Bubbling Dublin

Firstly, apologies for the lack of pictures and spelling mistakes. I've had to rely upon my blackberry yet again.

With yesterday being an official tour rest day, not much in cycling terms happened. It gave us an opportunity to rest our bodies and recover from the frolic of temple bar the night before.

With Josh Rees-Hole joining us for our few days in Dublin and dinner underway the Guinness and wine yet again flowing we felt the need to over indulge (not that we have held back the rest of the trip!) To make the most of our aptly named 'recovery day'. The X factor competition again when down to the wire with Rachel emerging as the winner from the final 3 of Julian, Simon and herself.

Rachels pingu prevailed but Julians impression also deserves an honourable mention as he managed to scare one waiter to death by following her away from the table with a sqwalk and a waddle. Moving on from food and navigating our way through the cobbled streets to Temple Bar; we endured more alcohol and joined in with the Irish craic.

Waking up with a splitting headache we all sought comfort with a full fry up. Learning about how Guinness was made wasn't the best hangover cure, but we jumped back on the bandwahon with a pint at the panoramic bar at the top of the brewery. Sunny weather leant itself perfectly to an open top bus tour and everyone was searching eagle eyed for somewhere to stop for lunch.

After a few bottles of wine at lunch and some tasty french food the women went shopping with the men retiring back to the hotel. The evening was a rather sober affair with most of the group going to watch River Dance while the others took the opportunity of an early night.

Up at 6 to grab some early brekkie we got on our way to the Dublin port for our morning ferry. As the Welsh hills came into sight everyone was overwhelmed with a sense of achievement and that the fact that we are so close to finishing our trip.

As we embarked on the first road (a busy dual carriage way) we all embraced the roads which consisted of newly laid tarma - a trteat compared to the pot-holed-riddled lanes in Ireland! However, it didn't take us long to realise we were out of our depths and didn't stand much chance up against arctic lorrys hurtling by. With Geoff in charge of directions we took a quick de tour for our lunch stop at Llanfair PG, also known as Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgigerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, bit of a mouthful!

With a few pints over yet another pub lunch (we could all become food critics) we got back on our way to our destination, Criccieth. Some hairy moments on the road and Geoff managed to get himself into another shouting match with an impatient driver. Point to note - cycling shoes with cleats aren't the best for kicking cars as by the time he'd got his feet out the car was already 20m past! Following along some lovely cycle paths we were a bit dismayed by getting halfway along and finding the next section closed (everyone had flashbacks of Ireland). Deciding to take a risk we followed it anyhow only to come to a half built bridge but gambled on the wooden planks being strong enough and made a quick dart across it. Despite all the trips weight gain, they were.