So do you think you might be interested in a cycling holiday in Ireland? Good choice! Ten months of the year (all but December and January) you’ll find great tours and if you keep these three precautions in mind, you should have a fantastic time. This article addresses the three variables that we have found make the biggest difference to the quality of our time on the road: the Irish topography, the weather and typical Irish food.
Train for hills and plan your route on a topographic map
Ireland is a small island with few areas where the roads are particularly flat. While taking the bigger, busier roads may decrease the number of hills, why cut short the beauties of the Irish countryside or increase the chances of a bike or vehicle accident? Imagine rolling countryside, narrow farmland lanes or ancient woodland dotted with an ancient castle ruin or two and you’ll get an idea of how brilliant it is to cycle through the Irish countryside. If you train for the hills and make sure you know how to maximize the use of your gears on the hills, you’ll be fine. Each path, no matter how small, will be reflected on the topographic maps available at each tourist information office. Carefully marked out in 1 kilometer squares, these maps will help you avoid the unexpected hill whose climb would force you to get down and walk. On the other hand, many times we have found ripe blackberries in the hedges while pushing our bicycles up one of these hills. In this landscape there is no shame in walking at irregular intervals.
Modular clothing pack
Because we are on an island, the weather is changeable. While you may not consciously start your journey when it was raining, you can encounter anything from a light fog to a torrential storm, and hopefully pass by after a while. Similarly, mornings are cool, if the sun is out you can get quite hot, and shaded areas can give you the chills. We recommend cycling shorts and a short-sleeved cycling jersey with tights and arm sleeves. In the colder months we simply double the layers of each. This way we can take off our knee warmers on climbs or change the number of layers as arm covers without having to stop the bikes. These with rain gear that quickly slips over the top and you’re good to go.
Prepare healthy food alternatives.
Typical Irish food, the likes of which you’ll find in any local pub, can be the kind of food that would sit in your stomach like a stone once you got back on your bike. Our solution has been to buy tofu fillets and pack spelled crackers with hazelnut butter. We usually stay somewhere in a hotel and augment our midday meal with fresh or dried fruit from the breakfast buffet. This small assortment of foods takes up little space in our baskets, but allows us to stop anywhere along the way for tea and a meal that leaves us light and ready to hit the next stretch. I finish writing these tracks from the porch of Muckross House near Killarney. This stately mansion was once a stopover for Queen Victoria and sits on perfectly manicured grounds, on the edge of the lake and bordered by the National Park. An easy 10km loop takes you through a yew forest, Victorian cottages, a waterfall and acres of rhododendrons. Cycling in Ireland is something not to be missed.