Day 3, July 1

Now I know why we take long vacations -- the days  already seem to be going by too quickly. We woke up after a much needed night's sleep and had a delicious Irish breakfast served by our hosts, the Duncans. We then went to the Ballynahinch Baptist Church with the Duncans and were greeted warmly by the church members. Nancy and I loved the church and the service. It's reat to be able to go to church in a foreign country and feel so welcomed and so at home and with such a spirit of worship.

After church, we had a long afternoon of preparing for the transport of two bikes and four people to Donegal, a two and a half hour drive. Our friend Stuart had left his bike rack for us to use but it didn't work on our car. We then drove into Belfast and tried to find a rack at a sporting goods shop, but we were unsuccessful there too. We ended up partially disassembling the bikes and packing them in the truck of our car, a Skoda Superb  made in the Czech Republic. It was an interesting job of packing since we also had to pack all our luggage and squeeze four people into the car. I think we pulled it off nicely.

Near Belfast, we ate at a restaurant and I had an enormous bowl of Irish stew. Nancy and I both figured we were eating enough for dinner too. But when we got to our B&B in Donegal, the five of us (four in our car plus Stuart, who had cycled the last 60 miles to get here) had a wonderful three course meal. I'm hoping for lots of hills on the bike ride tomorrow so I can work some of these calories off. (The food was delicious though so it was worth it.)