Cycling the N17

tomasrojo

I'm going to a wedding in Cloonacauneen Castle at the end of the month. I was thinking of getting the train to Galway with a folding bike and cycling up. It's on the N17, halfway between Galway and Claregalway.

The groom suggests to me that it's a poor road for cycling. Anyone have any experience of it?

pgibbo

I cycle that road at least 2 times a week and it's fine. I work less than 2 miles, the Galway side, from where the wedding is. Colleagues cycle from Claregalway to work on the N17 everyday without issue. You shouldn't have any issues cycling it.

IM0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsFHfOLm2e0

pgibbo

They turned left in Claregalway [EMAIL="me@ucd"]me@ucd[/EMAIL]! They wouldn't have made it to Cloonacauneen Castle

sealgaire

Ah yea, it's a busy road but there is a wide hard shoulder on it. Probably more dangerous cycling out of the city:D

Benbecul97

The distance from Galway train station to Cloonacauneen Castle is approx only 5kms. Maybe I'm misunderstanding but not sure why you would want to take a folding bike on the train to cycle just 5kms.

Anyway, only about 2 of the 5km is actually on the N17 and it has a hard shoulder pretty much all the way from the Tuam Rd roundabout to Cloonacauneen Castle. Surface-wise its not a poor road to cycle on but its a national primary road so is usually pretty busy.

tomasrojo

I was told it was about 8km. I could walk it, I suppose, but I'm bringing a classical guitar and amp, as I'm playing at the wedding. I have a pretty good setup on the Brompton for bringing my equipment.

pgibbo

The Claregalway bus (Sligo bus or any of the inter-county buses that go north) goes from the train / bus station so you could get that and hop off at the top of the road down to the hotel. Alternatively, there's a city bus that goes to Parkmore. From there you're about a mile or a little more from the hotel. Someone could pick you up from the bus stop. A taxi would be a rip off IMO.

Dr_Colossus

Also as a suggestion instead of the train you could take the Go bus, gobus.ie which is €10 each way. Alot more economical than the rip off train and no slower since it's a direct service from Dublin to Galway using the M6 motorway, journey about 2hrs 40mins.

(Don't have any connection with Go bus but since I'm originally from Galway I've used them in the past and was well impressed with the service) CIE for instance go through every town on the way and can take ages but they hardly ever leave on time.

spurscormac

tomasrojo wrote: »

I'm going to a wedding in Cloonacauneen Castle at the end of the month. I was thinking of getting the train to Galway with a folding bike and cycling up. It's on the N17, halfway between Galway and Claregalway.

The groom suggests to me that it's a poor road for cycling. Anyone have any experience of it?

He was probably referring to it being a poor road from the N17 as far as the castle, which it is as far as I can remember from last time I was on it (Jan/Feb time).

If you're carting down a guitar and amp, I'd try and find out if anyone attending could give you a lift out from town, would certainly make things a little easier.

You can never rely on Galway weather, and August is actually the wettest month of the year in Galway statistically, so you'll be taking your chances on the bike.

tomasrojo

Thanks for all the comments.

I enjoy a minor challenge, and I've a good set up, using a bike-hod to carry the guitar and the amp in a Brompton touring pannier. I have cycled in driving rain with it, so there's no problem there.

My main concern was that it was a narrow road with fast-moving traffic, but if has a decent hard shoulder that sounds fine to me.

Thanks for all the helpful comments!

JIZZLORD

I cycle on the n17 a good bit. From the city centre to the turn off for the castle is easy enough, there're no real hills to deal with and the n17 is in good condition and as already mentioned there's a hard shoulder. As long as you're not doing the journey in the dark you'll be grand. Though i'm not too sure about the road to the castle. i might pop down that way during the week when i'm cycling to tuam

tomasrojo

Thanks @JIZZLORD! I won't hold you to it, but it's very nice of you to offer.

I was told that that stretch of road is a relatively short one: about 500m?

dinneenp

From off the N17 to castle is staight road. Not great bu. Not awful. No problem.

Benbecul97

tomasrojo wrote: »

Thanks @JIZZLORD! I won't hold you to it, but it's very nice of you to offer.

I was told that that stretch of road is a relatively short one: about 500m?

Yes about 500m. Its narrow but the surface is fine.