Write up by Fiona T
I’d never been to Ireland, so when there was the opportunity to go for two events a week apart in Galway and Waterford, it seemed an ideal opportunity for a bit of leisurely cycling and sightseeing! A week before my travels, a young friend, Tom, said he’d like to join me. Tom’s an inexperienced cyclist, but came armed with youth, enthusiasm and a terrible (borrowed) bike!
Day 1 - Monday Galway to Ennis 48 miles 500m climb
The Galway weekend event saw gale force winds (the event marquee blew away!) but the Monday dawned with a stiff breeze. The first day was tough – the Galway traffic was challenging, I got bitten by a dog and Tom crashed into a wall! Once we were out of the town, the route was much nicer, going along quiet country roads. Tom was struggling, but we realised his tyres had very little air in, so a stop to pump them up saw us make much better progress. We were pretty exhausted by the time we arrived at our accommodation, only to find the local pub had stopped serving food! Fortunately our kind B&B hosts supplied us with bread, cheese and ham to keep us going till breakfast.
Day 2 - Tuesday Ennis to Limerick 50 miles 380m climb
Mechanically, Tuesday didn’t start off much better, with Tom’s pedal falling off! Luckily we weren’t too far from a town with a bike shop, so pedals were replaced and we were on our way. Fortunately that was the end of the mechanical mishaps. We stopped at the beautiful Bunratty castle for lunch, then cycled on to Limerick, where we were very excited to find a pavement cycle service station – every town should have one! Made full use of it to get Tom’s bike in good shape for the rest of the trip. Cycled on to Bruff, stopping at an ancient stone circle, and to our B&B for the night.
Day 3 - Wednesday Bruff to Skeheenranky 30 miles, 380 m climb
Wednesday was a shorter day, taking us from Bruff to a tiny town called Skeheenranky just into county Tipperary. Mostly quiet roads, we took a detour to Mitchelstown to stock up on supplies as we knew our accommodation was several miles from the nearest pub.
Day 4 - Thursday Skeheenranky to Dungarvan 36 miles, 530m climb
Thursday’s ride was from Skeheenranky to Dungarvan, over a mountain pass in the Knockmealdown mountains known as ‘The Vee’. We weren’t sure what to expect, but it was lovely – the gradient was constant and friendly, the road surface was excellent and there was very little traffic. We were rewarded with spectacular views from the top. Definitely a highlight of the trip. We probably picked the wrong route down though as it was crazy steep and the road surface was terrible, then we had a busy main road most of the way to Dungarvan.
Day 5- Friday Dungarvan to Waterford 30 miles, 215m climb
Friday took us from Dungarvan to Waterford along the Waterford Greenway, a really beautiful route on a disused railway line, lovely surface and plenty of café stops, as well as a little vintage train that we took a ride on. The plan is to extend the greenway route to Rosslare eventually.
Days 6 & 7 - Sunday Waterford to Rosslare 48 miles, 570m climb
Saturday was a non-cycling day, and Tom headed back to Dublin, leaving me to the final leg of the journey from Waterford to Rosslare on Sunday. The Eurovelo 1 route hugs the coast and looks lovely, but adds a lot of miles (and hills!), so I took a more direct route dipping in and out, taking the worthwhile detour to Killmore Quay for an excellent fish and chips lunch. There is plenty of history in this area – there seemed to be a castle round every corner!
Taking the bike on the ferry was easy, but the trains at the UK end were difficult (and expensive!) – booking the bike on seemed unnecessarily complicated, and the hanging bike storage on GWR is just awful – I still have the bruises to show for it! Overall it was an excellent trip, and we were exceptionally lucky with the weather. Ireland is well set up for cycling – the small roads are very quiet, and the main roads mostly have a wide hard shoulder type lane that makes cycling feel much safer.
