This doesn’t warrant a new day as I had already been round at lunchtime but as it had been so dry the last few days, I decided to take the bike around for a spin. I have a reasonably nice aluminium hard-tail with hydraulic discs that I bought in a previous life and has only ever been up Ardagh Mountain once and that was only the easy bit and not far from 10 years ago.

So anyway, I dusted it off and set off up the mountain. After huffing and puffing up the road I set off around the left loop which has a hard gravel base without too much difficultly despite my lack of bike fitness. I had a bit of fun after the peak scooting down and again it was pretty easy going.

Once I crossed the road, the going got a bit tougher as the path is mostly mud here. I had to dismount a couple of times and I nearly sunk a couple more. Eventually, I came a-cropper and went over the handlebars and luckily landed in heather so no harm done apart from a slightly bent brake-lever.

That was the worst of it over so I rattled down through the rest which turns back to gravel fairly quickly. I decided not to take the turn-off that keeps me in the forest but instead continued on the good surface and finished off the loop by cycling into the village and then back home.

Anyway, that was fun for a change although I might apply a bit more wisdom the next time and dismount for the rough stuff until I lose about 15 kilos and 10 years.