Cycle around Ireland

Dominoid

We are planning to cycle around the coast of Ireland and NI for charity in 2010. To do the planning I need estimated cycling times between some towns. We will set off in Naas, Co. Kildare, Tallaght, Dun Laoghaire, Bray, Gorey, Wexford, Waterford, Dungarvan, Cork, Killarney, Limerick, Ennis, Galway, Castlebar, Sligo, Londonderry, Coleraine, Ballymena, Antrim, Belfast, Lisburn, Newry, Balbriggan, Swords, Lucan, Clondalkin and back to Naas! Anyone attempted this before or knows of someone that has? I want to work out if this can be done in 15 days and where would we have to stay over. Any information please!

zzzzzzzz

Dominoid wrote: »

We are planning to cycle around the coast of Ireland and NI for charity in 2010. To do the planning I need estimated cycling times between some towns. We will set off in Naas, Co. Kildare, Tallaght, Dun Laoghaire, Bray, Gorey, Wexford, Waterford, Dungarvan, Cork, Killarney, Limerick, Ennis, Galway, Castlebar, Sligo, Londonderry, Coleraine, Ballymena, Antrim, Belfast, Lisburn, Newry, Balbriggan, Swords, Lucan, Clondalkin and back to Naas! Anyone attempted this before or knows of someone that has? I want to work out if this can be done in 15 days and where would we have to stay over. Any information please!

bikeroutetoaster.com

Hogzy

Dominoid wrote: »

Londonderry

You spelt that wrong

thebouldwhacker

Hey Dom, who is we? Is this a public event or a few mates getting together?

As discussed in another thread killarney - Limerick isnt a good idea better go killarney-tralee-tarbot ferry- up clare coast to ennis:D Also Cork-killarney, shame to cycle all that way only to miss out on 99% of west cork, perhaps Cork-bandon-clon-skib-ballydehob-bantry-glengarrif-kenmare-killarney (via national park) now thats a cork-killarney route:D

Only a suggestion

*edit*
come to think of it if ye are going all around the country maybe better keeping off the bigger climbs.....

Dominoid

I'm planning this for a charity but also looking for sponsorship from the company I work for and that might mean following a certain route, thus the Killarney - Limerick route, by that time it could well be Killarney - Tralee - Limerick. I did find another tread mentioning it's around 1800km around Ireland and the 2 lads did it in 18 days.

Dominoid

Hogzy wrote: »

You spelt that wrong

Derry?

dick muster

just seen your post on cycling round ireland
im doing a similar trip in april , leaving from rathcoole
to killkenny >cork>kerry>limerick>galway>sligo>omagh>newry>rathcoole
just over 1000 kilometeres in 9 days . well thats the plan

peterako

Dominoid wrote: »

Derry?

Just remember....

There;s a Derry part and a Londonderry part depending on who you talk to

Esroh

Galway - Castlebar .There a 3 options here but the first 2 are busy roads. £rd one is the scenic route which would add a few miles and Hills but from a safty point of view would be the best option.

Galway -Tuam - Claremorris- Castlebar on the N17 so you would have a hard shoulder.
Galway -Headford- Ballinrobe -Castlebar. A busy road epart from early Sat/Sun and narrow in parts for a group.
Galway-Oughterard -MaamCross-Maam-Cornamona-Finny-Tourmakeady-Aghagower-Ballyhean-Castlebar. The scenic route with 3 hills but an area where cyclists are respected as roads well used by the clubs in the area


If you want more coast go from Maam to Leenane ,Newport, Westport and then Castlebar.

hunkymonkey

Hi Dominoid, i've done the coastal route back in 07, took 15 days. Did it anti-clockwise direction. As much as possible stay away from any large towns (e.g. no need to go thro Limerick, get the ferry), as it'll just mean cycling on busy roads and depending on group your cycling with, its hard to navigate with a large group, can be like herding cats :-) Pick which peninsula's you want to do, as you can't do them all as its about 3000miles if your to do every one. Also pick climbs you wanna get in, e.g. The ring of Kerry is nice but better to do Ballaghasheen and Ballaghabeama pass and leave out Killarney to Cahirciveen part as its quite boring imo. Pick a mileage that you think you'll cover everyday and stick to it. There's a thread on Mizen to Malin i'm sure that covers a good route, search for that and it'll give ya good ideas. Enjoy!

ednwireland

Dominoid wrote: »

Derry?

just call it the city when your there saves trouble

Dominoid

dick muster wrote: »

just seen your post on cycling round ireland
im doing a similar trip in april , leaving from rathcoole
to killkenny >cork>kerry>limerick>galway>sligo>omagh>newry>rathcoole
just over 1000 kilometeres in 9 days . well thats the plan

All over now. We completed the 1500km in the 15days, we did much better than I expected. 5 of us were cycling a relay so cycle 1 day and go back to work for 4 days! The cycling part were much easier than the organising. We did this for charity and some PR so we had to follow a certain route to include all our stores near the coast.

The best road that we cycled on was the N5 to Sligo, I must add it was a nice sunny Sunday. Sligo was also a pleasant surprise. Castlebar not so much. Portrush was also a nice place to stay over. Toughest climbs were, Dungarvan to Cork, Cork to Killarney, the 140km from Killarney to Ennis, Derry to Coleraine and the HILL just before Belfast from Antrim side.

The bad parts we cycled on, was heading into Cork N25 very busy and dangerous, heading into Castlebar - no hard shoulder and our timing was wrong, 5pm on a Sat afternoon and The Script were playing at the hotel we stayed, no sleep till 4am! The road from Drogheda - Balbriggan and around the city was no fun at all and it didn't help that we had to rely on Tom-Tom and some outdated sign posts so I think we did some extra mileage.

It was a good experience and we are planning this again next year, I think we raised about €20 000 for Barretstown and the Irish cancer society.

Good luck with your plans.:)

blorg

Well done on that Dominoid, sounds great.

Agree with the N25 being nasty- I have cycled Waterford-Cork leaving the N25 early to head down to the coast through Kill, then after Dungarvan head towards Lismore and drop down through Tallow and Conna. Actually isn't even (much) longer than just heading straight down the N25- under 5km anyway.

portabubblejoe

well lads,planned on doin it last year but kept out with injuries but im plannin on cycling around ireland by myself for charity june or july next year.
route i hav is dublin-belfast-coleraine-derry-donegal-sligo-castlebar-galway-ennis-ballybunion-killarney-cork-waterford-wicklow-dublin and home to meath. 1320km in 8 maybe 9 days.
any tips on travel and fundraising would be great.

Cheers

blorg

I would go around the Burren and get the Shannon Ferry to Tarbert in North Kerry, it goes every half an hour in summer. Fantastic landscape albeit windy. No need to go through Ennis.

I have cycled basically around the entire south of your proposed route, in fact thinking about it I have actually done much of the northern section also during the Tour of Ireland but was so fecked while doing that my memory is somewhat hazy.

I would suggest not to get hung up on needing to stick completely by the coast or anything like that as there can be nicer routes. What are your feelings regarding mountains- bring it on or avoid at all costs.

portabubblejoe

Cheers blorg, startin all the plannin and fundraisin in jan but thats the basic route. forgot about the ferry thats already on the route instead of ennis! prob regret sayin this but i dont mind a few mountains!! doing it for charity but to test myself and gain the experience and memories from it all too! would love to do it in a 7day challenge but would be pushin it a bit! id hav to shorten my route and dont want to do that cos hopefully will have a good bit of money raised so want to keep my promise!

dnme

Dominoid

Well done, great achievement. Tell me...what did ye do for accomodation ?

How much do you reckon the trip cost per man ?