Round Ireland Cycle

kavanadb

Hi guys, I live in Greystones just south of Dublin and cycle pretty regularly and am fairly fit and would absolutely love to do a round Ireland cycle, just me and my bike and a tent and some cash, you know? It's a romantic dream i've been pondering over recently, not having the money or time to go around Europe or further right now.

The longest cycle I've ever done is a 120km circle of wicklow in about 8 hours and because i paced it, i wasn't really that tired at any point (except for the slow ascent of the sally gap, but thats a given), anyway I'd love to know if anyone here's attempted such a thing in the past and roughly how long it took and any tips on what to bring and things in general i suppose.

I've hardly thought this through, but i'll end up doing it most likely, plan or no plan! Some stories/ideas would be great though, thanks

Snapper1

Hi there,

I actually did this at the start of the summer as a fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society. It was just 2 of us, me and my mate, amateur cyclists, the most we would have cycled was to town/college.

Starting in Dublin the route we took was Dundalk - Belfast - Derry - Donegal - Sligo - Castlebar - Galway - Limerick - Kilarney - Cork - Waterford - Wexford - Wicklow - Dublin. This was about 1300kms in total.

We did a city each day with a rest day in each of Belfast, Galway and Cork so that made it a total of 17 days. We carried everything on our backs in a hiking-type bag which came to about 15kgs so it was tough going.

We basically brought everything essential and nothing else. You can split clothes into 2 parts, on and off bike. On bike was normal cycling gear, both for dry and wet days. Off bike was couple of t-shirts, a light top, one pair jeans, a light pair of runners, underwear etc. Then there's bike maintenance stuff like tubes (you'll need a lot and should always have at least two at the start of a day which means you'll have to stock up as you go along), pump, allen keys etc.

We stayed in accommodation along the way which we'd organised free-of-charge before we left so you'd be different in your plans to camp. Another difference was the type of roads we took. We basically stuck to the National roads (the green ones on a map) because most of the time it was the straightest route from city to city and the surface was much better than the alternative 'country roads'. But you sound like you'd be seeking more of a sightseeing/country air type of journey so maybe the national roads wouldn't be the best.

Overall I'd definitely recommend it. It's a great laugh, you see some amazing places, and you meet all sorts of people along the way. It's a great way to see the country and there's nothing better than being out on the open road with not a car in sight knowing that you're powering your own way around the country.

feel free to ask any more questions and i'll do my best to assist

kavanadb

Wow, thats quite an accomplishment, congratulations! Was the charity element difficult to organise? I may aswell do a sponsorship, it had crossed my mind and i was thinking of the Irish Cancer Society too actually.

What type of bike did you use? I have a hefty mountain bike that i'm strongly considering selling, the tyres could possibly last the cycle but its far too heavy!

Snapper1

I was on a secondhand run-of-the-mill entry level racer which (looking back on it) might have been a frame size too small for me but it served me well and held up fine on the worst of roads. My mate rode a bulkier, sturdier but heavier hybrid. There wasn't a perceivable difference between the two tho, I'd say go for comfort and reliability when picked your bike because you're not racing around Ireland, you just want to get around!

With regards to charity, we did a few different things:
Funniest - We got licenses from the Gardai to shake buckets on Grafton Street in Dublin and to add a bit of spice (and publicity) we dressed up as Batman and Superman while doing it!

Most successful - Our mate who is in a band organised a battle of the bands with 5 different groups and we charged a tenner in, this made over 2grand in one night!

Others - We got sponsor cards from the Irish Cancer Society and handed them out to friends, relations etc
- We set up an account on mycharity.ie which was also handy to send the link out by email and get online donations rather than having to get money sent physically

All this helped to get us to over 10k raised so we were happy enough with the total.

Alkers

Snapper1 wrote:

Hi there,

I actually did this at the start of the summer as a fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society. It was just 2 of us, me and my mate, amateur cyclists, the most we would have cycled was to town/college.

Starting in Dublin the route we took was Dundalk - Belfast - Derry - Donegal - Sligo - Castlebar - Galway - Limerick - Kilarney - Cork - Waterford - Wexford - Wicklow - Dublin. This was about 1300kms in total.

We did a city each day with a rest day in each of Belfast, Galway and Cork so that made it a total of 17 days. We carried everything on our backs in a hiking-type bag which came to about 15kgs so it was tough going.

We basically brought everything essential and nothing else. You can split clothes into 2 parts, on and off bike. On bike was normal cycling gear, both for dry and wet days. Off bike was couple of t-shirts, a light top, one pair jeans, a light pair of runners, underwear etc. Then there's bike maintenance stuff like tubes (you'll need a lot and should always have at least two at the start of a day which means you'll have to stock up as you go along), pump, allen keys etc.

We stayed in accommodation along the way which we'd organised free-of-charge before we left so you'd be different in your plans to camp. Another difference was the type of roads we took. We basically stuck to the National roads (the green ones on a map) because most of the time it was the straightest route from city to city and the surface was much better than the alternative 'country roads'. But you sound like you'd be seeking more of a sightseeing/country air type of journey so maybe the national roads wouldn't be the best.

Overall I'd definitely recommend it. It's a great laugh, you see some amazing places, and you meet all sorts of people along the way. It's a great way to see the country and there's nothing better than being out on the open road with not a car in sight knowing that you're powering your own way around the country.

feel free to ask any more questions and i'll do my best to assist

Were you carrying gear on your backs or on panniers or how did you work it?

Snapper1

Simona1986 wrote:

Were you carrying gear on your backs or on panniers or how did you work it?

we carried everything on our backs....

Alkers

Not too bad, did the Wicklow way a few years ago with a couple of lads. We were carrying food, water, tents, tools and alcohol on our backs and we could hardly move. Ended up having to use those huge camping/trekking bags and they didn't go well with cycling.