of the (many, many) roads to Kinsale. Making a virtue out of error, we laterelled towards Ballymartle, up a hill then along the course of the Curra, then left towards Ballinhassig (via more hills, of course). Quite the slog over the bigger hills from there, as I'd rather suspected. Even taking an indirect way up the first part via a zig-zagging access loop, which looks maybe twice as long or so (and hence half as steep), it was still pretty dang steep. I'm reminded why Liberty Hill isn't the same hill as Spur Hill, as I'm occasionally tempted to think of them when going the other way, with a "small dip" back down; going up it was quite a heave. The three of us said goodbye and split up on the way down; hit 54.6kph on the way down. Not sure about other numbers: while the bikeputer seemed to be working for once, I'd forgotten to reset the trip distance at the start, so I just let it run until Innishannon (at which point it read 51.3k (at an even less meaningful average of 17), which I think is roughly 30ish from the evening before, and maybe getting on for 20 to I., guestimating). I think it was 24k back, at some truly gracial average.