Mizen to Malin advice

killalanerr

Im doing a random unsurported B&B/Hotel Mizen to Malin ride http://goo.gl/maps/oznOL
My plan is to use my training bike with a carrier fitted traveling lite keeping it totally random with minimum planing allowing 3/4 days covering a minimum 150km per day i have penciled early may with an eye on the weather doing an average speed of 28/30kph
So advise or tips from people that have done this sort of thing before would be appreciated

Esroh

Killalanerr

As a local

Galway to Ballinrobe. Do not follow the N84, take the road through Cross(heading toward Cong) from Headford.

Its slightly shorter and not as busy and the surface is just as good.

Also further up to avoid the N17 (as its very exposed in places and there is a narrow stretch that goes from just inside the Sligo county border to Ballinacarrow ) you can go Swinford, Aclare , Coolaney, Sligo.

I rode the N17 with 5 others and a support car on a Sunday last year and this stretch was not fun.

Enjoy your spin

meercat

i will follow this thread with interest
keep this updated or report back when your finished if you dont mind
i fancy doing this later in the year myself
good luck and safe travels when you depart

Raam

I've done unsupported. We stayed in Charleville, Tuam and Bundoran, taking the most direct route which was mostly not on N roads. Up in Donegal we did go the main road route and it was fine.

2011abc

Surely if you were doing it in proper spirit would swim across at Tarbert?!

feck sake lads

you might as well do it on a motor bike can't see the point in a tour like that only to say you done it.
your missing out on so much so why rush relax enjoy west cork/ kerry/ clare, the best ireland has to offer chill out on spanish point before heading into doolin and the walk along the cliffs pure magic.:cool:

Raam

I think you are missing the point!

feck sake lads

:):)
i have been know to take that direction

killalanerr

Thanks for in input guys.The route i have in mind is a mix of N and R roads but it will be a bit of a dash the 18 hour record will be safe but i hope to get at least 150km done a day, feck sake lads it took me 9 days to do it on the motorbike

couerdelion

I did it last year -

Reports here -->

Day 1
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80547137&postcount=446

Day 2
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80547137&postcount=447

Day 3
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80547137&postcount=451

Day 4
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=80547137&postcount=454

Drumhilll

Take a look at the Cavan Kayakarun face book page three lads are nearly finished 1700km around Ireland cycle you can make contact with them for loads of advice and tips

killalanerr

This is creeping up on me now a week to go i think im more or less ready my panniers arrived last week and i did a run with them with a bit of gear in them all seems fine not nice going up hill with all that weight and they catch a lot more wind
Booked air coach to cork and hope to get to Goleen by BE tip down to Mizen in the evening after arriving then start proper from Goleen the next day, anybody recommend a b+b in Goleen to get me started ?

couerdelion

killalanerr wrote: »

This is creeping up on me now a week to go i think im more or less ready my panniers arrived last week and i did a run with them with a bit of gear in them all seems fine not nice going up hill with all that weight and they catch a lot more wind
Booked air coach to cork and hope to get to Goleen by BE tip down to Mizen in the evening after arriving then start proper from Goleen the next day, anybody recommend a b+b in Goleen to get me started ?

A little further down towards Mizen is the BarleyCove hotel. It's not fantastic but it's a bed and they do food / breakfast.

The Heron's Cove hotel has good reviews but was full when I was looking to book.

Raam

I stayed in this one in Crookhaven. Nice spot.

https://maps.google.ie/maps?q=goleen&ll=51.464088,-9.735324&spn=0.00266,0.004823&hnear=Goleen,+County+Cork&gl=ie&t=h&z=18&layer=c&cbll=51.464021,-9.73538&panoid=mpFi_eEEpi0P_ZY0ZVmiKA&cbp=12,288.39,,0,9.11

greenmat

Best of luck Killalanerr with your epic spin. Nice if you could keep us up to date here with your journey.

Snapper79

Keep us posted on how its going. I'm doing it myself in June with a friend pretty much the same route too. Over 5 days with support.

DeadMan1

killalanerr wrote: »

This is creeping up on me now a week to go i think im more or less ready my panniers arrived last week and i did a run with them with a bit of gear in them all seems fine not nice going up hill with all that weight and they catch a lot more wind
Booked air coach to cork and hope to get to Goleen by BE tip down to Mizen in the evening after arriving then start proper from Goleen the next day, anybody recommend a b+b in Goleen to get me started ?

We stayed at the Sea Front House in Toormore a few years ago. We were doing the same as yourself, taking a spin to Mizen head in the evening. I remember a warm welcome and freshly made apple pie on arrival. Lovely location

http://www.family-homes.ie/view_more.php?id=132

killalanerr

Day one done and dusted i bused it down to goleen from the big smoke yesterday a bit of a track.I rode over to mizen when i got their and couldn see a thing with the fog got wet to the skin on the way back not a good start.I had a nice meal in the heron cove and had an early night.i set off at 8am this mornin and it started to rain at 8.10 and rained all day but the gods of the wind were with me so i was able to push on got over the caha and Molls gap in good shape stopped for lunch with 100k done i had to stop and put more gear on at one stage being wet trough the cold was getin to me now all my gear is wet the lady of the house said she would dry it do me i do hope she does nothing worst than damp gear when your set in off.I would have liked to push on but the body was getin cold and i was finding it had to focus so 184k for the first day not a bad number.

feck sake lads

EPIC.:cool:

meercat

great 1st leg,safe travels

gearoidkerry

Just came across this v interesting ,well done and looking forward to hearing more reports,am thinking of some thing the same my self,any pictures of bike with your gear on it?i have a giant defy 3 which I think would be ok for light touring

cdaly_

Good lad. Enjoy today's wind and rain...

ford2600

Barry Meehan of World wide cycles, Clonmel just did this N-S in two days.
All up on strava. Seems to have been a group of 5. Nice pedalling

brasshead

Fair play! Keep her lit - hopefully the wind today will help you along and you arrive at the next point drier than yesterday.

kuro2k

best of luck, I would love to give this a go sometime

killalanerr

Day 2 left tarbert for the 8.30am ferry i was a few mins late but the guys on the ferry seen me tting it a long the road and waited for me good start.i didnt get any rain today it tryed it best put held off the wind on the other day was not playing ball as soon as i got off the ferry i hit a head wind i knew it was goin to be a hard day i was right strong cross winds and head winds make for hard going and was makein progress slow i think i spend more time in the small ring than i did yesterday the burren is lovely but with the cross winds and the hills i was glad to see the back of is stopped for lunch with just over the 100k done had a light lunch more of that later i had a nice tale wind run until i turned at orangemore wher i had a block head wind for the last 40k inspite of eating all day i bonked in the last hour not good so 160k for the day so i think that rules out doing it in 3 days the body is starting to complain a bit .

gearoidkerry

Fair play to you,tough going with the wind,it should ease up tomorrow

killalanerr

had a perfect day today tail wind almost all the way i left Headfort in the rain but it dryed up i caught a few showers.when i reached the n17 i changed from my planed route and stayed on the main road as the wind was right at my back if i had Eoen this yesterday i could have saved my self a lot of pain. out side Sligo i had to change into some light gear as the sun was out and i over heating.stoped for lunch at just over 90k and this time i eat my fill and stocked up on jelly beans stoped in Sligo in halfords got new brake blocks done on the spot top guys . The rest of the day was uneventful some nice views so 204k@28kph a little under the 100k to finish

killalanerr

Well that was emotional finished this on saturday i had a nice run through Donegal was joined by a friend from down that way for the last 60k which was great i finished in Malin head in a hail storm about summed up the trip,no punctures or mechanicals expect for the the brake blocks but they were wore out before i left
Some people were asking about which bike to use and answer to that is the one you have i used my old 12 year old halfords steel framed training hack,as trying to race is where my real interest is my luggage system is unlikely to be used again so i took the carrier of an old ladies bike thats been lying in the garage theses panniers http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=13690 travleing light done just fine with bin linners nothing got wet,mudgards are a must wash your shorts or have clean ones every day the one day i didnt i payed the price with bad rash
Few funny things that happened its almost impossible to use your card in the smaller towns i was €5 short to pay the B+B which would mean i would have to wait until 9,30 till the post office opened before i could hit the road an american couple gave me the €5 so i could be gone at 7am nice people
The only other cyclist i met on the road had to bust a gut to get up to me on one of the hills then sat on me till we got over the top he went on to tell me what a good club racer he was so a had to half wheel him i could tell he was glad to see the back of me he will telling the story about the guy with the bags for a while to come
It wasnt really touring the way i did it doing it completely unsupported in that time was a real challenge i did enjoy the trip but long distance touring is not for me ill be sticking to trying race

greenmat

So you met 1 cyclist and you Half Wheeled him, lol. You can show us all on Thursday. Well done mate, huge respect, a lovely event to do in honour of your Father.

manwithaplan

greenmat wrote: »

So you met 1 cyclist and you Half Wheeled him,

killalanerr has been known to half wheel himself. I sometimes wake up in the night shaking from unwelcome visions of that yellow bike with its front wheel poking out ahead of mine.

MungoMan

good achievement. What a great thing to do.

Rain is probably always very likely, cycling so close to the Atlantic.


Whats the best way to do it, book accomodation in advance , or cycle as far as you can in a day, and hopefully find something locally when you decide to stop for the day ?

Did you start with a plan ?

Cycling on a steel workhorse with panniers, and getting average speeds of 28km hour, thats good pedaling compared to the average.

borntobike

Hi
I done it twice in a month last year and learned some lessons.
First is use B&B accomodation as it is quite at night and they held with an early start for breakfast.
We done 3.5days and used - Killarney, Oranmore and Mullaghmore.
If you have a support vechicle and feel good in the evening you can push on and then get ferried back to the B&B. Also if you get a calm day you may want to eat into the next days target.
Best advice is definitely to avoid busy hotels.

www.bored.ie

Does anyone have any advice on how best to transport a bike from cork to mizen? The bus eireann times do not suit. Does anyone know of any private operators?

Cape Clear

www.bored.ie wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on how best to transport a bike from cork to mizen? The bus eireann times do not suit. Does anyone know of any private operators?

Would it be an option to get a bus Eireann to Bantry and cycle the 25 or so miles? How would this fit with your plans . A company called O'Donoghue's also run a bus service to Bantry/Glenngarriff.