Self Guided Bike tours are a fantastic way have an active, but still not overly strenous tour that will truly get you off the beaten path. You are typically riding on the backroads, through small towns. Stays are in Inn's and B&B's in small towns and you will dine in local resturants, sampling whatever fare is in season in the region.

Ireland, a very very beautiful place. Bring your rain gear though because a day without a shower is a rare day indeed. At least our in the Conamarra region in western Ireland that we rode in. The riding is mostly level, mostly on rural roads with more sheep than cars. It can get a bit nippy along the coast when the wind whips in from the sea, but a more beautiful place you will be hard pressed to find.

Links to sites used in researching the trip and booking services, tours, ect.

• Iron Donkey Bike Tours
  
• Irish Rail

Getting there.

Most likely, you will fly into Dublin. From there we needed to get to Galway. We choose a quick plane trip. This was a bit more expensive than the trail, but, of course a good deal faster as well. From Galway we needed to get to Oughterard. There is a bus that leaves Galway about every two hours and costs about 6 Euro. If you take a train, the train station is also the bus station. Had we thought about it, we probably should have done that instead of fly as we had to take a cab from Galway airport, which we decided just to take all the way to Oughterard. Expensive, but if you have been traveling for many hours, you eventually just say the heck with it and take the easiest way regardless of cost.

So, we arrive in Oughterard. Its a very small town 20Km down the highway from Galway, and its really quite nice. Really darn nice in fact. Tony Boyd, who runs Iron Donkey is a great guy. The inns and bed and breakfast's that he puts you in on his trips are very very nice. This is the Waterfall Lodge were whe began the trip. Yes, it is as nice inside as it is outside. Again, I think this is a good place to remind people to be prepared for the weather. We awoke the next morning to some fairly heavy rain and we were a bit worried about having to ride in a pretty heavy downpour. Fortunatly, Tony waited out the rain as well, and came to the lodge later in the morning when the rain had let up. He took us up the road a few kilometers to get us off the busy highway, and make sure we were set up with the bikes.

For those who have not done self guided bike trips before, and wonder how it all works, here is a summary.

We larned our lesson about good rain gear this day. We had small ponchos, which were not very useful. They flapped in the wind and didn't keep any rain off your head. Fortunally it was only occasional showers, so, despite being an overcast day, it did not detract from the beauty of Ireland and several hours later we arrived at the crossroads to take us to Roundstone where we would be lodging our first night of riding. The Riverview Bar pictured above was closed, curse our luck. We could have used a nice place to dry off for a bit at this point. We were about two thirds of our way through the route and the weather gods were in a good mood because it quit raining and the sun even started to show itself, presenting us with a very pleasant ride on the coast road to the Heatherglen House Which fell into the really nice catagory because of this spectacular view. The rooms were simple but comfortable and the hosts were very friendly. We took a short walk into the town proper and had bowls of stew washed down with Guinness for supper. We had poor luck this trip as it seemed every time we arrived in town, the pubs either had music night the night before or the night after we left. We retired early to sleep off the first day aches and pains, and set out the next morning after breakfast for Clifden, our next destination.

The riding this day would take us along the Atlantic coast which lashed us with some pretty stiff and cold winds. We could see a rainstorm coming in off the sea and figured we were in for a dousing, but just as things looked darkest, coffee shop appears out of nowhere and offers us vanilla lattes as well as warm refuge from the storm which we were delighted to sit out for an hour while we munched a couple scones.

Back on the road after the rain let up, we were pleased to discover that we had covered most of the days distance on our way to Clifden. Clifden is the sort of town that tends to end up on the postcards. Beautiful town, beautiful location. There was a add on route for our trip that Tony said we should make sure not to miss. The Sky Road is about ten miles, and as Tony warns "Its a bit of a climb, but it's worth it". It is, and it is. Our hotel was called the Seamist HouseThis stone house is totally restored inside and the glassed in room you see on the end is the dining room. The road to down to the harbor park area is right across the street. Take an after dinner stroll , and then head to a nearby pub for a pint before turning in for the night. If you don't have good raingear. (In the picture below you can see the blue nylon rain jacket I aquired in Clifden, which turned out to be the best purchases we ever made, because the next day we entered the Valley Of Endless Rain!!!

We left Seamist House under the typical cloudy skies our here on the west coast of Ireland, but it wasen't raining and we were starting to think it might clear up. Ho Ho, Ha Ha, it is to laugh. I believe the offical name is the Inagh Valley, but trufully, it was the Valley of Endless Rain. The road itself was quite nice. Looooooooog and straight through a very scenic valley. The Twelve Ben's to the west, and peat bogs to the east, and sheep all over the road. They build those amazing stone fences all over the area, and as far as we can tell, their main purpose was to keep the sheep out of the fields and on the road where they belong. It was not uncommon. The sheep were smart enough to keep the side of the road, and the drivers savvy enough to avoid the occasional wanderer. In our entire time we saw only one unfortunate sheep.

The rain would sweep through in waves of showers. It was as if the mountains would hold them up for a short while and then they would break free and rush across the valley in short but violent downpours. Our new Clifden bought rain jackets really proved their worth that day as they kept us from getting soaked to the skin.

The picture above shows the imminent approach of yet another curtain of rain. About halfway through the valley we came upon a large and busy lodge. Cannot recall the name, but it was teeming with bicycles. This was only about the one third mark of the days riding, but once again, Ireland came through with somewhere warm and dry serving good coffee.

It was as if the weather had lost interest in us afterwards, because once we resumed our journey, we avoided further rain and sky even teased us with occasional views of the sun. Once we exited the valley, we were ende up back on the N59 to Leenane, which is a main road and failry busy highway. However, we were not about to complain as it turned out that this highway was about a ten mile downhill glide to the Hotel Leenane. (below, buildings on the right)

I should mention that one thing about these trips is that the organizers, in this case Tony Boyd and Iron Donkey, make sure the people at the night lodging have somewhere secure and dry for you to put the bicycles. The desk at the Leenane Hotel directed around the back where we encounted an interesting fellow. He was as first a little dismayed that perhaps a whole group was going to trickle in and he didn't know what to do with a whole bunch of bikes, but when he discovered it was just the two of us, he not only made sure they were secure and dry, he decided to give us a short history of the area. This is perhaps one of the nicest parts of self guided tours. Your out, away from the big cities and the mass of tourists. It puts you out of your comfort zone. You meet local people by necessity, and because your not just another in an endless string of tourists, people seem much more willing to open up. After all, dosen't everyone brag about their hometown?

After a pleasant dinner and couple of pints in the pub (wouldn't you know it, we miss music night by one day yet again), we took a stroll along the waterfront and turned it, ready for our last day on the bikes.

Our final day took us away from the coast and into an area that appeared to be prized by fly fishers. Lush valleys with small streams and rivers ran everwhere and the soil was finally fertile enough to support trees. The sun finally made an appearance and it was almost hot by Irish standards. More towns were along the roads as compared with peat bogs of the Connemara coast. The trip took us by the impressive "Coffin Ships" Famine memorial  Croagh Patrick in County Mayo.  This stunning and somber sculpture depicts the despair in Ireland during the great famine.

A short while later, we ended up in Westport which is a moderatly large sized city. Typically bike tours start and end in cities that have good rail links. Lots of shops and resturants here and you can pick up a few of the exceptional Irish woolen garments that the area is famous for.

I hope you enjoyed our bike tour of Ireland. I highly recommend this trip. Again, you need not be someone who bikes daily to enjoy these trips. The Average distance is about 30 miles a day, which may sound like alot, but remember, you have all day. Even riding very slowly, you will be going about 8 MPH. We typically start our rides after 9AM. The Irish don't get up at the crack of dawn for breakfast. 8-10 are typical breakfast hours. So after breakfast, we'd take our time getting ready to hit the road, and would usually reach our next lodging before 4PM. This includes frequent short breaks and a long break for lunch. I do recommend riding somewhat regularly for an hour or so a few weeks before to get your butt used to a bike seat.

Happy biking and remember, adventure is just another word for fun.