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.....and these weren't even the scary parts, on those the trail is eroded away so you have to hold on with both hands.

These are what I could get, unfortunately my iPhone screen in its case won't respond whe soaked.

Thank you for sharing the pictures Birdie...all the best on your travails.

No, wasn't a spelling error.

Hey, life is hard and then you die.........

.......IF you're lucky.

First place I came across in Ennis had the 220/110V transformer I was needing AND a UK/French adapter plug. And yesterday Top Bike in the same town had took delivery of the new tires I needed just on my word over the phone (my originals both unaccountably went belly up).

Hey rain tonight but just now it ain't rained in a day and a half, life is good

Birdwatcher

Drought?

Crisis averted; rain today and tonight, more tomorrow, Irish mud is safe for another day.

Anyways from Day 4, same day as the rally and bicycle club, the Borderlands and South Lanarkshire, surprisingly empty of people...





Scottish law allows travelers like myself to camp on private property, I think trespassing is rude at best, consequently, like on my NY trip two years back, I only camped OUTSIDE fencelines.

The view from the tent, morning Day 5....



A breed of cattle I ain't seen before, mottled grey and white?



And the signs you have to put up if you insist on driving on the wrong side of the road. Actually driving on the wrong side of the road is easy, its driving on the wrong side of the VEHICLE that takes some getting used to.

Might be British Blues..

A day that started so pretty ended in Glasgow.

As an Irish person said here this evening "like Ulster with knives instead of guns", Catholic vs. Prod, tribal. Used to be the murder capital of Europe, but things have quieted of late.

I was lost there for three hours trying to follow the little "Bike Route" signs. Actually those signs only work if you're navigating by app, something I figured out three hours into it.

So... Glasgow pics.....

I dunno who first had the idea of concentrating the lower-income into hi-rises, here's some, the international "stay away from this area" warning signs, River Clyde in the foreground...



...and the bike route signs, that lead you through all sorts of neighborhoods.... and then just leave you there....



I thought the spiral orientation of the bricks inside this old arch was interesting...



6:30pm and raining, and for all I knew another three hours to get out of the west side of the city. To me on a bicycle Glasgow was like Houston is to a driver; a chaotic jumble of neighborhoods, upscale and downscale. Turns out Lock Lomond was just twenty miles away. Not realizing that, I cut my losses and checked into a hotel downtown....

Day 6: One escapes Glasgow heading west by picking up the Forth and Clyde Canal, a national treasure that crosses from the east coast all the way to the west.



The canal ends at the mouth of the Levern, which originates in Loch Lomond, you follow it upstream, startlingly quiet for a place immediately adjacent to a metroplex of two million people...



Fishing for salmon, and sea trout, with plain ol' worms...



Loch Lomond is pretty long, it was formed by glaciers, about like the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York. In fact the post-glacial terrain of much of Scotland and Ireland has me having Upstate New York flashbacks the whole time.

Top end of Loch Lomond on Day 7, right before I climbed the pass to the west to get to Argyll proper and the Kintyre Peninsula...



Memory escapes me but I believe this was the next loch over, no more than a couple of miles to the west of Loch Lomond, which name escapes me just now, like Loch Lomond it runs north and south.




That's it fer now....

Great pics. Mike. Bet you will be happy to get back to the dry.

And then some.... here I was in my rain gear at the top of the Gap of Dunloe, Killarney NP just yesterday, leaning forward to stay upright. This is July in Ireland. First time on a bicycle I can recall being blown uphill by the wind. Glad I weren't going about it in the other direction.



Took a day to look for white-tailed eagles, like our baldies but bigger, didn't find 'em. That would be my binocs under my jacket.

'nother layover day today here in Killarney, a laid back sort of outdoorsy/touristy mecca, with rain. I was all set to jet to Cobh by tomorrow but it turns out the ferry to France ain't 'till Saturday. Taking a day to tweak the bike and catch upon things in general.

Anyhoo, Day 7, still in Scotland, the pass from Loch Lomond to the sea Loch Fyne and Inveraray on the Kintyre Peninsula, home of the Campells and the Dukes of Argyl.





Near as I could tell this pass was my one and only episode of "Scottish Highland" as in open moorland.

The Kintyre Peninsula, more'n 100 miles long and maybe ten miles wide encompases some serious real estate, home of the Campbells, McKintyres et al. and definitely is NOT "highland" by appearance, topgraphy or vegetation. Furthermore turns out the Argyll at the time brung in a bunch of Border Lowland Scots to repopulate the place after a devastating smallpox epidemic in the 1600's. IIRC Argyll and his Campbells came down on the British side in the Uprising of '45, that might explain why.

Anyways, Loch Fyne in the evening (about 10pm local time), this long inlet from the sea has gotta be like 40 miles long...



...and the residence of his Lordship hisself, the Argyll, built in the 18th Century after the Duke at the time decided to make Inveraray (rhymes with "Tipperary") his official residence....

The approach to Inveraray from the Northeast....



The tall, rectangular church-like tower is the Campbell Memorial, erected by the then Duke of Argyll in memory of all the Campbells that fell in the First World War. The three 18th Century archways front a central plaza, THAT was built by the same Argyll that built the residence, trying to dress the place up a bit. The pale square building is covered with plastic, undergoing renovation/restoration.

The Campbell Memorial, which apparently houses impressive bells, leastwise a sign advertises bell-ringings...



Scottish spoken here, the doorway of the church next to the memorial tower...



...and a reference to the strangely moderate climate of this part of Scotland, courtesy of the Gulf Stream. This was on the grounds of the memorial, I think I seen plants like that in Costa Rica...




...and because it don't fit anywhere else really, this is what an actual Loch Fyne kipper looks like in the morning, done right.

The whole Kintyre Peninsula, every community, has a Great War Memorial with long lists of names. The loss of a generation in the Highland Regiments was apparently especially catastrophic here. One of them took pains to explain why so many non-Highland names were included, referring to that 17th Century Duke of Argyll and the smallpox epidemic. Apparently names mattered in 1918.





Different topic; a fellow reenactor, but one with talent.



Serious at his craft and versed in his history, here engaged in the somewhat mundane task of piping a welcome to the busloads of day-trippers from Glasgow.

On down the peninsula, I was too busy riding to make the Friday ferry from Campbeltown, shoulda took more pictures of the terrain; low rolling hills, a lots of forest lands and logging, some grazing....



Rhunahaorine Primary School (Buns-ghoil Rubha na h-Aoirinn), where kids learn to spell early...





...and a supermarket in Cambeltown....



King Scallops on a bed of black pudding with caramelised onion relish...

Old Killean Estate, northwest shore of the Kintyre Peninsula towards Cambeltown. Just another old ruin of a church or chapel by the side of the road, age unknown but old (14th Century?).



Surrounded by 19th Century gravestones, didn't see any older.

Windows and doors of the original chapel had at some point been filled in, by someone good at his craft...





and attached to the body of the original chapel, a crypt, too dark to come up on my iphone but with old-looking coffin-shaped stone slabs on the floor and others stood up leaning against the wall. Strange hole in the stonework above the sign (it was the rain, some other shots came out like this too)...



...an the inscription above the entrance to the crypt, 19th Century? Looked younger than the crypt itself...




Gotta be a story or five here, yet couldn't find anything on google.

Some great stuff.

Always enjoy your narrative and your adventures.

Keep it coming and hope it dries up a little for you.

A farewell to Scotland...

The approaches to Campbeltown...



Another Great War monument....



The regular Campbeltown/Ballycastle ferry (in front) was broken, one of the starters had gone out. To get back from Ireland the day before they had to start one engine, switch out the starters, and then start the other. So we took the 34 ft one in back




My faithful bicycle, late of Texas to New York and innumerable rides to work, here strapped on the back. The rain in Ballycastle washed off the salt.




Last view of Scotland, the Mull of Kintyre...



Eleven (??) days ago, pretty much the last view of blue skies as well

Birdwatcher

Tks, this guy got good pics of the Largie crypt covers...

https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2138769443885416857

12-13th Century by the armor??

And the House of Largie were MacDonalds....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_MacDonald_of_Largie



Gotta be a story or twenty there.

Spent the night high up, on the Counties Kerry and Cork border. Lows in the '30's, absolutely beautiful

Passed up a pot of gold yesterday evening on the way up, or maybe it was a keg of Budweiser I dunno...



...and a similar opportunity early this morning on the way down...

Nice Pics!

Stay healthy and safe, and keep the updates coming!