Rothar Routes

Cycle routes & pilgrim journeys in Ireland and Europe …..

Archive for ‘August, 2021’

Malin Head to Mizen Head Day 6

Glen of Aherlow to Millstreet 90kms

Sheltering from the rain near Kilfinane

I love wind

said no cyclist ever

Rain is one thing, but wind on a bike is another! The mind can play tricks with you when it comes to wind; we always know when we have a headwind but never recognise a tailwind. Today was definitely the hardest day so far. Powerful gusts battered us all the way from Aherlow to Millstreet. It didn’t matter if we were descending or ascending, the wind whipped around us and our concentration was on controlling the bikes and moving forward, however slowly.

The Glen Aherlow is just a great place to visit; its a Mecca for hill walkers with a myriad of routes but it is also a great cycling base with the Kilmallock Cycle Hub and Ballyhoura cycle routes all close by. The Glen itself has some fascinating heritage sites worth a visit in their own right. None more fascinating than St Berrihert’s Kyle which I visited on a previous occasion but worth including here.

This simple circular stone enclosure contains an amazing collection of cross and decorated stone slabs. I’ve never seen anything like it. Not many have, as it isn’t signposted (might be a good thing, as these crosses and slabs would be easy remove). The atmosphere here is very special. It has a presence that is seldom experienced. To get to it we had to cross a couple of boggy fields and over a number of stiles. It is obviously a place of local pilgrimage as there are many holly bushes used as rag trees both in the enclosure and outside.

We were shortly into our 13th county of this north to south tour when we crossed the border of Limerick, just after we passed the important ruins of Moor Abbey. The history of Ireland’s oppression can be summarised in the history of this poor ruin which was destroyed during the Desmond Rebellions by a half brother of Sir Walter Raleigh (no wonder I don’t have one of their bikes!) and later by the devil incarnate, Oliver Cromwell. The R.I.C. attempted to blow up the ruin in 1921.

Lost in the mists of time is the reason for the name of Galbally. The Town of the Foreigner (An Gaillbhaile), is not the only town with reference to a newcomer or foreigner to an area, Donegal, Ballygall, spring to mind. We were again following the Beara – Breifne Way signs and a little road brought us past Galbally GAA grounds. A constant theme of our journey was the central presence of the local GAA club in communities. It’s extraordinary how important the GAA is to the fabric of each parish and it’s a great connection when visiting other parts of the country.

This was a magical bóithrín that connected us to the next village of Ballylanders.

Bóithrín..

‘cow path, a path made by a meandering cow or sometimes man made

These local roads crisscross the country and make cycling a joy. With a little planning it’s possible to traverse the country from north to south or east to west along these traffic free roads.

With the weather deteriorating and heavy thunder showers accompanying the wind, we had multiple shelter stops in hedgerows as we diverted once again and we took the protected side of Slieveragh. It definitely protected us from the worst of the weather. We were glad to eventually make it into Limerick’s highest village, Kilfinnane, after a 5km climb. The Golden Vale, which we entered around Tipperary Town covers parts of Tipperary, Limerick and Cork. It’s some of the best dairy farmland in the country and the heartland of the dairy industry. Great herds of friesian cows dotted the hillsides of the Ballyhoura Mountains on way into the attractive market town of Kilfinane.

Stalker Wallace is commemorated in the Town Square. One of Limerick’s old GAA Clubs is named after him. Stalker was captured during the 1798 Rebellion, he was flogged and tortured over a period of days, then hanged and his head displayed on a spike in the Square…. from the Bogside of Derry to here in Kilfinane we have seen so many reminders of the suffering this country endured under English rule. Thankfully those days are behind us but we shouldn’t airbrush them from history. A great source of local history, folklore is the Dúchas website. Approximately 740,000 pages (288,000 pages in the pupils’ original exercise books; 451,000 pages in bound volumes) of folklore and local tradition were compiled by pupils from 5,000 primary schools in the Irish Free State between 1937 and 1939. Have a read of this about the capture of Stalker Wallace:

Kilfinane is another great village in the Ballyhoura area to base yourself in and the Town Square has very attractive shop fronts and street art to welcome the visitor.

We moved on and the 15kms or so to Ballyhea in County Cork, our final county, was a good flat run across on quiet roads. Ballyhea is situated on the busy N20 Cork to Limerick road. We were glad to cross it and head over through Churchtown.

Churchtown, County Cork

We headed into a fierce headwind on the way across to Liscarroll, home of the Donkey Sanctuary and an imposing Castle ruin, right at the centre of the village. The Donkey Sanctuary has done fantastic work since 1987 and has saved over 1800 donkeys in that time. Lovely to see and hear them as we passed by! No photos as we were struggling badly at this stage! Our planned route was to continue west and uphill but the wind was ferocious and we decided it was best to head south instead. Delighted we did as this was a long hard day and we took the R580 into Kanturk. That meant that we would then have to travel the busy N72, the Mallow – Killarney Road, for 7kms but the compromise was just about worth it given the wind. Not a comfortable ride but needs must at times. We were glad to turn off and take a much quieter road down into Millstreet, host town to the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993, which was won by Niamh Kavanagh with her beautiful song ‘In Your Eyes’. Hard to believe it was that long ago. Ireland won three in a row 1992-1994 and then 1996. We can hardly qualify these days! A relief to get a room in the Wallis Arms after a day we struggled badly on! 590 kms completed, just 116kms to go!

1993 Eurovision Song Contest Final participating countries.

Malin Head to Mizen Head Day 5

Terryglass to Aherlow 106kms

Should  I  stay  or  should  I  go  now?
Should  I  stay  or  should  I  go  now?
If  I  go  there  will  be  trouble
And  if  I  stay  it  will  be  double
So  come  on  and  let  me  know

There was a symphony playing on the window pane when we woke. The weather had broken yesterday evening and it wasn’t letting up any time soon. After a hearty breakfast – ate slowly, we decided to give it another 30 minutes before departure to see would the clouds lift at all. They didn’t; it got worse! The thought of cycling in the rain is much worse than actually doing it and it was actually enjoyable; there’s a great sense of achievement in getting out and just dealing with the elements. We were on the eastern shore of Lough Derg and great gusts of wind were driving sheets of rain across the lake from County Clare and blowing us all over the place. We were saturated. It was a tough 27kms to Nenagh. And as Murphy’s law would have it, the rain stopped as we arrived! The break was only temporary. We changed our planned route to avoid a long steep exposed climb in the Silvermines. Instead we took a long diversion to Toomevara and onto the busy Borrisoleigh road. After 10kms we were delighted to see the Beara Breifne signs intersect the road and we followed those up into the hill country. It was delightful. The BB Way is well signposted and the scenery in this hidden corner of Tipperary is delightful. Beautiful country side all around as we reached Templederry. This peaceful village was home to the fiery rebel priest Fr John Kenyon (1812-1869). He was a fierce advocate of physical force and an outspoken opponent of Daniel O Connell, impacted as he was by the devastation of the famine in the surrounding countryside. But his efforts to relieve distress during the Famine endeared him to his flock. The local GAA Club is called Templederry Kenyons. That’s the beauty of the bike! You learn so much more about where you are passing through.

We were heading into very remote countryside now and still climbing gradually. Rain was still falling but it was majestic! Our diversion turned out really well and it was one of our favourite sections of the entire route. There was a lot of climbing today, almost a 1,000 metres in foul weather but it added to the whole sense of the journey. As I rounded a bend in the road a voice beckoned from 50 metres ahead ” How are ye? Will ye buy a lotto ticket?” We stopped and bought a couple, crossed our fingers, but Sean Treacey’s GAA Club haven’t been in touch so I guess we had no luck! I hope they have better luck in the Tipp Championships this year!

We eventually linked up with my original route at Hollyford, a busy centre for the timber industry. Another big climb had us pushing our bikes yet again but at least the rain had stopped and we had fabulous views across the hill country.

While Fr Kenyon had a reputation as an advocate for physical force our next stopping point was the village of Cappawhite had earned a world wide reputation for faction fighting in the 19th century, so we approached with caution!

We decided to not delay just in case the locals had ideas of resurrecting the practice and we kept moving forward following the BB Way signs which made navigation very easy and we soon reached Tipperary Town, gateway to the Glen of Aherlow. The climb up into the Glen was the toughest yet and we were both gasping – and that was pushing the bikes, not cycling! But it was great to crest the hill and enjoy the freewheel down as far as the Aherlow House Hotel where we had good grub and the luxury of a bath to look forward to! Another day down. 500kms completed, 205 kms to go!

Malin Head to Mizen Head Day 4

Ballymahon to Terryglass 107kms

Clonmacnoise , County Offaly

It is by riding. a bike that you learn the contours of a country best, since you sweat up the hills and coast down them

Ernest Hemmingway

We hadn’t made any arrangements about breakfast the night before and when we woke we discovered we were locked in to the pub! With miles to go before we slept again we had to let ourselves out and arrange to pay later – which we did! Bikes were packed and we were on our way by 8.20am. We were neither north nor south now. If there is such thing as the centre of this island it has to be around Ballymahon, Moate and Clonmacnoise and being the midlands we looked forward to speeding along the flat open roads of Longford, Westmeath and Offaly. But Ernest was right, what appears flat while driving in a car is often an illusion and it wasn’t long until we were cresting waves of tarmacadam, small bump in the road followed by more bumps. Old mariners tales claim waves come in groups of seven with the seventh being the biggest of the bunch and the pattern was similar this morning as we sailed merrily onwards between the stone walls of the back roads, there was always one little hill that caused us to frantically slip through the gears trying to find a gear we could turn the pedals in.

It wasn’t long until we were cycling into Moate past the beautiful Dún na Sí Amenity Park, which recently featured on RTE’s Tracks and Trails. Moate brought back great memories from my distant youth, of one of my first epic cycles with my great friend Tommy Wogan. We had got a lift to Moate with Tommy’s brother Michael and cycled west to Cong in Mayo, then down through Galway and Clare to Ventry in Kerry. We did it in three days – we were fit in those days!

The 42kms Old Rail Trail links Athlone and Mullingar

The Old Rail Trail facilitated our exit from Moate and we had an easy four kilometres before reaching our turn off. It is straight as an arrow. Personally I find the Greenways to be boring and prefer the local roads for character and colour. We were happy to get off the Trail and head to one of the places I most wanted to visit on this trip, Clonmacnoise.

St Ciarán founded his monastery on the banks of the River Shannon in the 6thCentury.  The monastery flourished and became a great seat of learning, a University of its time with students from all over Europe.

The ruins include a Cathedral, two round Towers, three high crosses, nine Churches and over 700 Early Christian grave slabs – the largest single collection anywhere in Europe. It’s a stunning location for a monastery, perched just above the meandering River Shannon, would have dominated the area and was strategically located alongside the great Slí Mhór that traversed Ireland from East to West, running along the Esker Riada.

An inspiring place, it fills me with wonder how well educated these monks were, proficient in many languages. It’s incredible to think of the impact these Peregrini had on European civilisation as they departed these shores with their books and learning. You could say they were first Consultants to royal courts of Europe as their advice was greatly valued!

We were now following the River Shannon south as far as Lough Derg. Roads were good and we made rapid progress to the next village of Shannonbridge. As the name suggests the Bridge is the focal point and its a beauty. Constructed in 1757 the massive bridge is an impressive sight. Between boating on the Shannon and its proximity to Clonmacnoise, Shannonbridge has a good footfall of tourists during the summer season. The ESB and Bord na Móna though have been the mainstay of the local economy for over 50 years. That’s all changed with the recent closure of the peat powered ESB Station that towers over the landscape for miles around. Locals are taking it in hand to reinvent Shannonbridge; it has great tourism potential and we wish them every success.

Grey clouds were gathering at this stage, a change of weather was imminent – well says I to Mary ‘that beats Banagher’. Our lovely sun was disappearing on us and we were a little concerned we might not make our destination of Terryglass today. At least we would make Banagher, another busy boating centre on the Shannon. Wasn’t long until we were flying through Banagher and heading into north Tipp.

We made great progress but had to take the busy Birr – Portumna road for 7kms, which we dreaded; it’s twisty, has no margin and is not a good cycling road. Add to that the rain was coming down, heavy. On the plus side we were edging closer and closer to Terryglass and I would finally get to drop in on the tiny village of Lorrha. I don’t know why but I was aways curious about Lorrha. I think it had to do with John McIntyre, the Tipp hurler and former Galway hurling manager! Lorrha is a parish steeped in history that flourished in the peaceful days of the saints and scholars from the 6th to the 9th century, was raided and pillaged by marauding Vikings, recovered to become a major monastic settlement only to be overrun by the bete noir of Ireland, Oliver Cromwell. It’s great to see the storyboards popping up in our villages that give some information about the area and its history. They are really helpful in promoting these small villages and giving an insight to the locality. We saw our first signs for the Beara – Breifne Trail here but more about that later in the journey.

Sheltering from the rain in Lorrha

We were in touching distance of Terryglass, just another 7kms away and we were relieved to finally make it into Terryglass around 7pm. With the rain bucketing down we were praying to find a B&B for two wet cyclists; our luck was in, the first door we knocked proved successful and we had a lovely host in Patricia in Woodview B&B. Just 100 metres from the local bar and restaurant. Just perfect.

Malin Head to Mizen Head Day 3

Enniskillen to Ballymahon 114 kms

Cuilcagh Mountain on a sunny Sunday morning

People often comment that going for a long cycle is some feat of human endurance. Nothing is further from the truth! There’s no denying that cycling 100kms day after day brings a little pain, especially when the weather takes a turn for the worst, or the road continues to rise in front of you and you feel exhausted. Ironically these obstacles are easier manage if considered a part of the deal! Understand that and the sense of achievement is heightened greatly. And we were greatly looking forward to today’s cycle as it involved some cycling in hilly isolated parts of Cavan and down through Leitrim, parts of the country that we wouldn’t get to visit very often.

It was a cracking morning, blue sky, and even at 9am, it was warm for cycling. The route from Enniskillen took us towards Swanlinbar; if we had more time we would have turned off and taken in the Marble Arch Caves in the Cuilcagh Mountains but that’s for another day..

Another great benefit of cycle touring is the freedom of the open road. You can truly experience the places you visit and get to meet people and have a quick chat and gain the benefit from local knowledge. There’s no queueing, no traffic and no delays! As we turned onto Church road and headed for the hills, we had a great chat with a local family and the offer to fill our water bottles. It’s the little things..

Heading into hill country out of Swanlinbar on a tiny traffic free road.

We’d lots of climbing across heavily forested lands in Cavan and Leitrim. It’s easy see why many people in lovely Leitrim are so put out by the concentration of forestry in this sparsely populated county. 19% of Leitrim is covered in Sitka Spruce plantations. Isolated houses are completely surrounded by massive stands of gigantic trees that prevent day light falling in their gardens. There’s an eery silence in sitka plantations; the air is still, frost doesn’t lift easily in winter and there can be a great sense of isolation. The flip side of the coin is that for many small farmers, it’s the only way to make their enterprise viable. Perhaps a greater diversity of planting might satisfy both sides of the argument.

Leitrim actor, writer and playwright Seamus O Rourke captures the essence of Lovely Leitrim and the border counties in his priceless series of video clips. Here he muses on lockdown in Leitrim and forestry gets a mention too!

Whatever about the impact of Leitrim there’s nothing nicer than cycling in the shade of those big trees as we pushed on uphill on our lonely road for the next eight kilometres and then the thrilling descent into Ballinamore.

In this decade of centenaries there are many plaques in the most unlikely of places across the country. Ballinamore pays tribute to Leitrim natives, Seán MacDiarmada and Thomas Clarke, two of the leaders of the 1916 Rising and both signatories of the Proclamation of The Irish Republic. Thats one of the nice things about the bike, you get to see these small details and gain an appreciation of place, people and our history.

With 60kms to go, a quick ice cream was in order and we headed on to Cloone and Mohill and passed through the grounds of Lough Rynn Castle. Definitely the nicest place we didn’t stay!

Two crossings of the Shannon, one at Rooskey brought us into Roscommon and a lovely road all the way to Termonbarry, where we again crossed back over Ireland’s largest river before wheeling towards the start of the Royal Canal at Cloondara.

Cloondara is a lovely place to stay over with its pretty harbour and picnic tables and is the start of the Royal Canal Greenway and the continuation of the National Famine Way. The National Famine Way is a Trail detailing the ill-fated journey of 1,490 famine emigrants who walked from Strokestown Park to ships in Dublin in 1847, at the height of the Irish Famine. It’s an horrific episode in our history and the Famine Museum in nearby Strokestown is a must see to understand the impact the Famine had on Ireland in the 19th Century.

Very evocative markers on the National Famine Way depict a childrens pair of shoes representing children who died on the march..

The Royal Canal Greenway is the most recent of the dedicated Greenways in the country and links Cloondara with Dublin. It’s easy cycling and we quickly covered the kilometres to our day’s destination in Ballymahon and our welcome bed for the night in Skellys on the Main Street. Another satisfying day and 278 kms nearer to Mizen Head!

Malin Head to Mizen Head Day 2

Iskaheen to Enniskillen 110 kms

Tús maith leath na hoibre. An early start makes all the difference. Getting the gear sorted and the bikes properly loaded made for much more efficient cycling today on this longer stage. Yesterday I found the weight distribution was all wrong with too much weight in the front panniers. Lesson learned.

One thing that struck a chord yesterday was the issue of Mica in Donegal houses. It was truly shocking to see the number of homes affected by this mineral in building blocks causing walls to crack and crumble. In some cases homes have been abandoned. It is a major problem and some realistic form of redress is needed for those affected.

We looked forward to visiting Derry and we weren’t disappointed. It’s so improved from when I visited in 1986 while on a family holiday in Bunbeg, County Donegal. Phil Coulter captures the essence of Derry so well in his favourite composition ‘The Town That I Loved So Well’:

We’d need to spend a few days in Derry to do it justice; one of the oldest and most historic cities on the island, its beginnings reach back to the 6th century when one of Ireland’s greatest saints, Colmcille, founded a monastery at Doire. Worth noting the Carlow connection here – he was educated by St Finnian of Clonard – who was born in Myshall and became teacher to the stars of Irish monasticism!

The walled city of Derry has many attractions; it is the only fully intact walled town in Ireland and guided tours of the murals of the troubles is among the attractions. The beautiful Peace Bridge, a walking and cycling bridge, opened in 2011 links the Unionist Waterside with the Nationalist Cityside on the opposite sides of the River Foyle and is a must to traverse.

Guided tours of the murals of the Troubles are reminders of darker days in Derry, hopefully confined to the past..

Our time in the City was too brief and we had to keep moving south. That proved very easy with a terrific underused bike path along the west bank of the River Foyle and we quickly sped onwards.

Great way out of the City!

I was very impressed with the beautiful flower displays in the villages back over the border in Donegal of Carrigans and Saint Johnston as we roughly followed the Sustrans Cycle Route 92 (which links Derry, Omagh and Lifford). These are great routes to plan a journey around as they avail of the quiet country roads. It wasn’t long until we reached Lifford, on the Donegal side of the border and Strabane on the Tyrone side.

Replica Ogham Stone in the Diamond, Lifford.

To mark the new millennium a cross border initiative saw the commissioning of a unique art installation on the border between Lifford and Strabane entitled ‘Let the Dance Begin’. It consists of 5 semi-abstract figures each approximately 18 foot in height representing dancers and musicians, great unifying and popular art forms throughout the locality. The site was hugely symbolic as it was here the old border checkpoint was located. When we visited the five musicians were adorned with massive hooped jerseys of the Noah’s Army Foundation, set up in memory of 14 year old school boy Noah Donohoe who sadly lost his life in Belfast.

We left Strabane and head out via Sion Mills into the hill country surrounding Castlederg. A lot of huffing and puffing in the scorching heat up those climbs but the route turned out to be fantastic – virtually traffic free and great surfaces. I prefer to rely on paper maps than using Google on the phone – Google is a disaster for cycling on country roads and has a mind of its own!

Anyone want to buy a map?

But there was a gap in my map coverage and we were winging it along the ‘sunlit uplands’ of Tyrone and Fermanagh! The views were incredible and at one stage we could clearly see as far as Ben Bulben in Sligo.

Incidentally all the supermarkets we were in were fully stocked and none seemed affected by the dreaded ‘NI Protocol’!

Our target for the day was Enniskillen and we were glad to finally reach our destination after a long day in the sweltering heat. Stayed in a lovely B&B, Drumcoo House, on the outskirts of Town. Day 2 done and dusted.

Sun setting in Enniskillen