This report is long past due, as our trip to Ireland was in August, 2007. I do need to get it written, though, before all of the little details fade away completely, especially as we plan another great adventure and the focus is on Italy, Greece, and other eastern Med locations.

We planned a week of cycling followed by a week in a rental house in a different county, so essentially we had two quite different styles of vacationing.

Travel to and From:
We used FF tickets on AA, DEN-ORD-SNN; multiple traveling companions were on Continental, DEN-EWR-SNN. There actually were no horrible travel disasters for any of us – all departures and arrivals roughly on time, and luggage arrived with us both directions. At Shannon Airport, U.S. citizens complete immigration before boarding the plane to come home. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/usflag.gif" alt="" />

From Shannon airport, we had pre-arranged for a van to take six of us to Galway City, the meeting point for the tour.

We booked with Irish Cycling Safaris, at the modest-budget end of cycling tour companies. Research prior to making reservations showed a wide range of prices, based on accommodation type, meals included or not, etc. All tour companies include bicycle rental, luggage transport, a support van for assistance, and accommodations and breakfast. We chose to go with a less expensive tour in order to be able to spend more on the rental house for the second week. I would book with this tour company again, but some in the group thought they would upgrade if doing another tour.

The Bicycle Week
The tour company arranges for luggage storage that first day at a hotel designated as the group meeting point. We had time to wander the pedestrian-only shopping streets and the waterfront; I stumbled onto a lovely traditional-Irish music concert at the art museum. As jet lag caught up with all of us, we used the hotel lobby for naps. The cycle group met in the late afternoon; we were given our maps, other guide materials, and B&B assignments for overnight. We all had dinner together at the hotel prior to van transport to the B&Bs. After a traditional Irish breakfast (more about this later), all group members were again picked up, this time on a bus, and transported to Cong where the actual cycling started (Cong is the location where the movie The Quiet Man was filmed.)

The routine each day for the duration of the cycling trip is pack up, take your luggage to the front hall of your B&B, have breakfast, and ride to the designated meeting point for the day’s ride. Everyone in the group (anywhere from 10-20 riders) gets the briefing, reviews the map, and off you go. Riding is at your own pace, stopping to see the sights or have tea, the only proviso being to meet for lunch at a designated café, and arrive before dark at the next night’s stop. The guide/van driver/ bicycle repairman collects all luggage and transports it to the next night’s stop. He also circulates to help with problems, including finding delayed or lost riders.

Our route for the week was Galway City >Cong > Westport > Leenane > Roundstone (rest day here) > Carraroe > ferry to Inishmore (Aran Islands) for a day of riding and exploring, and a final bus ride back to Galway City. We pedaled almost 200 miles in the course of the week, seeing the amazingly green countryside of Galway, Connemara and Mayo regions of Ireland. We rode in steep mountains, along ocean coastlines, through villages, rolling hills, around the only fjord in Ireland. We saw and experienced Irish pubs, ancient abbeys, pubs, even more-ancient forts, pubs, beaches, pubs, and a community recreation center evening of singing, Irish step dancing (called line dancing), another style of dancing akin to square dancing, and traditional instrumental music.

Accommodations
All of the B&Bs or small hotels that we stayed in along the way were adequate; nothing luxurious, but clean, mostly quiet, and fairly roomy. Some bike tours have you stay in castles and manor houses: we did not.

Meals
By the end of the week, no one really wanted to look at a “traditional Irish breakfast” one more time. It is quite a hearty breakfast with eggs, meats, a porridge type of thing, broiled tomatoes, fruit juice, toast, cold cereal too if you want. They have a cooked blood sausage that some people just never would try.

Lunch stops were in small towns with maybe only the one place to have a meal out; each person orders off the (limited) menu. We sampled fabulous fish chowders, the grilled sandwich called the “toasted special” …it’s the same all over Ireland, we discovered… soup (always puree of vegetable), and of course, beer.

Dinners were sometimes arranged for the group as a whole to eat together, and sometimes on your own. There is always an opportunity to “call a pint” before, during and after the meal, and on into the evening. The food, on the whole, was tasty and well prepared.

Weather
Well. There is a reason why Ireland is so, so green. We were very glad we had brought along rain suits designed for bicycling. The suits were used nearly every day, as were the clear plastic shower caps which nicely cover a bicycle helmet. We did have sunshine from time to time, but that first week was fairly cloudy and rainy. If you haven’t tried it, you will discover that yes, you can ride a bicycle in the rain.

Roads and Traffic
They drive on the left in Ireland, so you must ride on the left as well. The roads from town to village are mostly very narrow – saying 2 lanes is being generous. There is usually no shoulder, and at the edge of the pavement on each side there frequently are towering blackberry vines, or fuchsias. The fuchsias don’t scratch quite as much as the berries, but the berry vines provide a handy snack in August. Vehicle drivers seem to be fairly well accustomed to cyclists, allowing just barely enough room to pass us safely. Many of our routes were through wide open pasture land, too, with hundreds and hundreds of sheep dotting the rolling hills. More sheep traffic than car traffic in some locales. Or, goats and/or sheep all of a sudden getting a wild notion to cross the road.

Equipment and Support
Irish Cycling Safaris provided Trek bicycles with wrist-grip gear shift and a small pannier bag for the many small items needed during the day. The bikes were in good condition, and they made an effort for each rider to have a reasonable fit. In fact, my bicycle over there was actually more comfortable for long miles of riding than my bike at home, and I have since purchased a new one. The occasional flat tire or slipped chain were cheerfully attended to by our guide, although our group was large, tended to get quite spread out, and he was only one person to support 19 riders with a big job just to get all of the luggage moved each day, meet the group for lunch, take care of problems, etc.

Companions
The tour group was mostly Americans, but also a family trio from England and a single Dutch lady. Our guide is Irish, currently living and teaching in Holland. Other than the teenager from England, ages ranged in the 40s-50s-60s. Very few of the riders in our group are what you would call serious cyclists; most of us were recreational riders who did a fair amount of extra training to be ready for this trip.

End of the Line

The whole tour group and guide enjoyed dinner together on the final evening at an Italian restaurant in Galway City, and had one last night at the same B&Bs we started out in. The next morning as we parted ways, our group of six headed for a whole new adventure.