Thinking of cycling from Kilkenny to donegal

ashleey

We are doing our quarterly trip up to see the family in Donegal and was thinking of cycling over 2 days while my wife drives up with the kids. It's about 180 km a day.
Can anyone give me advice on which particular roads to avoid and if it is a mad idea as I'm familiar with the car journey but by bike is different.

cdaly_

I would have thought 180km per day might be pushing it a bit unless you're used to the long distances.

ashleey

I did that sort of distance last year but it was France, which means smoother and flatter. Might have to do 3 days

Harrybelafonte

How far into Donegal are you going?

blorg

Look at Google Maps Walking directions, they are good for cycling. Looks flat until the end, more like 150km/day unless you are going very far north or west into Donegal. I'd say well doable if you have done 180km/day back to back in France. Google Maps walking tends to route on smaller roads... you can figure something decent out. I have done a lot of long cycles around the country and would avoid N roads personally. To be honest a GPS makes this a hell of a lot easier if you have a complex route, you can go down complete back roads in confidence... Without you can still do it but needs a bit more planning and more of a risk of going off course.

Captain Havoc

Are we going to see you back on the bike soon so?

gmoorewest

Good luck with that, planning to go from mid Roscommon to Letterkenny myself. I've been on road from Athlone to Sligo, mostly good surface, bar the odd patch. Only notable hills are around Boyle, only approx 2km and very good surface. Back roads around this area are very bad. Let us know if you want some company or a food stop!!!

ludermor

blorg wrote: »

Look at Google Maps Walking directions, they are good for cycling. Looks flat until the end, more like 150km/day unless you are going very far north or west into Donegal. I'd say well doable if you have done 180km/day back to back in France. Google Maps walking tends to route on smaller roads... you can figure something decent out. I have done a lot of long cycles around the country and would avoid N roads personally. To be honest a GPS makes this a hell of a lot easier if you have a complex route, you can go down complete back roads in confidence... Without you can still do it but needs a bit more planning and more of a risk of going off course.

if you drag the starting point of that link to dublin then it sends you to the isle of man then onto belfast then donegal!!! Might need an aquabike for that journey

NeedsTraining

Ooops

ashleey

Google maps walking is a great idea. I'm going as far as ardara in the south of the county and also I could also ring for a lift in the last 30k if I capitulate. I'll be using a nokia 5800 for gps maps in case I get lost. I'm away next week and if the weather is good when I get back I'll give it a go. I'm planning to stay away from n roads as much as possible. Thanks for the advice

blorg

ludermor wrote: »

if you drag the starting point of that link to dublin then it sends you to the isle of man then onto belfast then donegal!!! Might need an aquabike for that journey

Yes, it is something to do with crossing the border into NI and the routing algorithm for the UK- as far as I can work out. Only happens (but not always) when a route is going through NI.

ashleey

I'm planning it for the Easter holiday weekend if anyone is on the road then. Probable departure on Easter Saturday and hoping for lightish traffic and no trucks

Captain Havoc

Be very careful using Nokia as a GPS, I used it to get from Abbeyleix to Kilkenny once and it took me on some dirt tracks.

ashleey

I'll use it as a backstop and I appreciate the advice.

I found a brilliant site for plotting an elevation map of the route:
http://www.heywhatsthat.com/profiler.html

I'm planning to cycle to Longford on the Saturday and on the next day, get up earlyish and if I'm shattered get picked up by the family travelling up on the Sunday.

Now fingers crossed for good weather, otherwise I wont bother.