cycling the entire coast of ireland

smurph10

Folks iv been thinking of doing this for a while now and was wondering would there be anyone interested.

Im a keen cyclist and have done a good few cycles in recent years both privately and as a fundraiser.

My idea was to cycle the entire coast of ireland next June to raise money for autism ireland and an autistic unit in my school.

Obviously i am only in the early stages of planning this so if anyone would have any advice or be interested id love to hear from them.

I am seeing conflicting answers on the distance it would be, now i dont want to go through every county.

I heard of a couple a lads who did it in the summer for some charity so proved to me that it was doable.

Thanks

ednwireland

coastlines are fractal

Nisio

ednwireland wrote: »

coastlines are fractal

but cycleable roads are finite?

cycle43

Sound great, where you based?

smurph10

In Monaghan,,

Forgot to add that ia m a teacher so i would have the time off, would you be interested, wouldnt necessarily have to start from monaghan

blorg

It is in the region of 2,100km give or take a few hundred km.

victorcarrera

A detailed map or pre planned route on GPS is essential if you want to keep as close as possible to the coast, which is what I tried to do along the west coast.
What I learned from that trip is that some of the lesser link roads, although very scenic are not suitable for a racing/touring bike with high pressure tires.
In remote parts it was difficult to figure out junctions or where I was on the map due to the lack of or incorrect orientation of sign posts and I couldn't see enough area on my limited GPS to make good decisions. A few wrong turns, extra Km's and some bad weather (June 2011) over a few days and I was glad to get home. I will do it again in small doses though, on a hybrid in July/August. For me, cycling on the lesser roads is more enjoyable because you see parts of the country that you otherwise wouldn't on the main roads.

el tel

Some one else planned/did this before within the last year or two. There was a thread about it.

kuro_man

Perhaps you should split it up into stages of c. 100-200k, that way different people can join you on different stages without committing to the whole journey.

Romer

I've been thinking about doing this as well. Not all in one go but maybe over a couple of weeks. I've been looking at http://www.bikely.com/listpaths/by/42-32-22 which has some nice routes that someone put together. The legs are aroung 100-130 kms each and should be rather doable...

Vélo

Have you decided are you going clockwise or anti-clockwise?

I read somewhere before you should go clockwise as you're closer to the sea, so their thinking was the scenery would be better.

Maybe you should keep this thread going or start up a Blog for people to follow you, then they could meet up with you along the way. It would also be a good way of raising more money, the more people you meet the better chance of raising money.

blorg

Clockwise should be harder as the prevailing wind is from the south-west and the wind is stronger along the west coast. My anecdotal experience of a lot of cycling in Ireland supports this.

Mr.Triffid

If your camping as well I've seen guys carrying single man tents in side bags on their bikes, thats if your stuck short for the night without a place to stay that is.

coastwatch

blorg wrote: »

...prevailing wind is from the south-east...

I think you mean south-west and from my experience cycling in ireland, the wind will always be against you no matter what direction you choose, especially at the weekend

blorg

coastwatch wrote: »

I think you mean south-west and from my experience cycling in ireland, the wind will always be against you no matter what direction you choose, especially at the weekend

Yes, I meant south-west, brain fart! It makes a significant difference in my experience. I've done Dublin-Cork and Cork-Dublin several times for example and the latter is far easier. Cycling on the west coast the wind always seems to be coming from the south.

p

blorg wrote: »

Yes, I meant south-west, brain fart! It makes a significant difference in my experience. I've done Dublin-Cork and Cork-Dublin several times for example and the latter is far easier. Cycling on the west coast the wind always seems to be coming from the south.

Indeed, which is why clockwise is better, that way you'll have the prevailing winds behind you when going up the west coat from Cork to Donegal.

maloner

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/724849

I put this together yesterday as I was curious about the distance. 3380km or so but plenty of errors and roads you wouldn't take. But an approximation, give or take 150km. Ferries in certain places would save a lot (tarbert, rathmullan...) but I went round the long way.

Some trip!

blorg

p wrote: »

Indeed, which is why clockwise is better, that way you'll have the prevailing winds behind you when going up the west coat from Cork to Donegal.

You are entirely right, that was another brain fart (traffic drives on the right here.) Clockwise is best from both perspectives.

Moflojo

maloner wrote: »

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/724849

I put this together yesterday as I was curious about the distance. 3380km or so but plenty of errors and roads you wouldn't take. But an approximation, give or take 150km. Ferries in certain places would save a lot (tarbert, rathmullan...) but I went round the long way.

Some trip!

Some route alright!

My two cents would be to get the ferry from Tarbert to Killimer, rather than cycle around the entire Shannon Estuary. Not much to be seen on that leg of the trip and it's not really 'coastal' either. It would also cut around 150km off the trip (and Limerick too, no offence).

Caroline_ie

OP, check out the link in my signature.

Planet X

smurph10 wrote: »

Folks iv been thinking of doing this for a while now and was wondering would there be anyone interested.

Im a keen cyclist and have done a good few cycles in recent years both privately and as a fundraiser.

My idea was to cycle the entire coast of ireland next June to raise money for autism ireland and an autistic unit in my school.

Obviously i am only in the early stages of planning this so if anyone would have any advice or be interested id love to hear from them.

I am seeing conflicting answers on the distance it would be, now i dont want to go through every county.

I heard of a couple a lads who did it in the summer for some charity so proved to me that it was doable.

Thanks

Yeah, I'd be up for that. Was planning something like that anyway. Either that or EuroVelo 6 through France.
Camping along the way I take it?

Zen0

Sailboats going around Ireland tend to go clockwise to make use of prevailing winds on the west coast, the east is more sheltered. I reckon the same applies (to a lesser extent) for cycling.

smurph10

Thanks for the advice lads

Firstly as iv plenty of time for planning and as im doing this for autism, i was hoping to get sponsored accomodation along the way with some publicity from the cycle helping out each place you stay. This would save on bringing camping gear. I am also hoping to persuade some people teachers within my school plus firends/relatives to drive various parts of it in order to bring gear along with you.

I have approximately 3 weeks to complete the cycle

I clicked on to the link showing the distance but unsure of how you worked it out.

I would be aiming to do approx 140km a day with some days more and some possiby less.

Obviously this is a big undertaking so all the advice i could get from you knowledgable people would be great plus if there is anyone who would also like to take up the challenge, that would be great..

Plus if anyone thinks this is an off the wall idea and not possible etc , would be great to hear from them too.

My next stop is contacting autism ireland to get there thoughts as iv already done some cycles for them.

Thanks

Moflojo

smurph10 wrote: »

Plus if anyone thinks this is an off the wall idea and not possible etc , would be great to hear from them too.

Absolutely not, it's a great idea and for a great cause too, well done on taking on the challenge.

I'm sure most people on here will get behind you, there are plenty of threads on here that would be helpful to you so browse around a bit and I'm sure other people will link relevant threads too. Check out the training logs subforum too.

Best of luck and keep us updated on your progress.

thehamo

Had of been July and I would have sriously considered it:o

Rob A. Bank

maloner wrote: »

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/724849

I put this together yesterday as I was curious about the distance. 3380km or so but plenty of errors and roads you wouldn't take. But an approximation, give or take 150km. Ferries in certain places would save a lot (tarbert, rathmullan...) but I went round the long way.

Some trip!

Some trip all right... 3385.7 km and + 32819 m climb. (Everest = 8848 m)

One minor nit-pick... to make it a bit longer and harder

It seems a pity to go through Carndonagh and not go the extra 20km to Malin Head, one of the most iconic landmarks on the Irish coast.

.

Lazairus

Hello

I was thinking of doing this also , we should have boards.ie cycle around ireland event. if you were interested, id love to do the whole route also.


Seriously though

the best course is to start in Spanish arch in galway and head north .

to be serious to do this, you have to be flexable on the routes.

i mean , that the galway westport road is probably a better route to take. you cannot always take the coast, especially when you get to ballina.

then its sligo town.

then it is donegal

then its malin head

then its northern ireland/ ballyshannon

then its either belfast or Carraigfergus

then dublin

then its wexford

then its waterford

then it is cork

then kerry

and finally back to galway.

the route i have looked into would leave the coast only on the first leg

ie galway to sligo.

regards

CH

ps you should also hit malin and mizen head.

did you know that there is a ferry in malin head.

maloner

Rob A. Bank wrote: »

Some trip all right... 3385.7 km and + 32819 m climb. (Everest = 8848 m)

One minor nit-pick... to make it a bit longer and harder

It seems a pity to go through Carndonagh and not go the extra 20km to Malin Head, one of the most iconic landmarks on the Irish coast.

.

Ah yeah, you'd need to hit the most southerly, westerly, northerly and eastern points, as well as the corners (rosslaire). I drew up that map but I'm not doing the trip. It was a quick estimate as to how long it would be.

You'd need 3 weeks I'd say, probably more. 3 weeks at 140km a day is a big amount of cycling. Especially if you've got to take your own gear and dont have a support vehicle. 140km a day for 3 weeks with tents and the like would be a pretty massive achievement.

High Nellie

It depends on how authenic and 'honest' you want to be (this only matters to yourslef unless you are doing it 'for charity' and others are paying/donating).

So, if you are saying that you are 'cycling the entire coast', it implies that you keep as close to the 'coast' as possible.

This rules out ferries as you are skipping some of the roads - if you take ferries, why not aeroplanes also?

Also, you'll have to decide if islands joined by bridge are included in 'the coast' - Valentia, Achill, etc, etc.

This is not having a dig at youself personally, but I'm always a bit skeptical about these types of things being done 'for charity'. Most people do it 'for themselves' - i.e. the challenge etc - but if a charity benefits its a good thing.

I think it will help your credibiltiy of you (or/and your group) say upfront what percentage of the costs you are going to pay yourselves and what percentage of your costs the donors are going to pay. Part of my skepticism is that I know people who get fine holidays in exotoic places every year by doing things 'for charity'.

Personally, I would start somewhere in the north-east, and head south along the east coast. This has two advantages:
1) it is the most boring (sorry, least interesting) and
2) on average, you are more likely to have a headwind there on on the south coast.
So, you would be getting both of those out of the way and looking forward to the more interesting west coast with a better likelyhood of a wind at your back.

Best of luck with it.

feck sake lads

north ease most boring bloody cheek :mad:

smurph10

Just on the charity thing.

When doing this, 100% per cent of the money raised would be going to charity.

Last year between two different events I raised 10,000 euro for autism in Ireland.

As you say people do " charity events" solely to get to some of the most attractive places in the world. This can be looked at two ways

1. they simply want to cut down on the cost for themselves so do it for charity and cover their own costs.

2. they are involved in charity fundraising and see this as getting a lot of people on board to raise money for the cause by having something spectacular to do as a bonus.

My thinking on this is, yes id love to cycle round the coast of ireland as id see it as a great challenge whilst also see some beautiful parts of the country but when doing this why not raise money for a great cause also.

I will be providing all of my own gear.

Regards overnight stays i was hoping to get that sponsored as i dont fancy carrying a tent round on the back of my racer for 3 weeks. I dont think thats anything got to do with personal gain but rather having somewhere to see as an end point and also if it goes to plan it provides the b and b / hotel with some publicity..

I have one pm already expressing interest so if there is anymore id love to hear form them and we can get started on the planning.

On another note , if anyone here is from monaghan direction, there is a sponsored cycle on from dublin to monaghan on saturday week. If you want more details, again pm me. Its in aid of crumlins childrens hospital, i dont think the organiser is looking you to raise a great deal but rather to get a good team together to do the journey.

Thanks