Our accomodation in Waterford was …a bit of a a dive really. Breakfast would be at 8.30 so we decided to pass as we needed to be on the road earlier for a longer day ahead exacerbated by forecast high winds.

Finding food at the local convenience store we headed off towards the Waterford Greenway.

Waterford Greenway is a 46 km shared off road trail, running from Waterford City to Dungarvan along an old railway line. The cycle and walking paths follow the gently flowing River Suir beside the rugged Comeragh Mountains.

I really like this photo. The weather looks great (you can’t see wind 🤣), and something about those feet.

At this site they found significant Viking settlement remnants as they excavated for a major road. As a result, the road was diverted.

Quite a few of these road overpasses. This one is just before the end of the rail line.

As we went around a bend there was a commotion with this guy. He rode that cycle with the Dizzy Deliveries trailer over the rail line, jumped off, and carried on a treat in ultra dramatic style. We were halted in our ride. There was a film crew there filming his antics.

Dizzy Deliveries is an Irish tv show. Lamh is a manual sign system of communication used by children and adults with intellectual disabilities and communication needs in Ireland.

Moving on from that excitement we stopped to discover what the Lithuanian Way was. In essence, a cross country promotion.

It did feature colourful nesting boxes.

The signage on the Greenway was excellent. Some examples.

An interesting art work built from old railway metal, installed at an old railway station, now featuring a small portable coffee shop and badly maintained portaloos.

Just ahead was a lengthy tunnel.

The other end of the tunnel came out into a pretty, ferny cutting.

Overlooking Dungarvan on this windswept day.

At this point we detoured, heading up a solid hill to find Catherine. She is a family member of Tony’s cousin Melissa, having more recently returned from where she was living in France, now running a B&B (with a wonderful view), supported by son Ben who makes a mean chocolate brownie.

Catherine was a fun delight to meet and although our visit was short, we shared quite a few laughs. 😊

Thankyou to Tony’s Aunty Kay for the introduction, and cousin Melissa for helping to make the connection with comms. Aunty Kay has provided me with lots of personal support and encouragement, both with this blog and my open heart journey, sending me positive messages and encouragement regularly. I am truly thankful ❣️💐xx.

Leaving Catherine’s it was downhill back to the Greenway that finishes a few km ahead in Dungarvan. A pretty town. Water is lower tide at this point.

At the end of the track, Tony was interested in all the information on the tyre pump.

Next goal was Youghal. It was a fairly busy road once we left Dungarvan, but for the most had a good verge. We had the longest climb of the day at 3.9 km, and the first half were fortunately protected from the wind, but second half was blown away.

In an area with little verge I was passed very closely by a truck with portaloos on it. Must have heard my earlier negative comment 🙈😳. Near the top of the climb was a lay by, and here was the snoozer of a driver having a sleep.

He had 20 portaloos on his 2 trailers, and his vehicle was named “bear”. My luck in life to be taken out by a full portaloo…hopefully not. I felt like tapping on his window! So if you’re riding in Ireland, keep an eye out for this 💩 of a driver.

Youghal, is a former military and economic centre, located on the edge of a steep riverbank. Viking settlements date back to the 11th century.

Sir Walter Raleigh’s home “Myrtle Grove” is in the town. Tradition has it that it was here that he smoked the first cigarette and planted the first potatoes – true story?

We stopped in town for refreshments, at the supermarket. We sat in an area protected from the wind, enjoying the warm sun. But, we needed to keep moving and get back into the headwind, not before finding some toilets at the local Information Centre.

The local lighthouse, was built on this site after great local consternation and arguments. A lighthouse had existed on this site for 800 years but locals wanted it elsewhere on Capel Island. Construction was commenced, then locals changed their mind and wanted it where it us today.

Leaving town, the old boat high and dry full of colourful flowers.

Castle martyr had a pretty little Kiltha River, adjacent was a great named pub.

The wind was hard work. Wind you cannot control. It slows you down heaps (unless a tailwind 😊), and we knew it was strong. In Dungarvan it was reported as 32-50 kmh. It had freshened even more.

We stopped regularly just to stretch and were not unhappy to leave the busier road and head down towards Great Island and our overnight destination Cobh.

Great Island, roads were narrow and busy as we were approaching late afternoon on a Friday. These are some of the sites around Great Island.

Cobh was a major transatlantic Irish port, and the departure point for 2.5 million Irish who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950. It is located on Great Island, one of the three large islands in Cork Harbour.

Our accomodation is in a skinny 6 storey house that was instructed for the US Defence when they lived in town. An elderly man eventually opened the door and spent 30 minutes explaining everything in great detail including the macerating toilet.

We have a great sea view room on the top floor, and I must count the steps. He took me up via lift the first time, but that lift goes to his bedroom, a floor below. I am sure it is a one person lift as we were far too close for strangers 🤣. Then he coughed 😳😳😳

He does have a wife ,but not yet seen her, but she will leave us croissants at 8.15 am, we are told. Later than we want but I dared not say anything out of the script. We will just start later to keep harmony.

We headed off to a local pub for dinner and had huge servings. After dinner we needed to walk. Our puffer jackets were worn for the first time this trip.

Cobh was the final port of call for the Titanic before it headed off on the last leg of her maiden voyage. There is an pay upon entry exhibition on the waterfront that was closed plus memorial gardens.

The town has some really pretty sites. There are steep hills and we walked up this one with the colourful houses to reach the cathedral at the top.

There is a memorial to the victims of the Lusitania, many of whom are buried in Cobh’s Old Church Cemetry. The ship was sunk off the coast in 1915 by a German submarine, an action which was responsible for bringing the USA into WWI.

This I did not know. Sonia O’Sullivan was born here. A great female athlete regarded as Ireland’s greatest. She went to four Olympics, won three world titles and still holds world records.

Thousands of teenagers filled the streets. I reckon the ratio if teenagers to adults was about 80/20. It was the place to be. On the waterfront were sideshow carnivals and loud music.

Back in our room we wanted to keep our window open as the headwind blew in to dry our clothes hanging off the curtain rails. On the other hand the music was very loud.

9 pm, it all switched off and the town drained itself of teenagers. Like the pied piper led them away.

The end of another day and our longest for this trip at 123 km. We have now ridden in excess of 1,000 km. The forecast tomorrow is for more wind of over 32 kmh. The rain radar looks favourable.

Thanks for reading 😊❣️