Tamara Pitelen

Spokes, Blokes and Blarney: Around Ireland on a Bike in Search of the Perfect Irish Male (Or One Who's Near Enough) Tamara Pitelen

There are many good reasons to travel to foreign parts. Broadening the mind, experiencing different cultures and all that. One reason that?s perhaps not so good is 'because a fortune teller said I?d meet my perfect man over there'. But heck, who needs a good reason? Spokes, Blokes and Blarney is about what happens when a woman who?d ridden no further than to the shops for milk and who can?t fix a puncture, decides to buy a bike, fly half way round the world and cycle around a foreign country in a very large circle... to do some first-hand research on Irish men. It's about going in search of those charming Irish rogues with a twinkle in their eye and a 'to be sure' at the ready. It's about wicked times and loitering in Irish pubs with folk who say things like ?it?s all arseways?. It?s about doggedly seeking out find the famous craic? even if it means spending every night in a different pub, nursing saddles sores and singing Whiskey in the Jar over a pint of Guinness with charming rogues. It?s also about the thoughts and musings that rise from the blackest depths of the psyche when you cycle alone for six to 11 hours most days. Thoughts which wander from masturbating sheep to nappy rash issues from rain-sodden cycling pants. It's about dealing with seduction attempts by lads in Sligo, as well as with evil monks, bog ghosts and crazy, cat-killing, chain smoking old ladies who run hostels in the mountains. Spokes, Blokes and Blarney is the story of one woman's three-month journey on a bicycle around Ireland in search of the Irish male.