Mizen to Malin Charity cycle

Howsa

I am planning to do a charity cycle from Mizen to Malin Head later this year. I wish to find some information on this route such as;

1. Which is the best way South to North or vice versa,
2. Which are the less hilly routes taking in Cavan Town, Ballyjamesduff on way,
3. Which is the best time of year to do it.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Regards
Howsa

thebouldwhacker

Hey Howsa, I havn't done the cycle myself but due to the prevailing winds most do it south to north, no matter where you go its always best to start from Cork!
There are a number of threads on this cycle over the years so do a search.
Best of luck!

gilmo1973

Hi Howsa,
I did this cycle myself at end of August 2010. A very enjoyable 6 days.

I kept a short enough blog as I went along which might be useful:
http://jimgilmartin.posterous.com/

Also saved the route here:
http://ridewithgps.com/routes/106075

I hope this is of some help.

Jim

christeb

Howsa,

I'm helping to organise a relay marathon run of the route over the May BH weekend. (Shameless plug here.)

I've got the 15 Marathon routes saved and made public on Map My Run, DM me your email and I can send them to you.

Did it in July before, one of the days was horribly cold and wet, so Ireland being Ireland I don't know if you can always get a good time of year! Rest of them were warm mostly.

I did it along the coast so mightn't be the best advice you can get, but here's my thread anyways: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055621801&

feck sake lads

is camping possible all along that route say doing 50 to 70 miles max a day.this is something i would to do myself .

thegalavanter

Howsa wrote: »

I am planning to do a charity cycle from Mizen to Malin Head later this year. I wish to find some information on this route such as;

1. Which is the best way South to North or vice versa,
2. Which are the less hilly routes taking in Cavan Town, Ballyjamesduff on way,
3. Which is the best time of year to do it.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.
Regards
Howsa

Hi Howsa,

I did it the other way round (North to South) for transportation and temperature reasons, but I did it last November so the issues of temperature if you go in the summer wont make any difference to you. The best month in Ireland always tends to be May in my opinion. I recommend you bring camping gear and camp a few times because you can go further without having to waste time finding accomodation and have more of an adventurous experience. We stayed in hotels because it was floating around the freezing point when we did it. The next time I do it I'll do it during the summer and it will make the whole experience more enjoyable.

We took a really good route, but it certainly wasnt the shortest. We wanted a good mix of seeing good sights while still getting it done within a good time frame because of the time of year. You should check out my highlight video or even the daily videos I produced to see the route I took and for general tips and advice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zUTkdxlNKg

The best advice I can give you in a nutshell though is to pack very light. You'll be amazed on how little you can get by with when you try. One or two pairs of socks max. The same with undies and T-shirts. They can all be washed and dried quickly.

On a more personal note, I think people should use these type of trips to raise money for desperately underfunded charties rather than the big boys. We did it for 'Headstrong' who are quite unknown and they really appreciated the money.

Any other questions?

Edit: Just to add, I quickly got rid of the water proof trousers I brought with me. I found on the first day when it was extremely windy that they acted as a sail and made life very difficult. Oh yes! Another very good reason to start in Malin is if your mountain muscles are not developed. It is a lot more hilly and mountainous in Kerry and Cork than it is on the Donegal route we took. I say this because you seem rightly concerned about the hills. I live in a flat county so I never got much training on hills before I left and I was delighted to start in Donegal rather than Cork on heinsight.

Another tip is not to buy that crappy raleigh bag from Argos. It took my friend 8 minutes every time he wanted to take it off his bike. Mine was a simple lift and place and only took a few seconds to tie. Bringing a rucksack was ok in the end. I thought it would be a bitch on my back, but it was ok. I highly recommend you bring water shoes too (e.g. The North Face 'Hedgehog' runners or similar). If its any way as rainy as our experience you'll thank god you had them. I brought The North Face waterproof Gor-tex runners and regreted it because they just filled with water running down my leg and I ended up having to pull over constantly to empty them before my feet froze on me. Again though, I went in the winter and I survived (barely) so anyone doing the same thing in the summer wont have much of an issue.

You wont need a sat nav or gps. We followed sign posts and used a basic map showing mountain gradiants to plot our route and we honestly never got lost once. Water and engery drinks in general are heavy to carry. 1 litre = 1 kg so its best to buy a 500ml drink every a few miles rather than carry loads on you.

For the love of god dont make the same mistake my friend made. Install Kevlar tyres on your bike!!!! Dont buy one of these sports bikes with skinny ****ty tyres because with no kevlar. You'll only be like the hare in the story of the hare and the turtle. You may be lighter and cycle faster, but the 10 punctures you'll get versus the zero I got will slow you down and piss you off.

Howsa

Thanks for that information - all exellent suggestions. I will have a look at your Youtube videos later. Looks like its Malin to Mizen - and probably in August.
Thanks Again
Howsa

thegalavanter wrote: »

Hi Howsa,

I did it the other way round (North to South) for transportation and temperature reasons, but I did it last November so the issues of temperature if you go in the summer wont make any difference to you. The best month in Ireland always tends to be May in my opinion. I recommend you bring camping gear and camp a few times because you can go further without having to waste time finding accomodation and have more of an adventurous experience. We stayed in hotels because it was floating around the freezing point when we did it. The next time I do it I'll do it during the summer and it will make the whole experience more enjoyable.

We took a really good route, but it certainly wasnt the shortest. We wanted a good mix of seeing good sights while still getting it done within a good time frame because of the time of year. You should check out my highlight video or even the daily videos I produced to see the route I took and for general tips and advice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zUTkdxlNKg

The best advice I can give you in a nutshell though is to pack very light. You'll be amazed on how little you can get by with when you try. One or two pairs of socks max. The same with undies and T-shirts. They can all be washed and dried quickly.

On a more personal note, I think people should use these type of trips to raise money for desperately underfunded charties rather than the big boys. We did it for 'Headstrong' who are quite unknown and they really appreciated the money.

Any other questions?

Edit: Just to add, I quickly got rid of the water proof trousers I brought with me. I found on the first day when it was extremely windy that they acted as a sail and made life very difficult. Oh yes! Another very good reason to start in Malin is if your mountain muscles are not developed. It is a lot more hilly and mountainous in Kerry and Cork than it is on the Donegal route we took. I say this because you seem rightly concerned about the hills. I live in a flat county so I never got much training on hills before I left and I was delighted to start in Donegal rather than Cork on heinsight.

Another tip is not to buy that crappy raleigh bag from Argos. It took my friend 8 minutes every time he wanted to take it off his bike. Mine was a simple lift and place and only took a few seconds to tie. Bringing a rucksack was ok in the end. I thought it would be a bitch on my back, but it was ok. I highly recommend you bring water shoes too (e.g. The North Face 'Hedgehog' runners or similar). If its any way as rainy as our experience you'll thank god you had them. I brought The North Face waterproof Gor-tex runners and regreted it because they just filled with water running down my leg and I ended up having to pull over constantly to empty them before my feet froze on me. Again though, I went in the winter and I survived (barely) so anyone doing the same thing in the summer wont have much of an issue.

You wont need a sat nav or gps. We followed sign posts and used a basic map showing mountain gradiants to plot our route and we honestly never got lost once. Water and engery drinks in general are heavy to carry. 1 litre = 1 kg so its best to buy a 500ml drink every a few miles rather than carry loads on you.

For the love of god dont make the same mistake my friend made. Install Kevlar tyres on your bike!!!! Dont buy one of these sports bikes with skinny ****ty tyres because with no kevlar. You'll only be like the hare in the story of the hare and the turtle. You may be lighter and cycle faster, but the 10 punctures you'll get versus the zero I got will slow you down and piss you off.

thegalavanter

Howsa wrote: »

Thanks for that information - all exellent suggestions. I will have a look at your Youtube videos later. Looks like its Malin to Mizen - and probably in August.
Thanks Again
Howsa

No probs. If I were you I'd have a look at our daily videos as well which are linked in the Highlights video above and on my channel 'simon44'. I could honestly talk for hours about it. I'm glad I did it. Its strange finishing in the end and having no more road to cycle.

Oh and dont do what my mate did. You'll notice in the videos that we had a nice beer for ourselves to celebrate. Well he had a bit too much and on the way back he came down a steep hill (of which there are many around the Mizen head area) and he fell off his bike pretty bad. His helmet cracked open completely so in essence it saved his life. Not that you'd do that of course

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKoS3wHOM1o

thegalavanter

Howsa wrote: »

Thanks for that information - all exellent suggestions. I will have a look at your Youtube videos later. Looks like its Malin to Mizen - and probably in August.
Thanks Again
Howsa

Hey, any progress on your trip? Are you still doing it?

Jmcmen

Did this over Easter. Was a smashing trip. Did Mizen to Leihinch, to Sligo and to Malin. 3 days is tough but well doable. Weather was poor too.

Worst part was that we missed the bus from Cork City to Skibb so we had to Cycle the 130km Down to the B+B the night before we set off. We were lashing it at over 30km/hr with the bags on the back but the light eventually got the better of us. Last 20km was dangerous with next to no lights, no hi vis, cold and rain. Everywhere was closed for grub too.

My main tip would be to time your ferry crossing well. There on the half hour South to North and on the hour North to South.
I turned the corner and it was about to pull out. My mate was behind so had to wait for him. It was a horrible hour in the cold waiting for it to return.

Enjoy it and any more Q's give me a shout

PS bring as little as possible, bags on the back tire you out alot. You'll smell like Sh1t at the end but at least you will be able to enjoy the pints at the end.