Obviously I took my bike, so had a spin around my old temporary stomping ground of Valley and the hills on the mainland. My chest behaved itself and I came back to the hotel all set for a nice meal and a good kip.
Tuesday came and a big trip across to the west coast of Ireland followed, whilst I also had another chance to ride the bike. The chest behaved nicely (that's 2 days in a row) although I had another problem. For some reason, the rear derailleur cable pinch bolt decided to shear off at the head, meaning I couldn't select any gears. Never mind, I just single speeded it and worked through the small and big front rings. It was "fun" when the hills got really steep, but I nearly survived and made it back after 2hrs for tea and medals. Actually, it was Guinness and seafood as I slipped back into work mode until about 2am; talking , teaching, planning.
Then I headed back South East, for a Ferry home. But in the meantime I spent the evening with Nick Hand as he rested from his mammoth ride around the Irish coast line. This is a 5 week trip where Nick stops, takes in the scenery, interviews people with special skills and publishes it on his site. The people he's met are really interesting, and the whole, appealing, project has provided me and many others with masses of inspiration. Selfishly, it's made me think differently about my next project. It's also shown me how it's possible to do a great and challenging ride whilst actually enjoying yourself with stimulating surroundings, people and their stories.
Nicks bike is a bit special as is the pannier system. I'm quite jealous...
I was also able to join him for a ride in between work stuff. Imagine the sinking feeling in my chest as we ride out into the rain, heading for a school?
But this was no ordinary school: it was the best cookery school in Ireland. I kid you not when I tell you that we were treated Royally. We had the full guided tour of the organic farm, dairy and cheese making room. The 2 acres of glass houses held delights in the form of vegetables, herbs and a cute little Jack Russell puppy. Rory even went and found some "Holy" or "Thai" Basil for me to try, as I had never been able to find it for my own clumsy forays into cooking.
We even got to pull tomatoes off of the plant and compare different types, back to back.
Marvellous.
We then spent a while touring the busy kitchens and talking with students on their 1 week intensive course. Without exception, they used words like "exceptional", "brilliant", "superb" and "fun" to describe the experiences that they were having there.
Next up was food time, and we were invited to sit and share the food that had been grown, picked, foraged, fished and cooked fom the farm or a mile offshore (a mile from the farm).
Heaven.
Absolute heaven.
I've already spoken to Jo, and I think we're going to book a place at Ballymaloe Cookery school soon!
I kid you not and we can't wait.
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