Cycling around Waterville

Felloffmebike

Down around Waterville for a few days next week and was going to throw the road bike up on the car. Any nice spins around there? 60/70k sort of thing. I was looking at heading towards Ballinskelligs and the Skellig ring and on to Valentia and around to Caherciveen as a possibility. Any others?

smacl

One of my all time favourite spins is Watervillie - Balligisheen - Glencar - Glenbeigh - Cahirciveen - Waterville. Another would be Waterville - Sneem - old Kenmare road to Ballaghbeama - Glencar - Balligisheen - Watervillle. Took both these routes a couple of weeks back, some pics here. Balligisheen - Balaghbeama course is here, excuse the extra tail, I doing it from near the Sneem side. Note that Ballisheen from Waterville and Ballaghbeama from the Sneem side are both pretty steep ascents, but lovely descents with surprisingly smooth l-roads into Glencar. Skellig ring is also great and Coumanaspic is another serious climb. Enjoy!!!

Felloffmebike

smacl wrote: »

One of my all time favourite spins is Watervillie - Balligisheen - Glencar - Glenbeigh - Cahirciveen - Waterville. Another would be Waterville - Sneem - old Kenmare road to Ballaghbeama - Glencar - Balligisheen - Watervillle. Took both these routes a couple of weeks back, some pics here. Balligisheen - Balaghbeama course is here, excuse the extra tail, I doing it from near the Sneem side. Note that Ballisheen from Waterville and Ballaghbeama from the Sneem side are both pretty steep ascents, but lovely descents with surprisingly smooth l-roads into Glencar. Skellig ring is also great and Coumanaspic is another serious climb. Enjoy!!!

Thanks a lot. I'll definitely take in some of this. Really looking forward to it.

vistafinder

Cycling heaven down there if the weather is ok.Id say any direction you go will be good. Valentia is unreal. Enjoy

smacl

vistafinder wrote: »

Cycling heaven down there if the weather is ok.Id say any direction you go will be good. Valentia is unreal. Enjoy

Absolutely. The actual ring of Kerry route is probably the least interesting. Just going into a mapping app and coming up with routes on smaller roads worked well for me. Black valley / gap of Dunloe is also stunning, though a longer spin coming from and back to Waterville

feelo

Cycling down that direction doesn't get any better. Enjoy

Felloffmebike

feelo wrote: »

Cycling down that direction doesn't get any better. Enjoy

Did it today feelo. Just under 75k. Cycling heaven. Tough though, proper hills and wind, plenty of swirling wind. Spectacular scenery. Started Waterville and went via Ballinskelligs, St. Finians Bay and on to Portmagee. Over to Valentia Island and ferry from Knightstown to Caherciveen and back to Waterville. Feel like I've done 150k... Would recommend it to anyone. But don't get all macho and try the big climb over the cliff road to Portmagee and have to turn back half way as I was out of gears and was almost standing still... Ouch! hurt pride..

feelo

Well done felloffmebike. That sounds like a super spin. I'm originally from that direction myself so know the route quite well. It must be one of the worlds true greats. I went over the sallygap myself and down into glendalough at the weekend and back to stepaside via roundwood and enniskerry. About 85k and a really great cycle. I came across a very bad accident involving a cyclist between roundwood and enniskerry. I really hope the guy is ok. We are blessed with wonderful routes in this country but we all have to be so careful at the same time as the roads can be trecherous in bad conditions. It galls me too why the cc insist in putting chippings on the roads too. They serve little purpose and make roads unsafe for cyclists. Anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip in the kingdom.

Felloffmebike

Thanks feelo. It's a piece of heaven down here. We go home on Friday so hope to get one more spin in. Might head towards Glencar.

ford2600

Felloffmebike wrote: »

Thanks feelo. It's a piece of heaven down here. We go home on Friday so hope to get one more spin in. Might head towards Glencar.

Climb Ballaghbeama. Nicest pass I've cycled in Ireland

Limestone1

+1 one that Sneem - Ballaghbeama route ......very little traffic on the roads off the ring too.

Darkstrike

I can imagine there are tonnes of roads down there that are magic for cycling. Such scenery.

smacl

Felloffmebike wrote: »

Thanks feelo. It's a piece of heaven down here. We go home on Friday so hope to get one more spin in. Might head towards Glencar.

Decsents are brilliant either from Ballghbeama or Balligasheen, but climbs are tough, similar in gradient to the Coumanaspic climb out of Portmagee. If you're finding them too tough going, just stop and take a breather and then keep going. The trip down the other side is just too good to miss with surprisingly good surfaces for l-roads. The road surface going up Ballaghbeama is atrocious, and coming back the same way is not so pleasant.