May 5 - Cycling in Inishmore

Woke up at 2 am and had to force myself back into sleep. 7 hr. time difference is really rough... Then I got up at 6:30...and decided I might as well start getting ready for the day. The hostel room was narrow and somehow they fit 4 sets of bunkbeds in here. The bathroom was tiny too, and the shower took a bit to figure out how to operate.

Groggily, we all trouped downstairs for breakfast and to pack our lunch and dinner for the day. That being done, we walked a ways to the stop for the double decker bus that would take us to the ferry we would ride to the island of Inishmore, where we would spend the majority of our day.

On "hired" bikes, we cycled our way to the other side of the island and hiked up to a 4000 year old fort up on a cliff. Many of us enjoyed lying on the ground, scooting on our bellies to the edge, and looking down over the cliffs to the ocean crashing on the rocks below.

It began to rain shortly after we had all finished eating our lunches. Then a select few of us performed a reader's theater, in Irish accents, of a play called "Riders to the Sea." I was the old woman, Maurya, in the story.

After hiking back down to where our bikes were parked, we rode back to the other side of the island so we could get back on the ferry. I think the sky broke on our way back, because we were all soaked to the bone. Even with ponchos on. And mine split completely up one side, so half of my stuff got wet too.

So even though I brought two pairs of sneakers, due to the rain at the Cliffs of Moher and now this, I had two very very wet pairs of shoes. I almost bought a cute hat before we left, but I figured 25 Euros just wasn't worth it, even if it was handmade.

We all piled onto the ferry sore, wet, and some of us quite sick for one reason or another. I blame the mayo myself. And I'm pretty sure there's a bruise on my bum in the shape of that horrid little bike seat.

When we got back to the hostel, we got our things and headed in the coach towards Dublin. We waited outside for a while before we could check in. Some random guy dumped trash on the opposite sidewalk from us, and approached us saying "Want some weed? Want some weed?" before disappearing around the corner. We got into our rooms around 11pm, and I was so tired and sick that I went to bed immediately. Others went to pubs or milled about before turning in.