I left Rush this morning after saying goodbye to Ian and the other cyclist. I donated the book I had finished to Ian-one less thing to carry. The weather was still perfect for cycling, and I headed north. Ian had recommended a campground past Dundalk, and I had selected that for today’s destination. That meant a long day of almost 100 km, but at least I had confirmation the destination existed. There weren’t a lot of other choices along the way anyway.
I came across signs for the site of the Battle of the Boyne. After some deliberation (as it added distance to my already long day) I rerouted. The Battle of the Boyne is the largest single battle in the history of England and Ireland, 60,000 men fought under William and James II (casing James II to flee to France). Now it’s reduced to a field and small tourist center.
Now off course, I rerouted onto the more direct smaller roads. They had a lot more hills than the larger roads I’d been on the past couple of days. After walking up one, I realized I wasn’t in shape (yet) for that type of cycling. Under those reduced speeds (including walking up a hill) I likely wouldn’t get to my destination until after 10 pm! I rerouted to larger roads and immediately my pace increased.
That said, I was beat, stopping frequently to rest. Once I was within 20 km of the campground I knew that I would make it, but it`s a bad sign when I’m counting down the remaining distance kilometer by kilometer, I arrived at the campground exhausted. The campground was almost full, the opposite problem from when I was in Ireland last. Then in September, the campgrounds were starting to close for the season. Now in August, I’m at the peak of the European tourist season.
My plan was to spend a couple of days here to recover, but when I went to pay for the site, I discovered the 50 euro bill I thought I had was only 20 euro. I brought the euros I had left over from the last trip, and have been avoiding withdrawing more, given that I soon cross over into N. Ireland and a different currency. Like the last campground, this one also doesn’t accept credit cards. I had enough money to pay for the night, but not much more than that. I had planned to do some light cycling around the area tomorrow, but now I’ve got to work out the details of that plan to involve cash.
The campground doesn’t stand out to me as anything above average, so little reason to struggle to stay here. And my phone for some reason can’t find their Wi-Fi.
