Ireland 5/19/2013

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We visited the Irish National Heritage Park on the way out of town. Different tribes, civilizations and peoples have inhabited Ireland for 9000 years.  And you thought I was old!

 

 

In 600 AD the law required that a mug of beer should always be available to the visitor.  A king was expected to provide beer for his entire household every Sunday and the law went so far as to say that if he could not do so, he was no king.  Apparently the law has gone downhill ever sense.

  

 

 

 

 

 

Wexford to Bunclody.  Today we leave the sea and head inland, a two day ride to the Wicklow Mountains.  Here's the route, the shortest town-to-town ride on the tour. We detoured at Enniscorthy for lunch and immediately thought we’d made a bad decision because the road went down, down, down.  But we found another way our of town, detouring on a very pretty road (see photos above).

WHO’S RIDING?  Jim and Rhonda own a premier  bike shop, The Richardson Bike Mart, with stores in Richardson, Dallas and Frisco, Texas. Except for when he was serving  in Viet Nam, Jim has been been in the bike business his entire life.  He started hanging around bike shops in Nappanee, IN at age 10 and became a bike store owner over 30 years ago. Rhonda is also an avid cyclist and may have set a record; she has participated in every Hotter “N Hell bike events since it started in 1982. This summer the Hoyts are going to ride across the US from Portland, Oregon to Portland, Maine.