Dublin to Galway/Galway to Dublin

Bo Malicious

Hi all,

Looking for suggestions on a route to cycle to Galway city from Dublin city. I dont drive and do apologise if this is a ridiculous question but you seem like a nice bunch and I cant find anything using the search button.

Thanks for your pointers!

E@gle.

for obvivous reason you cant cycle on the motorway so should be something like
dublin-lucan-maynooth-enenderry-kinnegad-athlone-ballinasloe-loughrae-galway

niceonetom

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=17716465095575940017,53.344390,-6.276340%3B12064620335451760880,53.284080,-9.073200&time=&date=&ttype=&saddr=Lower+Bridge+St+%4053.344390,+-6.276340&daddr=N59%2FThomas+Hynes+Rd+%4053.284080,+-9.073200&mra=cc&dirflg=h&sll=53.326157,-6.262207&sspn=0.142101,0.192261&ie=UTF8&ll=53.482938,-7.021294&spn=0.141578,0.192261&z=12&om=0
i find google maps very good for playing around with finding new routes.

dub -> galway is a pretty common charity run so i'm sure there must be an established route. anyone done it?

Persius

Given that our wind generally comes from the Atlantic, it'd be easier to do Galway to Dublin rather than other way around. The key is to avoid the main roads as the whole point of cycling is to be away from the traffic.

Get yourself the "Ireland East" and "Ireland West" OS maps at a scale of 250,000:1. There's enough detail to plan a journey on that. Otherwise use maps.google.com or www.viamichelin.co.uk. But it's harder to plot a route as there's only so much you can fit into one screen.

Personally, I don't think cycling through the flat midlands of Ireland would be the most interesting. And once you get close to Dublin, the only place to find quite roads is up the Wicklow mountains - which isn't much use if you're coming from the West.

RtD

dub -> galway is a pretty common charity run so i'm sure there must be an established route. anyone done it?

As it happens I'm doing it next weekend for charity, for Our Lady's Children's Hospital, together with UCD Science Day. If I'm not too busy asking myself why I hadn't prepared better I'll try and note the names of some of the towns passed through.

Bo Malicious

Thanks everyone some great tips and suggestions there and really appreciate it.

Rtd> good luck in the cycle this weekend!

Scrivo

I walked it 2 summers ago for Guide Dogs for the blind and Temple Street. dublin-lucan-maynooth-enenderry-kinnegad-athlone-ballinasloe-loughrae-galway
We did it something like that expcept with more stops (6days from Dub-Galway)
First stop was Clane, it's all a bit of a blur after that though!

david1two3

Scrivo wrote: »

I walked it 2 summers ago for Guide Dogs for the blind and Temple Street. dublin-lucan-maynooth-enenderry-kinnegad-athlone-ballinasloe-loughrae-galway
We did it something like that expcept with more stops (6days from Dub-Galway)
First stop was Clane, it's all a bit of a blur after that though!

I met two English guys outside the arch in Athenry the day after christmas who had spent the day walking from Galway. I realised something was up as they both were dressed for mountaineering or some such adventure kit and both had head mounted lights, the fun bit was they were tenting in quiet spots on the sly .They were hoping to arrive in Dublin for the new years celebrations. I would have thought them mad excepting I cycled the other way on 23 december 03. I arrived home had a hot bath ate soup and bread refused point blank to eat dinner as I couldnt keep my head up and five hours later ate everything I could get my hands on. Best day out ever but for two weeks I was shattered.

RtD

Cheers Bo. Needless to say the trip was very cold, had an inch of snow sitting on my shoulders for about 2 hours on friday.

The towns I remember passing through, in Galway to Dublin order: Oranmore, Loughrae, Balinasloe, Athlone, Moate, Tyrelspass, Kilbeggan, Enfield, Maynooth and Liexlip.

Pretty much the same as E@gle and Scrivo's suggestions so I reckon they were on the money.

Bring some music with you though, I imagine some of the stretches would be pretty dull if cycling alone.

ronnie3585

RtD wrote: »

Cheers Bo. Needless to say the trip was very cold, had an inch of snow sitting on my shoulders for about 2 hours on friday.

The towns I remember passing through, in Galway to Dublin order: Oranmore, Loughrae, Balinasloe, Athlone, Moate, Tyrelspass, Kilbeggan, Enfield, Maynooth and Liexlip.

Pretty much the same as E@gle and Scrivo's suggestions so I reckon they were on the money.

Bring some music with you though, I imagine some of the stretches would be pretty dull if cycling alone.

How long did it take you, what kind of speed were you averaging?

RtD

There was a gang of us of varying abilities so our pace was fairly slow, we did it over two days. The fact there was snow on the ground for a large part of the first day slowed us considerably for safety reasons also.

As the route is pretty flat across the country it isn't a technically challenging cycle, it would just be a matter of having the miles in your legs. A one way trip would be do-able in a day if you were so inclined, unaware though I am of your ability.