Ireland 2006, Day 3

Or Friday the 7th of July to be exact. After a good nights rest the five of us crawl out of our tent to continue the journey. As it stands M and me, the hitchhikers, are planning to arrive on Saturday or possibly Sunday at the EJC in Millstreet, while the cyclists, B, S and T will need a bit more time. S only came for the ride and the scenery and has a plane on Monday morning from Cork to Dublin and then from Dublin back home. The others hope to arrive in Millstreet somewhere on Monday.

We check the maps and decide upon a spot to meet up in the evening, somewhere in the surroundings of Annestown. A beautiful little village on the southern coastline. The cyclists pack up and get going, a little later M and me get walking. The guy that took us to St Mullins had explained we would be best to walk back to the junction with the main road and try to get a lift from there. While we were walking back the second car passing stops. Maybe hitching in Ireland isn't so bad after all. Three friendly blokes agree on taking us back to New Ross. In the car they explain lots of stuff about Ireland and the region. Really the best ride we've had. On the way we pass the cyclists, and at the tourist information point we get together again. The sun is shining, life is good. A little further up the road is a Lidl budget supermarket, and since Ireland isn't exactly cheap we decide to go shop together. The cyclists will stay east of the river, until almost at the coast and then take a ferry to the other shore. M and me decide to cross the river there in New Ross and hitchhike further to the southwest. Hitching at the main road again didn't provide us with a ride, so we started walking on the little roads. After a while a guy stops and takes us to tiny little village named Mulinavat.

Thing is that Ireland is littered with tiny villages. The total population is about 4 and a half million, of which about one million live in Dublin. The second largest city is Cork with less then a hundred thousand inhabitants, and from there it goes down quickly. Most villages are connected by bus, but prices and availability vary. In Mulinavat we decided to take a bus to Waterford and from there to Tramore along the coast, in total about 5 euros. Later we would take a bus from Cork to Millstreet which can't be a much longer ride but costs more than the double. A ride from Cork to Dublin on the other hand, which must be a few hundred kilometers further off costs only 7 euros. No consistency whatsoever.

Somewhere in the afternoon we arrive in Tramore, and while wandering around at the tourist information center, the cyclists suddenly show up. So far we seem to be having plenty of luck with finding each other. Alas S had gotten sick in the stomach and had to go throw up. They still had more than a daytrip to go before arriving in Cork, so the timing for this was far from great. We went off again, found each other at the Annestown beach and put up our tents. S had bought a little camping barbecue so we made a little feast for ourselves after which S went to sleep and the rest of us rounded off the day with a stroll along the beach.