AKA Sweet Company

Although the morning was absolute shite at first, the ride ended up being quite glorious. Yes I was lonesome as hell, but as I looked out across the land as I rode on, I felt joy. How incredible it is to embrace the beauty and awe of Ireland. With every single turn my heart swells with gratitude that I am on this adventure. Sometimes when my heart is full, the happiness spills over and the wind caresses with her gentle touch to dry my cheek.

Not wanting a repeat of the morning’s misadventures, I started looking out for a place to stop and eat. Not once on this trip have I had lunch! Irish breakfast lasts through my touring about so my next meal is always dinner. I passed by a number of potential spots because their parking looked a bit dicey. I came across a spot on the road without any cars out front at all. Actually I wasn’t even sure if it WAS a pub! I parked, got off my bike and realized just how starved I really was.

No sooner had I taken off my helmet and shook the kinks from my hair when a fella comes out to say hello. We chat about the bike for a bit and his friend comes out to join the conversation. Darren and Chris were both so friendly and I was so happy to have friends! We went inside, I asked for a menu and water. No to both. OK. You don’t have food and that sucks, but how about the water? Nope. So I had coffee and the bartender tossed a chocolate bar on the counter for me. Sigh.

I drank my coffee while Darren, Chris, Paulsy and Christian finished off their beers. We had a grand chat for quite possibly close to an hour! They were headed off to another pub nearby and I was welcome to join them.

“Sure, if they have food!”

I followed them. I followed them over hill, over dale, left turn, right turn, crazy road, cart path and down into a mill. “Oops! Sorry, wrong turn”. Ok, I get that! BELIEVE me I get that! After going back down the cart path and making room for a ginormous tractor, I get back onto what feels more like a road. Sort of. Left turn, right turn, narrow road, traffic..where the hell are they TAKING me? At least I’m not totally alone. I still have Gretta with me!

Finally O’Donnovan’s Bar at Fisher’s Cross appears on the corner. It was such a perfect spot! With the stone fence across the road and the sea beyond, it was absolutely picturesqe and lovely!

But no food.

Not to worry, Darren secured a ham and cheese sandwich for me :). Great guy, that Darren. Funny as hell, good lookin chap, and capable of carrying on a conversation. His only downfall is his sense of direction ;) I should have introduced him to Gretta.

So here I am in the middle of nowhere’s ville Ireland with 4 blokes I don’t know having the best fun I’ve had since my arrival 6 days ago. The five of us hung out at O’Donnovan’s for a few hours sharing stories, tons of laughs, and they introduced me to horse racing. More specifically, they introduced me to BETTING on horse racing.

Darren asks me to choose a horse to bet on. Before I told him, however, he huddled with Paulsy. They were going to secretly discuss which horse I would choose. After I said my choice, if it was the same one they thought it would be, then we’d bet on it. I chose Sweet Company because…why wouldn’t I?

So we bet. I put in a tenner and it was dicey for a while there! It was pretty touch and go until the lead horse duffed the last jump and both the horse and rider were down (one or both must know Gretta)! My cut was 110 euros! woot! woot! I bet again on the horse Darren chose and we won again. Fan freaking tastic!!

I had such a good time!

The day was getting late and I knew I still had a hell of a long ride ahead of me. They invited me to stay, promising good food, safe lodging, and a couple of drinks. As tempting as it was, and it really was, I also didn’t want to rob myself of my experiences. I know it’s counter intuitive because I’ve been griping about having no friends and here I have 4 new ones!

When I said goodbye, my heart was light and my soul was full. Almost as full as my wallet!