Ride Coordinator: Thomas Ryan
Report by: Bennett Cowan
With nearly 3 weeks of riding from Ireland’s southernmost to its northern most points, the superlatives for this epic adventure are easily retrieved. Tom Ryan along with Iron Donkey have scored once again as this ride had it all. The BAC culture again surprised and amazed us—a group of 26 and everyone interesting, conversant, and a pleasure to know and count as new friends—one of the many delights of this club.
With this unique adventure nearly 2 years in the planning a few last minute changes were to be expected. Iron Donkey and Tony Boyd were more than able to accommodate the necessary adjustments ensuring a succession of both challenging and rewarding cycling days, excellent hotels, and group dinners when alternatives were few, and even sunny weather when photos were especially important. This group of experienced travelers showed their resilience, flexibility, and positive attitudes every day making the journey a stunning piece of cycling memories.
If one word could sum up the entire trip, it would be VARIETY but without the pejorative that the low end of the scale might imply. A variety of road conditions was an easy price to pay for mostly avoiding the busiest roads, and they included the smoothest tarmac imaginable on both of the cycle paths we rode. The Waterford-Dungarvan cycle way opened in 2017 and has already become quite the local favorite of both communities, covering 45 kms of which some of our group rode all and some turned off to enjoy more country lanes. The National Cycle Network is quite extensive in Ireland and the stretch into Derry along the River Foyle was another fond memory. The majority of the riding was done on small country lanes lined with head-high hedges with a few miles on local or regional routes. Size 28 or 32 tires were strongly advised.
Hotel accommodations were also perfectly situated, either central or within easy walking distance, served breakfasts capable of propelling us down the road, and all served Guinness from a classic Irish pub style bar in the evenings.
The scenery from start to finish was classic Irish with hedge or dry-stone fences dividing mostly small patches of pasture where black and white cows (Holsteins) indicated the importance of the dairy industry and occasional White-face or Angus herds on the beef side of things. As we traveled north the hills became less likely to be cultivated and more likely to be heather (blooming purple in the dappled sun) and bog covered showing signs of years of peat cutting. Sheep became the dominant livestock there, most color-coded for identification.
Irish history and culture were also wrapped into this adventure with a guided walking tour along the walls of Derry which included both William of Orange and the most recent sad chapter known as The Troubles. There was also a very informative walking tour in Waterford. We had a wonderful day exploring Tara Hill and New Grange, a Paleolithic astronomic and burial site pre-dating Egyptian pyramids by a thousand years. No Irish tour would be complete without tasting a few local favorites including Guinness stout, Jameson, and Shane Castle oak-aged dew.
Hopefully this tour will be a repeat with Iron Donkey as it certainly deserves an encore. Two members of the group kept blogs of their tour and the links are:
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