On Wednesday we went from Cork to Killarney. Our first day of biking was also our longest, perhaps leading one to question the soundness of our planning prowess. In any case: The most direct route from Cork to Killarney is along N22, which goes through the mountains, and we were advised that it has a wide shoulder and is much better graded than the smaller roads that run parallel for much of the way. We opted instead to do a longer route that we hoped would be quieter and prettier riding. It was, mostly, though what we ended up doing was wildly uneven in quality, and for us it was too much riding to be enjoyable for one day (or at least for the first day of riding). This was one of the few days on the trip where we were really biking to get to point B, and not particularly because we thought it would be a nice route. Annie liked big chunks of it enough to want to retool and make it work; Marissa thinks it would have been better either to bike to Macroom and take the bus the rest of the way, bus to Macroom and bike the rest of the way, or split it up over two days and stay at a bed and breakfast in Macroom in between.    Co Cork, Ireland -- 7/9/2014