WHIRL2026 Day - 10

So, today was the last day of the tour. There were spots of rain as we prepared to leave, so I put my waterproofs on. They would be on most of the day. This was probably the sort of day I had been expecting, a mixture of sunshine and showers. 

The rain barely amounted to anything on our way to the first stop but the waterproofs also keep the wind out.

We arrived at our first stop, the Powerscourt Waterfall, which at 121 feet, is the highest in Ireland. It's a short walk from the car park to the waterfall through fertile woodland, covered in ferns. The waterfall itself was ok but I suspect it would be far more impressive later on in the year, when the flow would be a lot greater.

Powerscourt Waterfall

Having made our way back to the bikes, it started to rain and by far the hardest and most persistent rain we had seen in 10 days of touring. Still, it wouldn't be long before it had stopped and by the time we made our second stop at the Lough Tray viewing point, it was dry, if not exactly sunny.

Lough Tray

It was at this point that Grizzly announced that the Shadslow's fuel light had come on.

Now, as part of my tour planning, I build in fuel stops. This trip we found that we didn't need to fill up at the scheduled places, so for days we have been winging it. This is ok if there are loads of fuel stations around (Grizzly -"this is Ireland, petrol stations are everywhere") but they are in short supply when you are up in the mountains.  There was nothing showing on the next part of the route, so Grizzly searched the nearest fuel station. I misheard him and thought he said 5km. It was more like 25! and in the opposite direction to our next stop. There's a good reason why I go to the trouble of locating these fuel stations, even if it means filling up early. Lesson learned maybe?

Fuelled up we made our way back onto the road to our scheduled stop, though this was not without incident. At one point I was on the main road, just tipping into a left hand bend, when a black car came out of an adjoining road from the right. Luckily for both of us, nothing came of it, the car stopping, when it realised it wasn't on the main road and should have given way. Grizzly confirmed we were on the main road, so the car was at fault. It could have been a bad end to what has been a great tour.

The next stop was a the Glendalough Monastic Site. The site houses various buildings that would have comprised the monastery built in the 13th century, including a cathedral and a 100ft bell tower. Aside from these buildings, the site seems to have been used as a graveyard since the monastery's demise.

A slightly leaning bell tower

We had one more stop to make, the Tulach a'tSolais Monument, that commemorates the formation of the Irish republic in 1798, I think 🤔. 

Tulach a'tSolais Monument

The last stint was the run to our hotel, The Farmer's Kitchen, from where we had started the tour 10 days ago. The lady on the desk remembered us and was interested to know where we'd been.  We were early enough this time to get a meal in the restaurant, which was perfect for our end of tour dinner.

Tomorrow we shall be going our separate ways, me 10 miles or so to the ferry at Rosslare, Grizzly home to Portlaoise.

Tomorrow's post should be a bit shorter. Not much happens on a 4 hour ferry crossing!

Till then.