Enniskerry

Dublin and its surroundings are pretty flat. Which is great for people like me who really don't like running or biking up steep hills. Except I'm training for an Ironman in Switzerland where they don't have enough room for flat, horizontal spaces.
South of Dublin are the Wicklow mountains and I decided to ride there last Sunday to work on my hill training. I didn't expect much in terms of difficulties, since the tallest mountain in Ireland is on the order of 3000 ft (1000m). For good measure I extended my planed route to include a view of the ocean at Cliff Manor, which looked interesting on the map.
Indeed, these "mountains" are not very tall, but when the Irish stray from the flat, they go straight up. The distances where they are steep are not very long, but they are truly steep. I was tempted several times to get off my my bike and walk and push it. Except that I didn't think it would feel that much better and I want to be an Ironman. (Which is stupid, and I'll get to that in a minute ;-)
Other than these steep parts that proved that I am not very strong (or too heavy, or both) it was a nice ride. The weather was beautiful, which means you put your rain gear on two or three times during the day and a few minutes later you sweat like a pig, because the rain had stopped and the sun was back out.
Because I live on the Northwest side of Dublin and the mountains are in the South, it is either a long detour, or straight through town to get there. Near the river, that is kind of interesting, but further out it is more tedious with all the stop lights and having to watch out for traffic and buses. Plus it's complicated. I kept stopping to check my progress on the map on my phone. On the way back I got lost, but was rewarded with the discovery of a beautiful park along a pretty stream.

A stream, a golf course, and a park in the middle of Dublin.

The pictures for this trip are on picasa. I'm not very happy about how they turned out because it is difficult to set exposure and impossible to zoom on my phone camera. But it beats dragging along my SLR.
I passed Johnnie Fox's pub which claims to be the highest pub in Ireland. They are out in nowhere land, and other than the pub, a few houses, and a bunch of sheep, there is not much else in Glencullen where it is located. People must like to come here, though. On my second day in Ireland I was handed a brochure for it and when I was there, a constant stream of people kept coming and going. I didn't go in because I was all sweaty and smelly in my bike clothes, and had a long way home ahead of me.

Given a name like Cliff Manor, I was expecting a little bit more than what is actually there. There is a nice view of the ocean and the port of Greystones below, but it is just a private parking lot that belongs to a set of apartment buildings. There is a farm below, and some more buildings along the road, but it is marked private. I don't think there is a manor there.

The view from Cliff Manor (no manor in sight ;-)

Usually, other bike riders pass me; at high speed. But on the way back through town, I got to pass a heavyset guy on a bike. Then I had to stop and check my phone to see where I was going. During that time he passed me, and I got to pass him again after I found out where I was. Then I had to check my phone again, and he caught me another time. (Google satellite images and their maps for Ireland don't always agree on where the roads are, or what intersections look like. So, navigation is a challenge.)
Finally the guy caught up with me again and stopped to talk to me. He has an Eastern European accent and asked me how to stand up on a bike. I couldn't quite figure out what he wanted to know, and he apologized for his accent when I didn't answer right away. It turns out that all he wanted was to get off the saddle to climb hills a little bit easier. I wasn't sure how to answer that.
I told him that obviously he knew how to stand, since he was standing in front of me. So, all it would take, was doing the same thing while on the bike. I told him to to find a save spot to try and get up a little, and practice that until he was able to stand. The only thing different to standing on the road is the need for a little bit more sense of balance. While I was studying my map, he did a few rounds in the parking lot where we had stopped and accomplished his goal. He seemed very happy and we exchanged a few more pieces of information about saddle hight and such, and then he took off. I was thinking this should making me feel good, having helped another person and such. But simply telling someone to stand up and then watch them do it, did not quite bring on the heartwarming I had expected. Maybe it was just a little bit too strange.