Day 134, Sunday 14 May
Just a short & sweet post today (unlike the recent mileage of the past 48 hours) as I have to confess to slight weariness.
A great start at the Lough Swilly Inshore Lifeboat Station, there in time for their Sunday morning exercise, launch & recovery practise for the ILB crew on the Atlantic 85. A very impressive display of skill, from a very cautious launch in windy, choppy conditions to some very confident handling of a beast of a machine.
Many thanks to Eamon and Alan (Helms); Danny, Francis & Patrick (ILB crew) and Willy (shore crew/ tractor driver). Most of these ILB crews have regular exercises once or twice every week. Not the kind of emergency skills and equipment you can allow to get rusty. Less chance of that in the summer, when Lough Swilly is a much busier place.
The rest of my day was just the formality of collecting another important Landmark. Malin Head, the most northerly point of Ireland is not in Northern Ireland as such. We’re still in County Donegal, in the Republic of Ireland. Wet, windy, very hilly North East Donegal. Still stunning scenery, some images of which I managed to capture in sunny spells.
Alas, at the crucial moment on approach to the Cardinal point, the heavens opened on me and my wet camera played dead. This very wet and windy moment, combined with the impending doom & gloom of having to turn south and head into the weather and back over some crazy climbs, was not my finest hour. I did manage to get some blurry images on my Garmin road-cam, but neither Fondo (sticky rear deraillieur in need of a good clean, lube & tweak) nor I (cold, wet, stiff legs in need of a hot bath, massage and sleep) was at our best.
We’ll just have to come back one fine day and find someone to smile at from the other side of the lens.
Thanks be to The Drift Inn, where Sunday roast and the black stuff were still available, in no short measure. Drift Inn, stagger out.
rnli coastal cycle ride 