irish touring club maybe?

feck sake lads

hi all ,this thread is more geared to the touring community here .
would you folk's be interested in joining a touring club namely [url]www.fellclub.org.uk .i joined this unique little club about 4 years ago and after a trip to the UK last year with a touring friend he also joined when he seen the set up.
i was hoping to get a fell club going here in Ireland ,basically what it is a member would organize a campsite and others members would MEET up there for a few day's camping and whatever, but you must get there by public transport or your own steam, absolutely no cars are allowed at a fellclub meet. if anyone is interested take a look at the fellclub site check out the meet reports i have a few reports on it ,the photo shows what kinda people attend these meets me and my buddy are seen getting a welcome the bearded chairman:D:D
anyway hope i get your thoughts on it believe me it's a brilliant club the membership is around 7 euro a year but please check it out for yourself's.
regards
anto.

From recent post: http://www.fellclub.org.uk/
http://www.fellclub.org.uk/Watlington.html

just a quick reminder if any of you folks want to join a unique wee club.[/url]

happygoose

What is the second rule of fell club?

DualFrontDiscs

I'm up for that. Definitely.

DFD.

feck sake lads

i have no idea what the second rule is sorry :D
DFD great your interested if we got a good group well who know how this could take off,
look how the bushcraft lads and lassies are doing since it went up on boards.ie .but all this would have to go through the fellclub proper.;);)

Headdy

I'm interested

feck sake lads

Headdy wrote: »

I'm interested

thanks headdy hopefully a few more will be interested did you chech out the fellclub site.
you willalso see on the site links the camping forum has a link there it's called travelling light .
i will stick up the link later.;)

Headdy

Link would be great I have the usual preclusions (family work etc) but could possibly do something once or twice a year

feck sake lads

Headdy wrote: »

Link would be great I have the usual preclusions (family work etc) but could possibly do something once or twice a year

i'm just poping out for a spin but if you look at the site go into links scroll down you will see travelling light thats were we all speak to one another great little site run by pedaldog one nice fella.
pm me anytime i would only be to glad to fill you in .
thanks
.

feck sake lads

i was kinda hoping to have a meet over in virgina obviously when the site opens and the weather is good for camping,i live in drogheda so it would be around 50 miles for me to get there or maybe a bit less;)
the usual things that happen at meets is camp up for a few day get to know one another maybe explore the surrounding area places of interest or whatever.
try to arrange good rates for us cycle tourists we dont take up to much space after all.
but anyway each member could arrange there own meet and let people know about it by email or on the travelling light site fell club section,
so how does all this sound.;)

feck sake lads

feck sake lads wrote: »

i'm just poping out for a spin but if you look at the site go into links scroll down you will see travelling light thats were we all speak to one another great little site run by pedaldog one nice fella.
pm me anytime i would only be to glad to fill you in .
thanks
.

link to site forum/.
invisionfree.com/travelling light .hope that works

feck sake lads

dual front-discks and heddy hope you lads are still interested ,
i tried to rope a few lads in the drogheda wheelers in on our first outing this morning but there all more into road riding (the fools the fools do they know what there missing:D:D)
but listen lads don't loose interest it's a great club and if we got something going here it would be great.
thanks;)

Dogbad

How man Feck sake?

Tis I the Dog in another name:eek:

Link is http://z10.invisionfree.com/Travelling_Light/index.php

petethedrummer

I like cycling and I like camping, so I'd be on for this.

Dogbad

Go for it Pete.
Fell Club is a lovely bunch, mostly:cool:, and the Travelling Light Forum is a handy place to talk to a few people in the same mind.

If you do go on the forum watch out for one guy though as he is trouble but we can't seem to get rid of him! Anto' he calls himself I think:rolleyes:

feck sake lads

Dogbad wrote: »

Go for it Pete.
Fell Club is a lovely bunch, mostly:cool:, and the Travelling Light Forum is a handy place to talk to a few people in the same mind.

If you do go on the forum watch out for one guy though as he is trouble but we can't seem to get rid of him! Anto' he calls himself I think:rolleyes:

ah good man PD you made your way over brilliant:D i shall talk to you later.
pete great your interested as i said if we got a section of the fell club in our country well the sky's the limit.
check out the travelling light site there all near enough members and all very experience touring cyclists .
me and my buddy spent a week touring with them in the cotswolds last year the craic was brilliant we were looked after like kings;) i have a few reports on our trip if you care to have a gander give you an idea what goes on.

feck sake lads

Lads can i give you some idea of what it will cost to join the Fellclub/
for 1 year £6=euro 7.50
joint £8.
three years £15 for single
£20 three year joint
but three year only available after one year membership
pennons£2.75
metal badge£1.25
cloth badge£1.75
plus you get five copy's of the trek and tent magazine every year .
all in all a brilliant source for the touring cyclists, list of campsites all over Britain, discounts of different stores which is great up to 15% .
you can join the club through the fellclub website on line membership or if you have any problems with that i'll take your money ;)and forward it on but that's entirely up to you :cool:
thanks again lads
anto.

Dogbad

Regarding Anto's Idea for an Irish Branch of the Fell Club.
I would really like to get on the Ferry at Holyhead and arrive in Dublin with bike and camping gear with the idea of doing a slow tour.
My ideal would be moving on most days but not being rigid in my timings. I'd like to do about 40 to 45 miles between sites and not be too rushed to stop and look around wherever I am at the time.
The combined knowledge of the people on this forum alone should be enough to get some good advice. If there were an official source of info' such as the Fell Club with a sites list there it would be brilliant. and the sites lists are usually made up of peoples advice that have used these places so it is genuinely helpful.

Think about what you could be making good!

feck sake lads

yes sounds brilliant my idea of a good camping trip as well ,i like the idea of being based in a good campsite for however long i wish to stay and cycling around the area.but getting to know where these campsites are is the secret ,that's were the fell club members would come in handy ;)just letting other members know even arranging a meet at there favorite campsite.
i know it would take some planning to get it going but hey we have to start somewhere;)

thebouldwhacker

Well if its any use to you I can recommend Hungary Hill Camp site in West Cork, just outside Glengarrif. Its location is perfect for day touring around all the peninsulas around West Cork & Kerry and its a very well kept site with great facilities and a 'real' pub beside it including a beer garden on the waters edge. I stayed there last year on a weekend tour and the only complaint I had was that we had to leave it. For my money the best site for many miles. I reckon it will tick all your boxes.
On a side note the camp site in Allihies is a dump (I have stayed there twice), unless you want to stay some where to see how a campsite should not be run stay away. Dogs and dog crap, disgusting facilities, drunk teens (and adults), loud music into the small hours, the real chance of your tent being knocked down by said teens/dogs while you sleep. For a place of such natural beauty and a great village the site sucks big time. That said there is a great hostel there so if your planning to stay there either wild camp or book the hostel.

setanta159

Idea for a touring club is great. Am seriously considering using my Trek road bike for touring when the weather improves. I have found myself reading more and more books on cycle touring which I have found fascinating and also spending countless hours following the blogs on www.crazyguyonabike.com . Wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe try and organise a small 'group' tour by people on here so those new to touring might learn the ropes and get a feel for the experience.

feck sake lads

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Well if its any use to you I can recommend Hungary Hill Camp site in West Cork, just outside Glengarrif. Its location is perfect for day touring around all the peninsulas around West Cork & Kerry and its a very well kept site with great facilities and a 'real' pub beside it including a beer garden on the waters edge. I stayed there last year on a weekend tour and the only complaint I had was that we had to leave it. For my money the best site for many miles. I reckon it will tick all your boxes.
On a side note the camp site in Allihies is a dump (I have stayed there twice), unless you want to stay some where to see how a campsite should not be run stay away. Dogs and dog crap, disgusting facilities, drunk teens (and adults), loud music into the small hours, the real chance of your tent being knocked down by said teens/dogs while you sleep. For a place of such natural beauty and a great village the site sucks big time. That said there is a great hostel there so if your planning to stay there either wild camp or book the hostel.

thanks for that tbw i never toured down south so i'll put that campsite on my must see list,what do you think of the idea of getting a section of the fell club going in ireland your a man with plenty touring experience .and it would be people like you that could get things going;)

feck sake lads

setanta159 wrote: »

Idea for a touring club is great. Am seriously considering using my Trek road bike for touring when the weather improves. I have found myself reading more and more books on cycle touring which I have found fascinating and also spending countless hours following the blogs on www.crazyguyonabike.com . Wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe try and organise a small 'group' tour by people on here so those new to touring might learn the ropes and get a feel for the experience.

i often go into that site myself wealth of information on it.
do you think your trek would take the load you might need,it is a road bike i imagine.
can i ask you also do you think a section of the fell club would be a good idea and would you lads be willing to join it.

feck sake lads

BTW just to say i'm a fair weather tourer/camper:D:D anyway i'm talking getting something going around end march/ April besides most campsites don't open until April;)

setanta159

feck sake lads wrote: »

i often go into that site myself wealth of information on it.
do you think your trek would take the load you might need,it is a road bike i imagine.
can i ask you also do you think a section of the fell club would be a good idea and would you lads be willing to join it.

Would certainly be willing to join it if set up. (Trek is a roadbike but has eyelids to take a rack and with 25mm tyres would be hopefully ok).

feck sake lads

setanta159 wrote: »

Would certainly be willing to join it if set up. (Trek is a roadbike but has eyelids to take a rack and with 25mm tyres would be hopefully ok).

setanta 159 the fell club is set up already to join you can register your membership on line on the fell club site. or if you wish send me your detail's and money of course, and i will send it on for you ,
at present we have only two members in Ireland so if we got a good few lads or women joining we could arrange out own meets.
your bike is it the trek 520 i know thats there touring bike but if it has eyelids you should be fine .
i ride a thorn sherpa beast of a bike great bike loaded up but man is it heavy:mad:
anyway hope you join up ,let me know cheers.

Dogbad

The site at Allihies sounds like a real Oasis, of bad news:(, so thanks for the info' on that. As Anto' says the Fell Club is already well set up over here and all it needs is for a few more people in Ireland to join and there's a section ready built. It sounds like there's a lot of good information from peoples own experiences and hear say.
I am quite exited about the idea of a meet as the last time I was in Ireland I was too drunk to remember much more than the best places to leave "Pavement Pizza":P and I was only 14 at the time.

feck sake lads

the site in west cork look's fantastic thanks for that theBouldwhacker ,anymore recommendations on camp site would be great ,
the lads in the UK have an extended list of highly recommended sites all over the UK .
anyway dogbad things have changed since you last visited ,but we are all still mad and love the craic even though the country is falling apart.:D:D

feck sake lads

this one for the cycle tourers again:DThe KM rally in barnsoul farm in dumfries Scotland will be held in September.i have it on good authority from a few lads in the fell club(UK) this is a good craic great campsite in a lovely part of Scotland. the fees at the site are £8 a night sounds good to me.
anyway i
will be going if anyone is interested ,ferry from Belfast to stranrear.probably a week.the distance from stranrear ferry to dumferies is 70 miles, so i would be camping on route say half distance.
cheers
anto.

feck sake lads

ah well i gave it a go but seem's my idea died a death .but listen lads check it out for your selfs i think you will see it's not that bad of an idea;)
anyone got any ideas on what i'm doing wrong feel free to let me know.:rolleyes:

thebouldwhacker

Dont give up yet, I reckon your idea will work. Let me put it this way, if I said 'I'm off to spent a week of my holidays in Scotland cycling about with a group of people I have never met' my oh would probably hit me with a blunt instrument. I reckon later in the year there will be a few takers but at the moment talking about heading off to the UK may be a bit of a stretch, think of it this way there is probably over 60 million people in the UK(Ireland less than 4), how many are Fell members? your target group is much smaller here but with persistence I think you'll get it off the ground..

I'm only talking for myself here but I reckon your idea will grow legs later in the season. Boards spins are very popular in Dublin and I think during the summer the idea of a boards touring weekend could be too, so keep the faith, keep posting and you'll be surprised with the results.
I for one would certainly be up for a weekend or long weekend touring meet up.
Build it and they will come;)

feck sake lads

thanks for that ,you could be wright probably the wrong time of the year to talk touring.i only came across the Fell club about four years ago myself when i got interested in touring. i joined the traveling light forum where they all hang out so to speak got talking to a few lads who were brilliant at giving advice on all things touring. i even managed to buy all my gear at a great price from one of the lads all new stuff a cost price.
but besides all that i just liked the idea of heading off to the UK for a weeks camping and meeting up with a few lads .i had never met any of them before just to talk to on the tl forum , but what a welcome i (WE) got when we arrived in england we were treated like kings..
as for the trip to Scotland one of the lads has emailed me directions on how to get there what campsites to book into on route these lads can't do enough for you really nice guys.
i often though why dont we have something like this in ireland ,it can only benefit the touring community big time.
i would love to see it take off get a few experienced touring cyclists to arrange a meet in there favorite place .
i'm only a novice at this touring camping lark but what a great way to see the country your traveling in, magic;)
anyway the boulwhacker thanks for the reply and everyone else who showed an interest maybe one day it will happen and someone will say ,jesus we should have done this years ago:D:D:D

Headdy

Feck Sake, Feck sake lads, Dont give up yet - its definitely a slow burner for me but thats not to say I'm not interested, when the weather gets better it will be more enticing, as I said I'll have to find time for it but we can get over that. Keep the thread alive for a few months to keep spreading the word

macadam

FSL, I mentioned this thread to Charlie who was with us yesterday and he is well up for it, you can mention it to him next weekend.

feck sake lads

thanks headdy and macadam , i will try and post some pic's of the tour we done last summer .it's really hard to keep this going ,basically i can't tell you lads any more than i have already
but i wont give up on it just yet because i think it's a great idea to get a section of the fell club up and running here in our own little country ,that i really know little of I'm ashamed to say,by bike that is.

macadam

Maybe organize a mini tour of Ireland take in the Fermanagh lakes or the giants causeway, advertise it here and see how it goes.
If I have no work I might as well be cycling.

feck sake lads

macadam how this would work if you wanted to organize your own meet where ever it may be.then you would let others know well in advance.
if you were lucky you might get a few to join you but then again, you could get 20 guys there ,but you wont know until you try;)
i really don't know enough about campsites in Ireland to get things going,ok i know there's one in Virgina .
they have a great set up in the UK ,as there usually something going on at there meets like a cycling rally or vintage car rally or even a folk music festival .
Scotland for instance is a cycle rally 4 days of cycling, meals laid on entrainment at night ,i think theres even a bar on site:D and all for around £80 for the week .
but we need some experience tourers here to get things going, lads that know how to plan a good meet ,then when people get to know the craic they can organize there own meets:cool:
but listen there doesn't have to be anything going on at this get together ,just do your own thing.

Dogbad

Don't feel down about a slow response Fecksake! I arranged a Fell Club meet in the Lake dsitrict four years ago and only three turned up, we had a good time still. There was a Tramp (Board before travelling light) meeting a couple fo years ago and that went brilliant, Clarion and Butterfly met for the forst time and they got married a few months ago so who knows what can happen at a small meet!
I'm going to aim to do the KM rally in Dumfries this year and I have camped at the site on my own a few years ago so I know it's a decent site in a good area.
Best way forward is just to keep throwing the odd idea up to people and eventually you'll get a few people saying "Hey, that'd be good for me.... " and the like.

feck sake lads

thanks dogbad yeah i think it's a great idea myself hopefully we will get a few boardies to join up i think they would enjoy it.
anyway hopefully I'll see you in Scotland in september as long as i have the money i'll get there should be a good craic;)

feck sake lads

well I'm still on for this fell club to get going here i'm not giving up just yet.:D
i met a friend on sunday i was telling him about the idea he thought it was great now he wants to join me in the Scotland trip.(KM Rally)
as i said i will try and post some pic's when i can give you lads some idea on what the fell club is all about.;)

Dogbad

I'm going to do the KM rally on the recumbent trike. Sensible enough idea until you remember that KM was famous for the upright "Safety Bicycle!"
They'll stone me but I can take it:eek:

feck sake lads

dogbad look forward to meeting up with you and that crazy bike /trike.
are you going to be camping for the week .
i was planning of getting there tuesday leaving sunday. will there be a place for fell club members or is it a free for all .when do you expect to be there .
is it best to book with the ctc i'm not a member but julk reckons that i dont need to be;) as i said might have a friend with me so i would need to know if we do have to book for it .
anyway hopefully we will meet up at long last the craic should be good.

Dogbad

I'm not too certain about being exact yet but I would be camping more than just the weekend for sure.
I don't think there will be any Fell Club specific bits there and I am just planning on getting there whenever I arrive and taking what pitch they give. I've used the Barnsoul site myself a few years ago but not done the Rally. I think it has good attendance levels but I don't know if you need to book the site how far in advance etc. If I manage to dig any more sound info' out I'll post it up here as well as travelling light.

feck sake lads

good stuff i like to plan well in advance as you know.;)

Louise01

Hi there,

This is abit off the subject but your post came up when I searched 'camping'... Basically i'm a photography student and I am doing a project for my degree on camping and I was wondering would it be poosible for me to come and photograph your groups tents pitched whenever you all plan a get together?? I am trying to photograph as many as possible and all help is greatly appreciated:)

Thanks,

Louise

feck sake lads

Louise if only i could get this lot on boards to join up to the fell club you would be more than welcome to come along to any of the meets and click away until your hearts content.
but look in the meantime if your interested i could set up my touring bike and tent maybe pitch the tent down by the beach and you could take some pic's how does that sound;)

Louise01

I know all about trying to get groups together!! its a nightmare.

That sounds brill! wish everyone was as helpful as you! where in the
country are you based?

Louise:)

feck sake lads

I'm in drogheda ,let me know when you want to do this i'm unemployed so i have loads of free time ,but give me notice as long as the sun is shining all should be good.

Louise01

Ah nice1!im only about an hour away! i live in south monaghan.. what beach were ya thinkin? would you be able to do it this weekend or next week sometime? if the weathers good that is!

feck sake lads

Louise01 wrote: »

Ah nice1!im only about an hour away! i live in south monaghan.. what beach were ya thinkin? would you be able to do it this weekend or next week sometime? if the weathers good that is!

it would suit me much better on week days as i cycle with drogheda wheelers group all weekend.
the long beach at clogherhead 9 miles from drogheda is only beautiful
had you any particular photo in mind .complete cycle tourist set up with a great background or will you just wing it;)
anyway let me know because i will have to pack up my panniers and tent clean my bike and myself jeez i hope i'm going to be in the picture:D:D

Louise01

Hiya. sorry only getting back to you now. During the week it is then.How about we say next tuesday? if the weathers okay?

The particular photos i am doing at the minute is before and after.. im doing like a performance piece... I photograph the tents at dusk, just when the sun starts to go down, then I go back the next day and photograph the site after the camper(s) have gone... and yes the background is very imporant to me..or the landscape should I say.. They are landscape images however thy have tents placed in them.. I also take the photograph at a distance, so I can get as much of the image in as poosible.. I take other photograph while there...basically anything that symbolises wild camping!

do you plan to actually camp the nite or just pitch then leave? And of course you can be in the picture if ya want! Its more of an observation thing so id probly photograph ya when your not looking!

if ya have any other questions dont be afraid to ask me!

feck sake lads

louise i have no intentions of either camping or leaving my tent i paid 500 quid for it jeez this could turn out to be an epic from dusk to dawn ,but listen i'm a man of my word, but to be honest i can't be hanging about for 24 hours ,can you not use trick photography of some kind.
my son is a film maker and a pretty good lad with a camera i'm sure he could come up with a trick or two (frank Kelly blog celluloid journey) check him out.
as the man said I'm free ,but not that free.