TRAVERSE 140
just the fact of having to return in the pouring rain riding back half an hour to find a place to stay at that hour made me anxious . I started my way back with practically no sight , it was already dark , the rain was intense , and I was soaked to the bone .
I entered a town with the limit of my strength , tired , wet , with an incipient cold . I saw a place with the lights on and parked across the street . There were many people , mostly old , my age , with cakes in their hands and I guessed right that it was a meeting centre for the elderly . Exhausted and with almost no strength left , I got off the motorbike , went inside , and explained to an old lady that I needed accommodation for one night . She took me to John the manager of the place , who was wonderful , and started making phone calls and got me a room in the most famous pub in the countryside of Ireland . It was ten minutes from where I had parked my bike .
Arriving in Teelin , I went straight to the entrance of a pub and when I walked through the door , to my surprise , it was full of local people . The woman that John had been talking to on the phone took me straight to a table .
“ You need a very hot soup ,” she said when she saw the deplorable state I was in . “ You look terrible !”
Ordered to sit , she wouldn ’ t let me go to the bathroom when I needed to , she said that I needed to eat and
TRAVERSE 140