cycling/camping

loudymacloud

Afternoon,

Planning a bit of a cycling trip with some camping thrown in.

Looking to head to Galway and then on along the Wild Atlantic Way.

Have been looking for some campsites and it does not look like there are too many available.

Has anybody done this lately and no of any good stop offs, does not have to be paid camp sites. will do the wild camping option too.

John Hutton

Am looking to do something similar myself once I get my fitness up a little so looking forward to picking up some tips

brownian

Many small piers on the west coast have a bit of grass nearby. Other non-fenced coastal verge is also a reasonable option. I camped two nights last weekend, both near piers, and had chats with local lads both times, who came to suss out the situation.In both cases, I was made to feel welcome.

There are two key rules, so that this welcome doesn't go away
-leave no trace. No bonfires, cans, litter...a small fire on the sand, tidied up the next day, if you must, but black grass rings are not loved.
- ask permission if you can find anyone to ask.

I generally prefer to be out of direct site of nearby houses - just to have less impact on the locals.

saccades

I do a bit on the east coast, definitely out of sight of houses and keep everything neat and tidy, take your rubbish with you, dig a firepit (I use a mini folding BBQ which is ace for being fire safe and leaving no trace.

I'm with the little kids so it's obvious I'm not going to be causing bother.

Remember to log it when a fox catches a rabbit

circler

What do you do with your bikes? The biggest fear I'd have is waking up and the bike is gone.

spoke2cun

Planning on doing a bit of bike camping myself this summer. First up is the inishowen peninsula. It's a 160km loop around the coast. But I've to cycle 50km to the start of that loop and back so that makes it a total of 260km. 3 days 2 nights should do it. I've an old steel touring bike with a homemade pannier bags/racks set up. Should be interesting!

saccades

circler wrote: »

What do you do with your bikes? The biggest fear I'd have is waking up and the bike is gone.

Has a bike trailer attached, it's not going far fast.

And it's in the middle of nowhere.

marvin80

spoke2cun wrote: »

Planning on doing a bit of bike camping myself this summer. First up is the inishowen peninsula. It's a 160km loop around the coast. But I've to cycle 50km to the start of that loop and back so that makes it a total of 260km. 3 days 2 nights should do it. I've an old steel touring bike with a homemade pannier bags/racks set up. Should be interesting!

Sounds class, would like to do something like that at some stage

benneca1

There is a campsite outside Clifden another in Cong and one up in Renvyle.  Many hostels will let you pitch if they have space. The biggest pain with camping wild is the lack of shower and place to dry stuff.

Planet X

Search this forum for "cycle touring", big threads there a few years back, most of the pics. gone though unfortunately.

magicbastarder

spoke2cun wrote: »

Should be interesting!

with the mamore gap being the most interesting bit.

Thargor

You dont need to worry about campsites on the Wild Atlantic Way, theres always little roads down to random beaches/piers with patches of grass down there, they are literally everywhere, scout it out on sattelite view in maps beforehand. Shops/pubs everywhere to fill your water containers.

spoke2cun

spoke2cun wrote: »

Planning on doing a bit of bike camping myself this summer. First up is the inishowen peninsula. It's a 160km loop around the coast. But I've to cycle 50km to the start of that loop and back so that makes it a total of 260km. 3 days 2 nights should do it. I've an old steel touring bike with a homemade pannier bags/racks set up. Should be interesting!

Here's an update on this original plan. Leaving my house in Church Hill and cycling the Inishowen loop via letterkenny is a total of approx 280 km. But I'm going to use the Rathmullan to Buncrana ferry, €7 return, this will save me a total of 40 km. This might not seem much but it'll keep me of the busy main road between Letterkenny towards Derry and onto the main Buncrana road, which is also very busy this time of year. It's also a road that I've cycled a lot on so won't really be missing out on anything. Also, 40 km less on a heavy steel bike with camping gear is going to save me 2 hours! I plan to cycle it clockwise and stay as near the coast as possible, using every little back/beach road where possible. I'll still use my 3 day 2 night 'pass' though lol.

My next planned trip is to cycle to Burtonport outside Dungloe 55 km. Get the ferry (again!) into Aranmore island, cycle around the island, camp the night and back out the following day when I'll then head for Glencolumcille 50-60 km. Camp on the coast for a night and back home on the 3rd day. 200 km approx total distance. After these 'tours' are done there won't be too many spots in Donegal that I haven't been to by bike.

3rd planned trip:
Cycle to R'mullan 30 km. Ferry across to Buncrana. Then cycle to Greencastle, 40 km, and take the ferry across to Magilligan. These ferries are saving me a lot of cycling on very busy boring roads. Then cycle from Magiligan along the north Derry Antrim coasts to Ballycastle. Total distance 150 km. My plan then was to get another ferry from Ballycastle across to the Mull of Kintyre and camp there for the night. But the £90 return is too expensive. So I plan to meet the wife and kids in Ballycastle and we'll all camp here for a couple of nights. If I was to cycle 70 km down the coast to Larne I could get the Stena line ferry across to Carnryan for €65 return. But that might be pushing my luck a bit this time. I think I'd rather see more of our own beautiful country before heading overseas just yet. Down the west coast along the WAW will be next up. I'll post photos as soon as I'm underway just in case any of you want to follow my progress. Should be fun.

A bit about my bike and equipment:
A friend was getting rid of the steel framed touring bike so I offered to take it off his hands! Free bike. I took the back bike rack of my sister's bike (she never cycles). I bought a double pannier bag on ebay for €12, handlebar bag €4 and a crossbar pouch for €3. I have a tent, stove from 15 years ago, hardly used, shame on me for that, new sleeping bag €10 ebay, spare tubes, pumps, levers, lights etc. I'd say the cost of the bike and camping set up amounts to a grand total of less than €50, and that will include the food I'll be taking from the house! Tight or what? But I think that's a big part of this type of bike touring. Every cent saved means an extra beer on a lovely beach or isolated lake in the evenings.

I plan to start next week. I'll keep you posted. Thanks for reading.

roadster5

You should post your adventures on the bikebacking / touring forum on facebook

gerards

What's the A2 Antrim coastal road like for cycling 🚲 on? 🤔 is it very busy?

Thanks