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.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Thursday, 10 February 2011
Irish Ride 2011 - route ideas.
Further to the meeting we had at the Flowerpot I have been firming up ideas on routes/stopovers - without total success. The first 3 days seem OK. They are:
Day 1: Belfast via Lagan Valley and Loughshore Trail to Antrim - about 60 miles
Day 2: Antrim to Portglenone on R94 thence "overland" to Balleymoney and Bushmills (nearest town to Giants Causeway). This is also about 60 miles. I have not checked but there is sure to be accomodation around here and Coleraine is a further 16 miles which may be a little too far allowing time to properly visit the Giants Causeway.
Day 3: Bushmills to Castlerock on R94 thence to Magilligan Point for the Ferry to Greencastle and down the west side of Lough Foyle (the Republic side) to Derry. This is another about 60 miles.
After there I am unable to make my mind up. We need to be in the vicinity of Knock Airport by the end of day 7. Being in Ireland, Knock Airport is not at Knock but nearer Charlestown but it is 30 miles south of Sligo on the N17 road. There is a late afternoon flight from Knock to East Mids so Sligo or Carrick-on-Shannon could be stopover points. Carrick to Knock is about 35 miles. Sligo is reachable comfortably in a day from Donegal which is itself within a day's ride of Derry so we have two days ; one cycling day and one non cycling day. As I have not cycled in Donegal my personal preference would be to take 2 or even 2 and a half days between Derry and Donegal; say a short hop to Strabane (20 miles) after a morning exploring Derry, stop there on day 4 then to somewhere like Dunglow for day 5 overnight and finally via Killybegs to Donegal for day 6. Both these latter 2 days would be in the 45 to 50 miles range.
There are Youth Hostels (An Oige) at both Donegal and Sligo, and "Paddy's Palace" Hostels in Belfast and Derry. I do not know of accomodation possibilites in the other potential overnight stops.
Comments welcome!
UPDATED 20th February
This is my latest suggestion for the second half of the tour, from Londonderry onwards. The route has been determined in part by the lack of accomodation (other than hostels) for a group of 5 or 6 of us without resorting to splitting up each night or paying a large sum at a hotel.
Day 4. Londonderry to Buncrana - 15 miles - on the east shore of Lough Swilly. We are now in the Republic. Cross Lough Swilly on the ferry to Rathmullan and then cycle the 20 or so miles to the Tra-na-Rosan Irish YHA Hostel on the Rosguill peninsula near Downies. Overnight stop.
Day 5 Tra-na-Rosan to Errigal Hostel. The most direct route is about 27 miles, while going more coastward via Dunfanaghy still makes it less than 35.
Day 6 Errigal to Donegal via Dunglow and Glenties. Total 43 miles
Day 7 Donegal to Sligo via the North West Cycle Trail - around 40 miles.
This would mean we were in Sligo by Monday night, 30th May and homeward bound on the 31st. One or two comments suggest this may be a day too long and, if so, we could cut out the Tra-na-Rosan stop and go direct Londonderry to Errigal on day 4 and so arrive in Sligo on day 6 (29th ). This would make day 4 distance around about 50 miles if we went the direct route. I have to say that I would prefer not to miss this trip to N Donegal but will be guided by the majority.
I attach the link to An Oige, the Irish YH organisation for you to view the hostels at Tra-n-Rosan, Errigal, Donegal City and Sligo.
http://www.anoige.ie/
What do you think?
Day 1: Belfast via Lagan Valley and Loughshore Trail to Antrim - about 60 miles
Day 2: Antrim to Portglenone on R94 thence "overland" to Balleymoney and Bushmills (nearest town to Giants Causeway). This is also about 60 miles. I have not checked but there is sure to be accomodation around here and Coleraine is a further 16 miles which may be a little too far allowing time to properly visit the Giants Causeway.
Day 3: Bushmills to Castlerock on R94 thence to Magilligan Point for the Ferry to Greencastle and down the west side of Lough Foyle (the Republic side) to Derry. This is another about 60 miles.
After there I am unable to make my mind up. We need to be in the vicinity of Knock Airport by the end of day 7. Being in Ireland, Knock Airport is not at Knock but nearer Charlestown but it is 30 miles south of Sligo on the N17 road. There is a late afternoon flight from Knock to East Mids so Sligo or Carrick-on-Shannon could be stopover points. Carrick to Knock is about 35 miles. Sligo is reachable comfortably in a day from Donegal which is itself within a day's ride of Derry so we have two days ; one cycling day and one non cycling day. As I have not cycled in Donegal my personal preference would be to take 2 or even 2 and a half days between Derry and Donegal; say a short hop to Strabane (20 miles) after a morning exploring Derry, stop there on day 4 then to somewhere like Dunglow for day 5 overnight and finally via Killybegs to Donegal for day 6. Both these latter 2 days would be in the 45 to 50 miles range.
There are Youth Hostels (An Oige) at both Donegal and Sligo, and "Paddy's Palace" Hostels in Belfast and Derry. I do not know of accomodation possibilites in the other potential overnight stops.
Comments welcome!
UPDATED 20th February
This is my latest suggestion for the second half of the tour, from Londonderry onwards. The route has been determined in part by the lack of accomodation (other than hostels) for a group of 5 or 6 of us without resorting to splitting up each night or paying a large sum at a hotel.
Day 4. Londonderry to Buncrana - 15 miles - on the east shore of Lough Swilly. We are now in the Republic. Cross Lough Swilly on the ferry to Rathmullan and then cycle the 20 or so miles to the Tra-na-Rosan Irish YHA Hostel on the Rosguill peninsula near Downies. Overnight stop.
Day 5 Tra-na-Rosan to Errigal Hostel. The most direct route is about 27 miles, while going more coastward via Dunfanaghy still makes it less than 35.
Day 6 Errigal to Donegal via Dunglow and Glenties. Total 43 miles
Day 7 Donegal to Sligo via the North West Cycle Trail - around 40 miles.
This would mean we were in Sligo by Monday night, 30th May and homeward bound on the 31st. One or two comments suggest this may be a day too long and, if so, we could cut out the Tra-na-Rosan stop and go direct Londonderry to Errigal on day 4 and so arrive in Sligo on day 6 (29th ). This would make day 4 distance around about 50 miles if we went the direct route. I have to say that I would prefer not to miss this trip to N Donegal but will be guided by the majority.
I attach the link to An Oige, the Irish YH organisation for you to view the hostels at Tra-n-Rosan, Errigal, Donegal City and Sligo.
http://www.anoige.ie/
What do you think?
Friday, 4 February 2011
Hostels,Flights and Bike Shops!
Hi All
Some Findings on Logistics of getting to Belfast (24/7/11) ,places to stay and where to get bike fixed or indeed purchased if necessary.
BMIbaby flys from EM to Belfast City Airport early doors on the 24th for around £30.00 and bike travels for an extra £25, flying time 1hr 10mins.
If they happen to have lost or left your bike behind then all is not lost as there is a brand new Decathalon Store on the airport road no more than 400m from the terminal where you can pick up a highly rated (Gadget Show says so) Rockrider MTB for £99. I kid you not!!
Return flights from Knock in the Republic are currently available on 30/05/11 and 01/06/11 for around £20 with Mr O'Learys happy irish outfit ( although bike will cost £45 to bring back)
One of my younger staff (ahm lets say 22 yrs old) recommends a group of hostels called 'Paddys Palace' that are located in both Derry and Belfast (also Cork & Dublin) and provide clean,comfy accommodation on a budget. Check em out and give me your opinion. Weatherspoons and 'Old mens pubs, handy walking distance I am assured.
Some Findings on Logistics of getting to Belfast (24/7/11) ,places to stay and where to get bike fixed or indeed purchased if necessary.
BMIbaby flys from EM to Belfast City Airport early doors on the 24th for around £30.00 and bike travels for an extra £25, flying time 1hr 10mins.
If they happen to have lost or left your bike behind then all is not lost as there is a brand new Decathalon Store on the airport road no more than 400m from the terminal where you can pick up a highly rated (Gadget Show says so) Rockrider MTB for £99. I kid you not!!
Return flights from Knock in the Republic are currently available on 30/05/11 and 01/06/11 for around £20 with Mr O'Learys happy irish outfit ( although bike will cost £45 to bring back)
One of my younger staff (ahm lets say 22 yrs old) recommends a group of hostels called 'Paddys Palace' that are located in both Derry and Belfast (also Cork & Dublin) and provide clean,comfy accommodation on a budget. Check em out and give me your opinion. Weatherspoons and 'Old mens pubs, handy walking distance I am assured.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Dates
Hi folks. Happy New Year! I thought I'd get in early with my preferred dates for the Ireland trip. Could we maybe have the ride on much the same week as last year's ride, ie week beginning Mon 23 May 2011? Failing that, the week before, Mon 16 May, plus or minus a few days on either side of those two weeks (for me a Monday start is not essential). Did anyone have any ideas which differ vastly from these dates? Has anyone had any new thoughts about where we are going?
Friday, 25 June 2010
Ireland 2011
My experience during and after the French trip suggests that our next tour could be a little less intensive with perhaps 3 days of cycling about 50 to 60 miles and then a rest day doing something different before another 3 days of cycling. I have visited much of both Northern Ireland and Eire over the last 10 years and it is all very cyclable. I suspect the cheapest/quickest way there is by air and there are a variety of cheap carriers serving the main airports (Cork, Dublin, Belfast) as well as less well known places like Shannon, Galway and Knock. There are ferries from Fishguard, Holyhead and Liverpool to Dublin (or Dun Laoghaire) and Stranraer to Belfast. I believe there is also an overnight boat from Swansea to Cork. It would make sense to begin and end the tour near an airport town - most airlines quote single fares so the start and end need not be the same and it is possible to get by train, boat and train or bus to most places which have an airport. Being a sensible country, Ireland integrates its rail and road systems and, even better, the long distance coaches take bikes.
There are 185 tours of different lengths and degress of difficulty on the Discover Ireland website so we should, as suggested, be able to select a number of tours which integrate. We may be able thus to stop in the same place for more than 1 day and do circular trips. There are 26 Youth Hostels in Eire (An Oige is the organisation), scattered around the cities and touristy areas. There does not seem to be a formal organisation in Northern Ireland but there are independant Hostels available. There is also, as one would expect, plenty of B&B accomodation but the Euro exchange rate makes it a tad expensive. Last time I went (2009) I was paying about 50 Euros a night for a single room. If we are to visit Northern Ireland then the area of Eire we could cover is limited to the northern counties unless we transferred by train or bus - both time consuming and expensive.
I have the 4 1:250,000 maps of the island, plus a number of OS 1:50,000 maps for different areas and also most of the Sustrans series for Northern Ireland (Belfast to Ballshannon, The Kingfisher Trail, The Loughshore Trail and The Sperrins.)
Given time, perhaps I could look through the tours on the Discover Ireland website plus those on the N. Ireland equivalent and come up with a suggested itinerary?
Maybe Keith has some ideas as a result of his presumably numerous visits to relatives there?
There are 185 tours of different lengths and degress of difficulty on the Discover Ireland website so we should, as suggested, be able to select a number of tours which integrate. We may be able thus to stop in the same place for more than 1 day and do circular trips. There are 26 Youth Hostels in Eire (An Oige is the organisation), scattered around the cities and touristy areas. There does not seem to be a formal organisation in Northern Ireland but there are independant Hostels available. There is also, as one would expect, plenty of B&B accomodation but the Euro exchange rate makes it a tad expensive. Last time I went (2009) I was paying about 50 Euros a night for a single room. If we are to visit Northern Ireland then the area of Eire we could cover is limited to the northern counties unless we transferred by train or bus - both time consuming and expensive.
I have the 4 1:250,000 maps of the island, plus a number of OS 1:50,000 maps for different areas and also most of the Sustrans series for Northern Ireland (Belfast to Ballshannon, The Kingfisher Trail, The Loughshore Trail and The Sperrins.)
Given time, perhaps I could look through the tours on the Discover Ireland website plus those on the N. Ireland equivalent and come up with a suggested itinerary?
Maybe Keith has some ideas as a result of his presumably numerous visits to relatives there?
Sunday, 30 May 2010
Friday, 28 May 2010
Martins Cold
Anyone else aquired Martin's cold from our trip?
Thanks Martin! I hope you're better now.
I also have tingling fingers (Ring and Pinky on both hands) which I have self diagnosed as Ulna Nerve Compression (checked out on Google!! ) at the wrist from holding the flat bars in one position for too long. A week or two off the bike looms. How will I manage the withdrawal symptoms?
Thanks Martin! I hope you're better now.
I also have tingling fingers (Ring and Pinky on both hands) which I have self diagnosed as Ulna Nerve Compression (checked out on Google!! ) at the wrist from holding the flat bars in one position for too long. A week or two off the bike looms. How will I manage the withdrawal symptoms?
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