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2002 REPORT, Day 3

Friday 9 August 2002

Claremorris / Knock to Omagh

(Today we started with 6 cyclists and were down to 5 between Sligo and Manorhamilton.  During the day Manny took ill and was getting worse as the day went on.  He was taken to the Erne hospital and was kept in.)

This was going to be an interesting day.  Weather wise it was not to bad a dry bright, but windy day as we set off.  We started of very well there were lots of hill’s to climb until we got to Sligo, Manny suffered another puncture, but we got going  again what goes up must go down I talking about hill’s. 

Things were going reasonably well today, we went through Charlestown and Tobercurry and had our first stop near Baqllynacarrow.  We had our first stop at the side of the road, it was a good change from yesturday, we were dry and even sitting on the grass enjoying the sunshine.  We were at the side of the road on a hill, we could look over Sligo and over the Bay.  

We started of again everybody appeared to be in better form a we pushed towards Sligo.  We hit Sligo at lunchtime on a Friday.  It was a bit of a challenge.  We managed to weave or way through on the bikes but left the cars behind in the traffic jams.

But all was not well in as far as Manny was concerned he had picked up a stomach bug he struggled from Sligo out a few mile and had been ill a few times, but could not cycle on any more.  We stopped at the top of a hill and waited on the cars to catch up with us.  Manny said he would take a break and then join in again a few mile down the road, when we would cycle to Glencar.   We then cycled on towards Blacklion/Belcoo where we were to have our second stop.  Manny rejoined us and cycled with us to Manorhamilton but was ill again, he said he would go in the car to Belcoo and cycle from there.  We arrived in Belcoo for our last break before Omagh.  Manny tried a few tablets out of the chemist and ate nothing but took liquids.  At the end of the break Manny was not much better so he decided to stay in the car.

We set of for Omagh, when we were at Letterbreen, word came over the radio that Manny was getting worse and that they were going to leave us and go to the a doctor or the Erne Hospital in Enniskillen.  We continued to cycle and the minibus had all we needed to assist us, except we would loose it for a while in Enniskillen.

The weather today however was on our side it kept nice & bright through the journey through Irvinestown, we phoned to check on Manny near Dromore, he was in A&E and was being assessed.  We then went onto Omagh, where we finished the the day on a bit of a high due to only having to do 70 miles approx tomorrow.

A check was made again when we stopped on Manny, he was to be taken up to a ward and would be in overnight.  It was food poisoning or some tummy bug.

We went to the B&B, got cleaned up and out for a meal.  A few of us went to see Manny and bring a few of his things for the overnight stay.