Hi all,
I have made a booking request through An Oige (Irish YHA to us) for 6 places each at Tra-na-Rosann (26/5) and Errigal (27/5) and am promised a reply within 3 working days by phone or e-mail. The website seemed quite keen to get hold of my money, booking or not so we will have to wait and see. The An Oige hostel for Donegal Town is not actually in Donegal at all but 5 miles out in the middle of nowhere. I have therefore booked a 6 bed dorm in the Donegal Independant Hostel (which IS in Donegal Town) for Sat 28/5 through Hostelworld and I have a booking confirmation for that. It has good write ups on the Hotelworld website. I have also booked a quarter of a (MIXED) 4 bed dorm at Paddy's Palace, Belfast for the Monday night 23/5 so expect that I may fall off the train on the Tuesday morning unable to put one pedal in front of the other. (I wish!!).
Look out for an update to this entry some time next week.
UPDATED 14/3
An e-mail from Bridget (who else?) confirms our bookings at Tra-na-Rosann and Errigal. Sheets are NOT included and the standard YHA sheet sleeping bag is not permitted. Bring your own or pay 2 euros per night. They do issue blankets/pillows however. Also we are warned that they are "remote" so we will need to be self sufficient. There is food to be had nearish to TnR and I may contact the establishments to confirm exact details of provision. At Errigal we may need to go prepared to cook.
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I was wrong about maps: Dash4It does do Irish OS maps, and cheaply (around £4 for the 1:250 000 ones.
ReplyDeleteI have booked hostels in Bushmills and Derry with hostelworld(See seperate email for details)Balance to be paid on arrival but less than £20 a head including breakfast(cereal,tea coffee,toast). Independent hostel in Derry is said to be cleaner and more central than Paddys. Anyone with feedback on B & B on Lough Neagh near Antrill? Will book when agreed.
ReplyDeleteJust to confirm what Peter said about the distance, this is the route from Bay Cottage to the same point near Antrim that I did a similar Sustrans route from Belfast Central station to http://www.sustrans.org.uk/map#userroute/0C8F814C5F9E3E2E0E5F6FA6C7EDF25C,127511.467936148,541395.1062219865,3
ReplyDeleteThe distance is 8 miles and the Belfast-Antrim distance is 57 miles. So Belfast-Bay Cottage by Routes 9 and 94 comes to 49 miles. I'm happy to stay there if there are enough beds. It's right on Route 94.
I have booked the Bay Cottage B&B for the night of Monday 23rd May for 4 people (me, Shawn, Maldwyn, Clyde) for £30 each bed and breakfast. They have a twin room and a double room with a separate double sofa bed so it sounds fine. They offer cake and drinks on arrival and there is also the option of an evening meal (£8-£15 each depending on what we want - if anything). I'll send on sample menus and we can decide if we want the evening meal. However the place is now booked up for us.
ReplyDeleteGreat, Ian! Thanks. And thanks also to Peter and Shawn for your bookings. Anything you want me to do? Maldwyn and I are now sorted for the flights both ways and for Paddy's, Belfast on 22 May. Just need to do train fares.
ReplyDeleteThose of us who are stopping over in Sligo need somewhere to lay our heads. The IYHA hostel is closed until 1/6 but there must be others. Who else is stopping there?
ReplyDeleteWe also need to divide up the ride leading. I will do 26th from Derry to TnR (including the Lough Swilly ferry)and 27th from TnR to Errigal.
I will lead the ride from Donegal town to Sligo as I have a decent sustrans map that covers that section. 87km or around 5-6 hours riding I reckon on the North West Trail. Who is stopping the night in Sligo and who is catching a train to Dublin. Can anyone confirm the times of Dublin train. A hostel in Sligo with in easy reach of the Railway station is recommended by Hostelworld.
ReplyDeleteI am stopping overnight in Sligo. Trains on Sunday 29th for those not stopping are 15:00, 17:00 and the last one at 19:00. Journey time just a little over 3 hours.
ReplyDeleteTrains on Monday morning are 05:45, then 07:00 and subsequently overy 2 hours until 19:00. This is IrishRail website for more info
http://www.irishrail.ie/home/
All my arrangements are made now, except where I stay in Sligo. Not an urgent issue as there will be plenty of hostel/B&B accomodation. In a nutshell:
ReplyDeleteI travel to Stranraer on 23/5 and on by boat to Belfast to stay at Paddy's Palace. On the Tuesday I shall leap-frog you by taking the train to Ballymena (arr 09:50) so that you are not constrained to wait for me in Antrim.
I shall enjoy your company then until arrival into Sligo. I stay there overnight and, on Monday 30th, make my way by bike and train to Limerick where I have booked accomodation. On Tuesday I catch a further train to Dublin, arriving in time to cycle out to Dun Laoghaire for the 13:15 sailing of the Stena Fastferry to Holyhead. The final leg back to Derby is by train(s).
I will lead the ride from Bushmills to Derry. The ferry across Lough Foyle appears to run every hour and costs £2 for pedestrians, no mention of cyclists but motorcycle are (only) charged £5.
ReplyDeleteI do not have to be back in Derby until Tuesday, 31 May, so I will stay in Sligo on the Sunday night and probably Dublin on Monday for the morning ferry Tuesday.
Martin
I plan to take the 9:00 train from Sligo on Monday 30th to Dublin to catch the 1430 Irish Ferry from Dublin Ferry port to Holyhead and then onwards by train to Chester, Crewe then Derby arriving back late on Monday.
ReplyDeleteI have a ticket for the Sligo to Dublin train but don't think I have a seat or cycle reservation. I'll ring Irish Rail nearer the time.
Any takers for booking accomodation in Sligo? Peter has offered but perhaps he has booked enough already . I would be happy to book the White house hostel in Sligo town if all in agreement ie 4 bed shared bathroom 16.00 euro ie Peter,Ian and Martin. All in favour say I..
ReplyDelete