Ireland; South to North and Inside Out - Day 5

That hotel was essentially an independent Travel Lodge but it was where I needed it to be just at the time I was beginning to worry so I will always remember it fondly. It also had a sign just outside it pointing me to Malin Head and so provided me with my first indication that I'm nearing the end of this glorious torture. Disasters aside, this should be my final day of cycling, I don't think it can be more than 40 miles. AAAARRGH, my knees, the left one in particular. This is going to be like Tuesday but I'm too close to stop now. Push on and hope the endorphins kick in.

What defines crying? Surely it needs a degree of intention to be it. People cry even if they don't want to, of course, but there has to be the sense within them that something has got too much. I am a man. I am a man who, amongst so many other things, has done Tough Guy, swum Alcatraz, completed a triathlon and am now cycling Ireland and so I do not cry. If my eyes are watering because of the pain it is a completely involuntary, unwanted physiological reaction and therefore not crying. No.

[When on the flat or going uphill, (i.e. when pedalling) for the next 30 odd miles I only had one thought] Ouch, any further and I would stop.

[When freewheeling my thoughts were more varied but mostly along the lines of] This is stunning again. Crossing the peninsula, surrounded by heather and bracken, the smell, the view out to sea. Please don't let me have to pedal, let me enjoy the end.

I'm really close to Malin Head now. I wasn't expecting it to look like this. Far more populated and busy than Mizen Head was. Malin itself is so far away from the Head, so many buildings and indeed villages between. What do these people do? The ones that are not farmers. This is it - one last climb. What a climb. So steep. I think those endorphins are working because my knees aren't as bad now. Any water around my eyes is from this rain. I guess I will finish as I started - wet. At least I can see the sea this time.

Cars are constantly coming and going - why would anybody come here? There is nothing to do and you can see cliffs and sea all over Ireland. The South West and Sperrins had more appeal and they were nearer civilisation, proper civilisation, those houses don't count you wouldn't stay here. Ah, yes, getting back to civilisation. Time to face the one thought I have been suppressing every time it popped by. The wind has picked up, the rain is pummelling, the driven focus to complete the challenge has gone but there is only one way out of here, one way to get off this bike and give my knees a rest. Challenge complete but the cycling isn't.