Nissan Kilmacud Crokes / Breast Cancer Ireland M2M 2026 Donie's Blog Day 3

What a fantastic day today,up early,breakfast,bags down to the van and out on the road at 8. Today was thankfully much flatter than yesterday , majority of today's cycling was on back roads which was much safer. After 30k we arrived at Birr castle for coffee(photo 5),beautiful setting and sun coming out now.

From here we headed for Ballycumber, 35k,where my mum was from and herself and my dad are buried in the local cemetery. We got a great photo of Blue team at the sign at the entrance to the village(photo 3)and then whizzed down through the village, hope the folks were watching .

I never thought I'd be in a pelathon of Kilmacud Crokes cyclists whizzing through Ballycumber  !!

From here it was on to Moate,where my mum went to school, for lunch,about 15k. Lunch was organised by one of our van men Mickey Finn who's from there originally, great soup and sandwiches in the Carmelite centre and served by members of Mickey's family. Afterwards Mickey spoke very passionately about his early days in Moate. Big thank you to the community of Moate from Kilmacud Crokes. 

From here we hit more back roads and on to Ballymahon,for an ice cream(photo 2)another 25k. Then we jumped onto the Grand canal greenaway for another 25k,surface a bit rough but lovely scenery in the sunshine . Last stop at a garage 30k from home for a last refreshment before arriving in Carrick on Shannon where we're staying tonight,. Another 163k done.

I have to tell ye about our 2 van men..(photo 4).Mickey Finn from Moate,County Westmeath and Kevin Mulligan from near Arvagh County Cavan. Great clubmen and both regulars at my Yoga classes. They're great with all the jobs of loading/unloading the van,providing water,bananas and protein bars.....but I have to say,not great on the ol' sat nave which is crucial on these back roads. Luckily I have Kev the navigation expert and I think we were the only group not to get lost today we even arrived at the hotel same time as the fastest group !! But enough about Kev(he's on this email list).

All of us in the Blue group are worried about tomorrow....at 5 o clock Westmeath are playing Cavan in the All Ireland football championship and regardless of whoever wins we'll probably be down a van man on Sunday  !!

So tomorrow is going to be another tough one,only 145k but with as much climbing in the second half as we did on day 2 !! I'm not really looking forward to this  

So before I go you're all probably wondering about photo 1. Remember what I was telling ye yesterday about the Shammy cream ? It's just a random photo for 3 of the lads involved in the cycle, but if you look really closely you'll see a couple of other lads not being quite discrete enough about applying said cream !!

Sleep well folks,talk tomorrow  !!