Over the past few days, I’ve been lucky enough to explore two beautiful routes by bike — both rural, both rugged, and both deeply rewarding in their own ways. Mary joined me for the jaunt out of Fore and around Lough Sheelin.
This first cycle was a return for me to beautiful Fore, Co. Westmeath, home of the famous Seven Wonders of Fore. It’s a place where ancient stones seem to whisper stories — from the water that won’t boil to the tree that won’t burn! A fittingly mystical start to a route that would take us into truly off-the-beaten-track terrain.
From Fore, we headed north, tracing a rural loop around Lough Sheelin, dipping into the quiet borderlands of County Cavan – and even a piece of Meath that juts north into a gap between Westmeath and Cavan. This is classic drumlin country — a patchwork of rolling farmland, hidden lakes, and winding boreens where the hedgerows close in and time seems to slow.
We met more cattle and sheep than cars. The roads were rough in places, but the silence and solitude more than made up for it. The lake itself was shimmering whenever it came into view, fringed with rushes and angling boats. This is the kind of ride that reminds you just how much of Ireland remains untouched by tourism. No cafes, no signs, no distractions — just rural beauty and a rhythm dictated by the road and your legs.
Truth be told the northern side of the lake from Finea was on the fairly busy road to Ballyjamesduff and wasn’t the most pleasant but we were able to get off it just before Mount Nugent. As we paused in Mount Nugent for a quick ice cream break — a rare moment of bustle after miles of quiet roads — a concerned motorist approached. He asked if we’d seen a young boy, described as carrying a rucksack, who hadn’t been seen since morning.
We hadn’t encountered anyone matching that description, but we were able to confirm he hadn’t been on the route we’d cycled, helping to narrow down the area for those searching.
It was a sobering moment. The contrast between our carefree journey and the real concern playing out nearby was striking. It was also a reminder of how these quiet, rural places — so peaceful on the surface — can carry unexpected stories and tensions. We left Mount Nugent hoping the boy would be found safe and soon.
The back roads that returned us to Fore were just perfect for cyclists; one of them a disused road which we had to ourselves.
Today’s 28km spin through the quiet roads of south east Wicklow reminded me yet again why I love cycling in rural Ireland. I parked up at Crossbridge Church and set off into the April air with no particular hurry—just the promise of a loop that would wind me through history, hills, and the kind of scenery that stops you mid-pedal to take it all in.
My first leg brought me around by Ballycumber and Kyle, two townlands that feel suspended in time. There’s a peaceful rhythm out here—sheep in the fields, the odd tractor, and birdsong that fills the gaps where traffic might be elsewhere.
Just after Kyle, I spotted a River Ford marked on my Ordnance Survey Map and I made a short detour: a quiet stone at the roadside caught my eye: a memorial to Luke O’Toole, the GAA’s first full-time secretary. Luke served ar secretary of the GAA from 1901 to 1929; an historic time in Irish history. He would have dealt with the most tragic day in GAA History; Bloody Sunday, on 21st November 1920, in Croke Park when British Forces murdered 14 innocent people during the game between Dublin and Tipperary. It’s a simple marker, but a powerful nod to someone who helped shape Irish sporting life from this very landscape.
Onward to Ballinglen! I stopped at the bridge to read another piece of local memory etched in stone—this one erected in memory of two local brothers Philip (22) and Patrick Lacey (22) who were shot beside the bridge while returning from the Battle of Vinegar Hill on 21st June 1798. A nearby seat, unveiled in 1998 by President Mary McAleese, invites you to pause. I did just that. Sat for a moment in the quiet, the only sound the murmuring of the Derry River below, and thought of the lives and stories rooted deep in this place.
The scenery all along the route was nothing short of spectacular—mountains rising up and rolling away to the horizon, softened by spring’s early green. There’s something nourishing about being surrounded by hills; they don’t rush you, just rise steadily and remind you how rejuvenating the outdoors are for mind and body.
From there, I rolled down into Tinahely, a real hub for hill walkers with its many fantastic loops. Rather than take the road out, I picked up the old rail walk, which winds gently along a narrow wooded path toward Tomnafinnoge Wood. It’s a lovely trail—tree-lined, quiet, and full of little surprises. One of those was a ‘rag tree’ along the way, its branches fluttering with ribbons and cloth left behind by those with wishes, prayers, or memories to leave. A simple, powerful tradition still alive in the hedgerows.
Tomnafinnoge is one of the last remaining mature oak plantations in Ireland. The magnificent oaks were planted by the Fitswilliam Estate several hundred years ago and timber from the forest is said to have been used in the construction of Trinity College Dublin, King’s College Cambridge and St. Paul’s Cathedral London. During the 1980s, a public campaign by locals, politicians and artists such as U2’s ‘The Edge’ ensured the survival of the woods from total destruction and the remnants are now protected as a ‘Special Area of Conservation’ owned and maintained by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
After Tomnafinnoge, I turned uphill toward Ballyraheen. The climb had some bite, but nothing too fierce, and the reward was a roadside audience: a herd of colourful goats, lounging and curious, as if they were expecting me. Their presence gave the whole moment a kind of comic charm. You just don’t get that on a spin around Carlow Town!
The loop closed back at Crossbridge, with 446 metres of climbing in the legs and a warm satisfaction in the soul. Not a long spin, but one rich in variety—history, beauty, solitude, and the kind of quiet moments that make rural Ireland such a joy to explore by bike.
If you’re ever looking for a route that feeds the legs and the spirit, you could do worse than this corner of Wicklow. And if you’re lucky, the goats will be out to greet you too.
Yesterday, standing beside the ancient grave of Saint Brendan in Clonfert, I felt something stir—not just reverence, but revelation! As the wind moved through the trees and the moss-covered stones whispered of old voyages, it struck me with divine clarity: Greenland—and quite possibly all of North America—rightfully belongs to Ireland. Not through war or treaty, but through Brendan, who almost certainly discovered it a good 900 years before Columbus, and did so without enslaving anyone, planting flags, or raiding their gold and silver mines. And if that truth unsettles certain American senators with a penchant for lecturing the world, well… that’s just a bonus. We got there first but we were too humble to tell anyone!
According to the Navigatio Sancti Brendani, Saint Brendan and a group of monks sailed west in search of the “The Isle of the Blessed”—an allegorical tale filled with sea monsters, magical islands, and flaming mountains. Some people, especially in modern times, have speculated that this was actually a description of a transatlantic voyage, possibly to North America. It’s no accident he is patron saint of the U.S. Navy! Tim Severin’s 1970s expedition in a replica leather boat (The Brendan Voyage) showed such a journey was physically possible, using medieval technology. He successfully sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland via the Hebrides, Faroe Islands, Iceland, and Greenland. So hands off JD Vance, we’re laying claim to those rare minerals!
Joking aside, we’d a great cycle yesterday starting in Banagher and heading over to Clonfert along quiet country lanes. The ancient Romanesque doorway is a sight to behold with its intricate carvings. Clonfert Cathedral, in the tiny quiet village of Clonfert, County Galway, is a true gem of Irish history dating back to the 6th century. Founded by St. Brendan, it stands as a testament to ancient ecclesiastical prominence.
The beautiful round arched west doorway at Clonfert Cathedral is a lovely relic of Irish Romanesque decorative architecture built A.D. 563. Monasteries flourished as centres of learning and sent missionaries to many European countries, bringing with them the classical literature of Greece and Rome. Reports in the 9th century suggested that anyone who spoke Greek on the continent was an Irish person or had been taught by an Irish person. Truly, the Land of Saints and Scholars!
Clonfert CathedralClonfert Romanesque Doorway
Places like Clonfert helped preserve Irish Catholic Identity after the Cromwellian Conquest of Ireland,. immortalised in the awful phrase “To hell or to Connacht”. This was one of the most brutal and traumatic periods in Irish history with ten of thousands of Irish displaced from their home and something like 11 million acres of lands were confiscated from Catholics – by the end of the 1650’s 90% of the land was in Protestant hands. It was a form of ethnic and cultural cleansing that did untold damage to the Irish language.
We weren’t long before we were cycling past Brackloon Castle, one of Ireland’s oldest and smallest castles, now restored and lived in! Built in the 1500s by the O Madden Family, who too were dispossessed by the English… While St Brendan set sail west in search of heavenly peace but instead discovered America, Cromwell followed up a 1,000 years later sending our ancestors west into Connacht in search of survival. If Brendan discovered America, Cromwell helped us populate it with wave after wave or Irish migration! ICE are at the airports today to make sure no more get to follow ‘the American Dream’… mind you there’s many a Yank yearning for travel in the opposite direction today!
Meelick Church was the next stopping off point, reputedly the oldest church still in use in Ireland today! Meelick weir is a stone’s throw away, if you’re good at throwing stones and it’s a beautiful 300 metre curved walkway / cycleway. It’s part of the Hymany Way and the Beara-Breifne Way which we followed a few years ago on our Malin to Mizen cycle. I love coming down here!
Meelick weir walkway on the Shannon.
This links to an island in the Shannon river and Victoria Lock, which was constructed in the 1840s. Really picturesque views on it with the roar of the water deafening beneath you. A great place for a picnic!
Victoria Lock looking northwardsVictoria LockThe River Shannon south of Victoria Lock.
Bikes can easily be walked across the Lock and that brings you into a lovely route close to the Shannon Callows – a great place to do some bird watching and a nice easy loop back though Lusmagh to Banagher.
You could say the landscape is flat and boring but there’s beauty in that too and there’s a real touch of the west of Ireland as soon as you cross the Shannon at Banagher. Worth noting too that the 3 provinces of Munster, Connacht and Leinster meet right here at this point on Victoria Lock!
Cycling through the countryside while mentally travelling through the centuries, wondering if St Brendan had quads like these! Another great day in the saddle!
The Lingaun Valley is the valley you probably never heard of! It’s only a stones throw away in south Kilkenny and it’s a place I like to occasionally visit. I usually park up at Kells Priory and take the bike from there down some of the nicest and quietest back roads in the country. First port of call is always Kilree Monastic site, which is the location for one of Kilkenny’s FIVE round Towers! Behind the Tower in a field is a beautiful Celtic Cross. It could be said that like William Wordsworth “we were wandering lonely as a cloud when all at once we saw a host of golden daffodils fluttering and dancing in the breeze”, for there was a large field of daffodils just behind the cross! A beautiful site.
It’s uphill into Hugginstown, home of Carrickshock Hurlers – the club of the great Ritchie Power Snr and Jnr! We wheeled right in the village and we had a fair pull uphill for 6 kms with breathtaking views the reward for our efforts and a nice descent into the historic village of Tullahought. We were now entering the Lingaun Valley.
The Lingaun River Valley forms part of the border between those great hurling rivals, Kilkenny and Tipperary, with its source in the foothills of Slievenamon, it meanders through the townlands to enter the Suir River at near Carrick on Suir.
It’s a very remote and rural area with numerous ancient and historic sites scattered across the Valley. We headed back towards Pilltown direction to visit the wonderful Kilkieran High Crosses and Holy Well.
There’s a bullaun stone with holy water that is reputedly a cure for headaches. Throw away those Aspirins and get yourself down here!
For a small area, there’s an abundance of Celtic Crosses and we travelled just a few kilometres back the road to our next port of call – the Ahenny High Crosses. These are truly stunning examples of carved Celtic Crosses. Well worth a visit to view them and they have weathered very well. One of them unfortunately is damaged and there’s a local legend about the misfortune the perpetrator of the deed had visited upon him!
There’s a beautiful row of stone cottages in the tiny village of Ahenny, which you can see in the accompanying video. These were built for the workers in the local Slate Quarries. The workers originally came from Wales.
It’s just a couple of more kilometres to the ancient Knockroe Passage Tomb, known locally as ‘The Cashel’ constructed more than 5000 years ago with its unique alignment to the sunrise and the sunset on the day of the Winter Solstice each year. The passage tomb is aligned with the mound on the summit of nearby Slievenamon, Co. Tipperary.
The Lingaun Valley is a truly special place and you should come see and feel for yourself how the Lingaun River flows though time, how it connects the enchantment and mysteries of Ireland’s historic and pre-historic past coupled with the beauty of nature all around you.
The backroads are my routes for exploring the nooks and crannies of the countryside and cycling these bóithríns (cow paths) lets me slip out of this modern world for a few hours of exploring! With my ordnance survey maps loaded on my phone I’m constantly seeing little red dots and red writing indicating an ancient landmark, forgotten places that are impossible to see from the comfort of a car but which I can easily spot from my bike and explore. The ordnance survey maps carry the poetic placenames of the county. Long before maps and the written word, places had names which were memorised and were important reference points committed to memory. My good friend Uinsíonn Mac Graith (former Rathvilly goalkeeper 1980s) explained this to me on a cliffside walk along the north Mayo coast a couple of years ago. Every inlet, cave, reef, rock, hill, headland, stream had it’s own special name which were used to pinpoint a location, to tell a tale about the area and give meaning to the landscape. In his publication, ‘Logainmneacha agus Oidhreacht Dhún Chaocháin(The Placenames and Heritage of Dún Chaocháin)‘ he collected and listed an incredible 1,500 placenames of this tiny area and he mapped them all! It’s a beautiful and important publication. Many of these placenames were not written down beforehand, but were carried by word of mouth from one generation to the next. Carlow is no different; it would be nice to have our Logainmneacha recorded. For now the Ordnance Survey Maps are a good starting point, as is my father’s copy of ‘Placenames of County Carlow’ by Edward O Toole, a little publication that I treasure.
My route today was to take my down to Killoughternane and Rathnageeragh:
Sticking to the back roads provides me with safe quiet cycle paths; virtually traffic free. First stop off today was at Clonmelsh graveyard, where Walt Disneys ancestors are buried!
Ancestral burial place of the Disney family is located at Clonmelsh..
Just a few hundred metres beyond the graveyard is another very important site associated with St Willibrord, patron saint of Luxembourg. St Willibrord was born near York in England. He was trained and ordained at a religious site located in the townland of Garryhundon, Co Carlow commonly referred to as Killogan, Rath Melsigi (Rathmelsh) or Clonmelsh Graveyard.
Rath Melsigi and its cross
I took the back road to Bagenalstown or Muinebheag. William Bagenal of Dunleckny House had planned to build a new town based on Versaille! As pretty and all as Bagenalstown may be, it ain’t no Versaille!
Passing out of Bagenalstown, the skew bridge over the railway is bordered with the very unique Carlow granite fencing; found no where else in the country! The upright pillars have a V cut into the top and into which the lintel is set in place. Richie Kavanagh wrote a song about it!
Onwards through Donore, Corries Cross, Ballinree Cross and finally arriving after a pleasant traffic free cycle at Killoughternane (Cill Fhoirtchearnáin) – Church of St Fortchen, of which I’ve blogged recently. Also known as the ‘White Church’. It’s obvious why from this drone photo:
Killoughternane Church
My final destination for the day was another visit to Rathnageeragh (Ráth na gCaorach – The Fort/ Rath of the Sheep) to see the progress on the restoration of the old National School. What a treat. But first a big climb up the approach to Carlow’s highest village, Drumphea, before turning right and along the stone walled bordered bóithrín to the Edmond Spruhan restored school. The Schools Collection on the Dúchas website (www.dúchas.ie) contains literally thousands of handwritten stories collected in National Schools, all across the country. They collected stories from Rathnageeragh NS, here is one surprising story about the popularity of bowling and cricket in Drumphea!
This is a road I was never on before and I soon passed the Carlow dog training club, I didn’t know such a place existed; there were half dozen dogs being put through their paces! I headed back by the shortest route possible, through Straduff, Clonee, Tailor’s Cross, Kilnock, Ballynunnery, Kellistown, Moyle, Ballycrogue and back into Carlow Town. A great day’s cycling with lots of glimpses into our historic past.
John Creedon of RTE has written some great books in recent years, one of which celebrates the placenames of Ireland ‘That Place We Call Home’, well worth a read as is his compendium ‘An Irish Folklore Treasury from the Schools Collection which is part of the National Folklore Collection, which I sometimes reference.
Rathnageeragh NS restoredRathnageeragh NS in ruins..
65kms done today across the beautiful countryside of County Carlow!
