Oh no, not another epic on the Wild Atlantic Way 1,200km from George Hanna
The Ring of Kerry and Sleeping Giant
I have been cycling in Ireland each year since leaving the whorl of work to spend more time with my bicycles. Hot on the heels of the visit of the Giro d’Italia to my home town in Co. Antrim in 2014 came Mille Failte1200k - billed by Audax Ireland as “Ireland’s longest and friendliest bike ride”. Due to a final work-related diary clash, I couldn’t ride the event in longest day week. However, I did tour round most of the route with Peter Marshall, with no cards or paperwork to encumber us. We travelled by train/ferry/train via Holyhead to Dublin and Cork – relatively painless, even allowing for heavy Dublin traffic – and booked accommodation in advance. Instead of following the 1200k course for 3 hard days of 360k, 350k, 350k then 140k, we decided our exact distances en route by cutting a peninsula or two, when the weather/riding proved too gnarly for our liking. Although we had lights with us, we had no intention of using them. Lowlights of the trip were visiting Clonmel – home of Magners ‘cider’ – an area seemingly devoid of apple trees; and the Kerry dark sky reserve when it was cloudy.
Highlights were the spectacular scenery on the coasts, and in the Cork & Kerry mountains; our visits to Sean Kelly Square (below) in Carrick on Suir; and McCarthys bar in Castletownbere; and a tailwind assisted return ride from Midleton to Rosslare along the Copper Coast of Co. Waterford. As my stupid-phone had recently croaked, I invested in a smart-phone and uploaded the app for beoir.ie before departure. This proved an inspired addition - for it indicated where we could find the best local artisanal produce, whether smoked, pickled, homebaked, wind dried, distilled or brewed. As 2014 had been such fun, Peter and I planned an Irish End to End in 2015, using chunks of routes half-inched from the Audax Ireland website. To save leave, Peter travelled overnight via train and Fishguard – Rosslare ferry. I would start a Circuit of Ireland in Co Antrim, and pick him up at Tramore on the south east coast some 70k from the port. My route went via Belfast’s Sailortown and Comber Greenway, down the Ards peninsula to Portaferry; then south of the Mourne Mountains to Kilkeel, round Carlingford Lough to an overnight stop in Newry; then past the site of the Battle of the Boyne, and
the spectacular Monasterboice monastic remains to Dublin.
Avoided the worst of the city centre traffic by hopping on a DART train from Clontarf to Sandycove, for a selfie at the Martello tower immortalised by James Joyce. Exiting the city on a flat road was impossible as I was headed for an overnight stop at Roundwood in the Wicklow mountains. As riding direct to Tramore was too short a day awheel, I added a loop to collect some roads from Le Tour 1997, including the climb named to honour Irish Tour pioneer Shay Elliott. With mine having had a 3 day warm-up, and him losing half a nights sleep travelling, Peters legs needed help, and it arrived in the shape of a tooth abcess which popped up
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Arrivée May 2017 No. 136
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