My eBike tour around the Island of Ireland continues: I cycle Northern Island’s Irish Sea coastline south from Giant’s Causeway to Belfast, then continue on to the Republic of Ireland and Dublin and finally take an inland route to Yoletown in County Wexford.
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Friday 23 August, 2019. Bushmills to Belfast |136 km|
[Cold but clear and calm to begin with – early morning is definitely a good time to ride – but the wind came back strongly just as I got on to the really hilly parts of this day’s ride, and I was heading directly into it. There were also some rain showers to contend with, but nothing major. The route, hugging the Irish sea coast, took in: Ballycastle, Fair Head, Torr Head, Cushendun, Cushendall, Larne, Carrickfergus and Belfast, and was really quite spectacular in places, especially the section before Cushendun]
I didn’t get back to the Giant’s Causeway after my night at Carnside B&B as I’d promised myself – I already had my iPhone pictures, so not necessary I figured. I know, I know – I’ve got to get rid of that ‘rush rush’ mentality. I’m working on it.
I took the minor Whitepark Road (B15) from Bushmills, and then branched off onto the even more minor Torr Road at Ballyvoy. Torr Road is just a quiet narrow lane that quickly climbs the escarpment above the Irish Sea, affording some spectacular views across to Scotland near Clear Head and Torr Head.
There was a memorable steep climb up out of Waterfoot (200m @ 13-15%) and when I got to the top there were half-a-dozen car-loads of people there waiting to wildly cheer me on up to the crest as though I’d just won a mountain stage of the Tour de France. The people in the front car had spied me setting off down the opposite side of the hill and, as the uphill track is narrow and with blind bends, they decided to block the road off and wait for my arrival. That was nice of them.
It was only 40 km from Giant’s Causeway to Cushendun and I was there by 10.30, but the batteries were nearly dead flat already, with less than 25 km left in them. Hmm, only 65 km range then – that must be some kind of record for the shortest distance I’ve yet managed on a pair of fully-charged batteries.
And so, at the earliest time of day yet, I had to dismount and find a charging point – definitely a strong case for carrying a spare fully-charged battery or two I’m thinking, but at £900 per unit and weighing in at 2.8kg each, not a small decision by any means.
I hadn’t been fed much in the way of breakfast at Carnside and so I pulled in to the ‘Corner House’ café in Cushendun, where I ate up big and chatted to the chain-pipe-smoking owner for 2½ hours to allow the batteries to get to about 85% charge. [ I only rarely charge to 100% during the daytime these days, as the final 15% seems to be a trickle charge that takes up 40% of the total charging time].
The terrain was gentler after Cushendun but a strong wind had sprung up from the south so the going was harder, if anything, and I was soon stressing about battery levels again. Yep, definitely gotta think about a spare battery.
After following the coast all the way to Larne, there were some more hills inland before rejoining the water’s edge again at Carrickfergus on Belfast Lough.
But I ran out of battery again with only 10 km to go to downtown Belfast, and so charged up at a friendly bar called ‘Bureau on the Lough’, where I was able to watch Australia pummelling England in the second cricket test at Headingley on the big screen for an hour or so, together with a few Anglo-Irish blokes who took it in good humour. After that it was a simple cruise along a dedicated greenway to get into Belfast proper.
I found Belfast to be a slightly depressing and intimidating place to be. My hotel, the Ibis City Centre, was right in the heart of downtown yet many of the buildings in the vicinity were either derelict or graffitied in a not-so-nice way, and many of the shop-fronts were boarded-up and vandalised. About the only thriving businesses seemed to be betting shops and bars – some of which you had to run the gauntlet of a wire cage guarding the entrance to get into or out of. No, not pleasant at all. My room was high on the 8th floor, but still the harsh screeching of drunken yobs being turfed out of the bars across the street echoed up to me all night long.
Saturday 24 August, 2019. Belfast to Drogheda |160 km|
[Not a great deal of wind or rain today, though there was intermittent drizzle for the final 40 km. This was a circuitous route to avoid the worst of the hills and, on many different minor roads, took in: Rathfriland, Drumbo, Newry, Carlingford, Dundalk, Castlebellingham, Dunleer, Pope’s Cross and Drogheda]
Anticipating a long ride for the day I got away very early from scary old Belfast, and was soon pleasantly surprised to find myself passing through some very leafy and tranquil suburbs on the southern side of the city.
Pretty soon it became hilly once more. I’d set Ziggy’s navigation system to select a route, and, like always, he defaulted to “finding the road with the least likelihood of traffic” (which unfortunately also sometimes means “finding the road least likely to actually be a road”). The complicated series of minor roads and country lanes he found for me jammed in between the major A1 and A24 highways were the steepest ones he could find. Even though I ignored some of his more outrageous suggestions, I still had over 1,000 m of climbing to do in those first 70 km.
I stopped at a trendy and friendly little café in Newry called Finegan & Son for a couple of hours on the charger, and thereafter decided to stick to the larger and flatter roads heading south. This took me on a long arc of detour alongside Carlingford Lough to Dundalk on the R173 in order to avoid the A1/N1.
Drogheda is an interesting tourist city on the River Boyne and I had a good look around while scouring it for accommodation. And if it weren’t for the very helpful guy manning reception at Scholar’s Townhouse Hotel, I would have had trouble finding anywhere to stay at all: his hotel was full, but he rang around until he got me a room in Windsor Lodge B&B a couple of kilometers out of town back the way I’d come.
At €60, Windsor Lodge wasn’t particularly cheap for a B&B and it was a bit too far out of town for my liking, but I had a very nice room and a hearty cooked breakfast. It was good value, especially since there was nothing else available (and there was nothing going for under €150 even if the other places I tried had spare rooms). And for dinner, there was always the Circle K roadhouse next door with its minimart and hot food counter: I pigged out on junk food and a few bottles of beer.
The owner of Windsor Lodge, or rather Brendon, the owner’s grandson who was looking after the place, had spent a year working as a mechanic at an iron ore mine in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. He was there at the same time I was working in the area, so we had a bit in common to talk about. The Lodge was quite full, with half a dozen or so African refugees being accommodated on a long-term basis.
Sunday 25 August, 2019. Drogheda to Dublin |51 km|
I only had a short run down into Dublin today. It was my birthday after all.
Ziggy commendably routed me onto quiet back roads all the way to Dublin airport, and then for the last 10 km into the CBD I was on a bike lane on main roads. I’m sure these would have been very busy roads during the working week but they were very quiet on this Sunday morning. And yes, it did rain thanks for asking, (but not very much).
Monday 26 – Tuesday 27 August, 2019. In Dublin |Not Travel|
I stayed for 3 nights at the Arlington Hotel, which is alongside the Liffy River and opposite the tourist precinct of Marble Bar. I checked in early – 11am – and was given the choice of a 3-floor walk-up straightaway, or waiting until 3 pm for an elevator-accessible room. I took the first option but had cause to regret it. That’s because there was a fire-door in the corridor outside my room abutting my bedhead, and every time someone came through it my bed shuddered massively. And the room right across the corridor was definitely a party room, with comings and goings all night long. I changed to a quieter room next day.
No shopping, no tourist gawking, no restaurants and not much bar-hopping; just quietly relaxing in my room catching up on this blog and obtaining solid sustenance with goodies from the M and S food hall a couple of blocks away, and liquid sustenance from the 24-hour Centra store around the corner. I wanted to get a spare tyre and tube, but still no luck finding any.
Wednesday 28 August, 2019. Dublin to Yoletown |170 km|
The weather forecast, prominently displayed in the Arlington lift each morning, wasn’t looking great when I headed off early Wednesday morning. But I’m pleased to say it was wrong.
Sure, it was cold and I had a slight bit of head wind to deal with at times, but for the first time in ages there was none of the rain as forecast – none at all for the entire ride. And it was a long ride, too. The route took in: Roundwood, Glendalough, Macreddin, Aughrim, Bunclody, Kiltealy, Old Ross, Newbawn, Gusserane and Yoletown.
I’d already cycled the coastal route from Dublin to Yoletown, so this time I went inland through the Wicklow Mountains, and then through more open but still pleasant farming countryside, travelling on minor roads all the way.
Bike lanes lead me through the upmarket Dublin suburbs of Goatstown and Sandyford until at Stepaside it became more rural as I entered the wooded Wicklow Mountains with its large estates such as Powerscourt, on the way to the tourist hub of Roundwood.
I made the 3 km detour into Glendalough to view the monastic sites there, but it was far too touristy for me and I didn’t stay long, so I was soon back on to minor lanes to Aughrim. There, I charged up the bike batteries in the Grain Store restaurant and had an early lunch. I wasn’t sure how much further I’d be going, whether just to Bunclody or all the way to Yoletown, but on the basis that the last 15% of battery capacity takes about an hour to fill anyway, I left early knowing I’d need to recharge again to make it all the way.
It was still only early when I arrived at Bunclody and the nice lady running Sugar and Spice bakery/ café in Bunclody was very accommodating in letting me charge up off one of her kitchen power outlets for as long as I needed. I only had 50 km still to go, so I gave it 1½ hours to get to 65% full charge, and then went for it.
I was in familiar territory now on these quiet country lanes, having spent about 4 years in the area from 2003 to 2008, and cruised on in to Kathleen’s farmhouse just before 8pm.
Well, that completes my circuit around Ireland (although theoretically that occurred when I got to Dublin for the second time): 2,563 km in 20 days of cycling over a span of 24 days from Monday 5 August to Wednesday 28 August, 2019.
I’ll stay here for a week or so before deciding where to go next.
-ends-
#69 Around Ireland part 4: the East |511 km|
Right around the island of Ireland: all 4 stages |2,377 km|
Total, Europe, 2019: 8,521km; 50,150m elevation climbed
Total on this bike (all in Europe): 13,664 km