350-400mile loop from rosslare

rorymccarthy01

Hello,

I am looking to do a decent road bike cycle in Ireland for a week (350-400 miles in 5 days). I currently live in London, so was thinking of getting the ferry to Rosslare and doing a loop from there. Across country (west) then back around the cork coast.

Does anyone have any advice on routes, roads, or any other suggestions before I book ferry and stuff.

Cheers,

Rory

michael196

Head the south coast : Rosslare -wellington bridge- Bally hack -Waterford- coast road to Dungarvan- yeoghal- Cork - Skibereen- Kilarney- Clare- Galway- athlone- Wicklow- Wicklow mountains- Wexford - rosslare


'ish

Postit

I'd recommend this book

hypersonic

I'd get the train to balnaslow, and then cycle anti clockwise around the coast.
some great spots along the way like the achil greenway, conenmara, cliffsof morhra, Kerry etc.
I've cycled wexford Dublin, and wexford sligo across country and there nice but nothing special. the west coast is where its at!

nilhg

Personally if I was leaving Rosslare on a bike I'd be heading across into Waterford, Cork and (depending on the legs) Kerry ASAP. Something like this could be a starting point to work from.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2490745

smacl

rorymccarthy01 wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on routes, roads, or any other suggestions before I book ferry and stuff.

Just be aware that some of the small rural roads in Ireland are pretty rough, so 25mm or 28mm tyres are going to give you more comfort. While I'd agree with Michael196's route, five days is a short enough time frame, so it's worth picking out a few highlights for each day and planning well in advance. This often involves a less direct route (e.g. from Glengarrif, I'd throw in Adrigole/Healy pass, coming from Clare to Galway the Black head is an absolute must, and if you're passing through Wellingtonbridge, Saltmills and the ring of Hook is far nicer to cycle than the main road. Personally, I'd skip the Galway-Dublin leg to get more time on the south and west coast.

If you do go for the less travelled roads, having a GPS certainly helps too.

rorymccarthy01

Aright there,

I think we are going to have a limit of around 350 miles for the 5 days to make it 'enjoyable'. I think I can get a bus from Rosslare to Kilarney? (may be a mission) as I was thinking a stint of the ring of kerry (a section of it) would be a quality start. The route would now be starting at kilarney and basically following as tight to the coast all the way around to Rosslare.

Appreciate any comments on this.

and thanks a lot for the pointers guys,

hypersonic

rorymccarthy01 wrote: »

Aright there,

I think we are going to have a limit of around 350 miles for the 5 days to make it 'enjoyable'. I think I can get a bus from Rosslare to Kilarney? (may be a mission) as I was thinking a stint of the ring of kerry (a section of it) would be a quality start. The route would now be starting at kilarney and basically following as tight to the coast all the way around to Rosslare.

Appreciate any comments on this.

and thanks a lot for the pointers guys,

A bus from rosslare to kilarney if you find one please let me know.
I've cycled the N25 from waterford to wexford regular enough and it's a good road but carries a lot of high speed traffic and there's not much to see.
if you want to do that leg I would look at using the passage east ferry just eat of waterford city. it will save you seven km which is always nice.
from memory that route will bring you though Wellington bridge which is a nice part of the county. the roads are a little narrow, I'd recommend a red blinker light as a parts of the route have heavy tree cover and can be surprisingly dark even on Sunny days.