antokelly

So do you folks reckon people expect to much when cycle touring to another country.
i was watching an hour long video on utube about cycling in my country Ireland by Darran Alff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3syZDzIyabw..

seems he came when it rained for 3 weeks solid which can wreck anyone's tour
he also complains about cars /traffic/ condition of roads/ way to expensive / mett some horrible people along the way gave the tour 5 out of 10.

fact is i reckon if the sun is out no matter what country your in it's far more enjoyable you see things in a better light..
but maybe im wrong maybe ireland is a crap place to tour what say you all.

anto.

fietsbob

After I finished My tour of Ireland And Scotland , bringing my Pocket Mandolin and sitting in on what Pub Sessions I could get admitted to ,

I moved to the North West Coast , and this Past year & a half , bought a House here.


On the Irish Wet coast ( oops for got the S ), West Coast .. I got used to riding in my rain gear , and stopping in for the occasional Pint to dry off.

It was before all the tech stuff , and I was there . longer ... pootling along , St Paddys Day in Co Kerry , Crossed from Donegal to Derry on May 1st.


I was hanging out in Forres Scotland when Dodi & Di, & their Driver, tested their Mercedes high speed Crash worthiness, which was obviously a Fail .

Caretaker

Watched the first 30mins of the video.

It's his experience and seems to have given the good and bad as he sees it.

As a Warmshowers host here I'm familiar with American touring cyclists complaining about the narrow roads.

Cost of accommodation: Did a short tour in the West in September and a night in a hostel cost €22 ($30) and a night in a B&B €45 ($63). Was surprised he didn't mention hostelling.

Also no 'hidden gems' from our 'cycle touring pro' just the usual Dingle, Cliffs of Moher and Glendalough all tourist meccas visited by every tour bus.

Kind of dismissed Northern Ireland as not really 'Ireland' which was kind of strange.

FBinNY 

I suspect that at least half of what determines the quality of a tour is what's atop the saddle. It's a variant of the half a glass of water thing. Some people can and do find the good in wherever they are, and others find all the faults. Put two people on the identical tour and you can get two completely opposite tour reports.

Obviously rain can be a damper, and some might be avoided by checking the climate an touring in the drier season. But even rainy tours can be fun for someone with a sunny disposition. I didn't see the video, but don't have the patience for those kinds of thing anyway. But I suspect that it reflected a negative outlook rather than a fair picture of what bike touring in Ireland would be like.

chasm54

Ireland is terrific for cycle touring. Many Americans seem intimidated by narrow roads, but in my view they are part of the charm - and anyway thhey aren't unique to Ireland, they are part of the European experience.

Rain is always unwelcome, and Ireland is wet. But anyone who is afraid of rain really ought to take up another hobby.

antokelly

hah you hit the nail on the head,i toured in france rained solid for 3 days, but a beautifull country to tour.as caretaker said he only done the west coast there more to ireland than the west coast beautifull and all as it is.

Caretaker

You took me up wrong Anto, I was talking about my own short trip in the West last month.

As regards our friend's tour, I found this other video where he describes his 'tour' in detail. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gq2N2vHCVk

For those who aren't up to watching it and the ads that interrupt it here's a brief outline: Arrived Dublin airport and spent two nights with a Warmshower host, went sightseeing in the city and went up Howth hill (a small peninsula with a hill 10 miles from the city centre) on his bike. Next he got on a ferry and went to the Isle of Mann (small British owned island between Dublin and Liverpool) and spent 6 days (!!!) cycling round it. Six days on an island 31miles long and 14 miles wide!!
He arrived back in Dublin and had 10 days before some friends arrived from Germany for a rental car holiday so he spent a week cycling and camping rough in the Wicklow mountains just South of Dublin before returning to the city. The rest of his trip was by car down to Cork and over to the Dingle Peninsula.

So as far as cycling went he never travelled more than about 50 miles from Dublin Airport and he has two videos on Youtube advising people about cycle touring in Ireland.

antokelly

i seriously think this guys bums his way around the world,getting free gear from all the big companys bikes included ,he's some tulip .
mind you i could be wrong yet again he could be the best cyclise in the world.
but i somehow doubt it.

meyers66

Hello,
I didn't watch Daren's video but my brother and I cycled around Galway County in the 80's. We camped a few nights. Yes it was wet on and off but it was one of the best travel experiences we had. I'll never forget getting a flat in the middle of a sheep pasture. (Since we rented the bikes there was no repair kit, my bad.) I had to walk a mile or so to the next town singing to the sheep. It turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip.
If you're going to cycle anywhere, dress for the conditions, bring camping gear, stay in hostels to dry out, and try to schedule your trip in the months with the most comfortable weather on average. Isn't that common sense? Doesn't the Lonely Planet guide has weather ranges on the back cover? Or is this why I need to buy the iPhony 6 for $750US - so I can upgrade to get the common sense app that offers those same weather ranges but in color so I don't have to spend time reading a book? I guess the old way of talking with fellow travelers does pay off.

Caretaker

^^You had a good time because presumably you wanted to be here and experience whatever came your way.

Darren on the other hand seems to have only been here to meet up with friends and having over two weeks before they arrive almost the first thing he does is get out of the country for a week, then return and basically hang around a small area working on his blog using the local library as his office. Then he left his bike in the capital and had a short car tour with two German friends. That was it.

I have to give him full marks for honesty but personally I'd be embarrassed if I flew to New York, then to Bermuda, back to NY spent a week in one area of up state NY and then put two videos on Youtube taking Q&As and giving advice on cycle touring Eastern USA.

I might be accused of sour grapes but apart from the weather and that he thought almost everything was expensive he had lots of good things to say.

chasm54

^^ This. The people who have a good time are the people who have decided to have a good time. If you embark on a trip with a positive attitude, the fact that some things don't go to plan is no problem. If you aren't happy unless everything goes right, well, you're very unlikely to be happy.

He does have a point about the prices...

tmac-100

I want to bicycle tour Eire, but have not done so, yet. In July-Aug 2013 2 of us drove clockwise around the island spending 40 days and 40 nights on that incredible island. There are 3 GREAT things about Eire:

1. The Irish people.
2. The Irish way of life.
3. The green countryside.

We did a lot of the rural parts and spent much time with Irish people and stayed in B&Bs. While the island has narrow roads, what do North Americans want - a clone of the good 'ole USA or Canada? Harummph!!

Come to Ireland and have an acceptance that this is a different way of living (and celebrating life) and you will have lots of crack, smiles and just plain good times. I want to come back there and ride my bicycle the next time. As for prices ... try touring Japan/Australia. IF anyone is concerned about travel costs, just stay home, eat pork-and-beans and oatmeal in front of a fire built in your front yard and spend your time reading National Geographic.

fietsbob

By contrast I got the help , after dark, from a worker at the service station, who did a 'follow me' drive to what was the nearest Lay-by in a highway north of the Airport ,

where I put up my tent.

next day, Not being as cold as I was Equipped for , I shipped back a Box of stuff from the (Swords) Post Office .

then went into Dublin, where I found one of the many Privately held Hostels , I would use when the weather was Heavy, and Camped in between.

'warm-showers' or the internet did not exist , then. nor mobile phones .. or Blogger selfies .

Caretaker

Agree, Ireland is not an inexpensive destination although there's more value around now post boom if you know where to look.

axolotl

I toured in Ireland before the country was expensive. We stayed in hostels and B&Bs. The weather was awful. We had some rain every single day. I had worse weather in Ireland than any place I've toured. The best part of Ireland was the friendly people. Worst part was the weather. The food wasn't great, but we were able to prepare a lot of our own dinners in hostels. We biked mostly in western Ireland, which was prettier than what we saw of central and eastern Ireland. Narrow roads, traffic volume, and driver attitudes were not at all a problem when we were there.

bruised

I didn't find his take on touring Ireland to be overly negative (I watched the video).

I think many people in the USA have an impression of Ireland which is somewhat 'idyllic', and to many who encounter it in the flesh, it is. But there are certain practical elements which might be overlooked by someone with the idyllic mindset that the blogger deals with quite well. The roads, the weather, the pricing etc. I think he gave a fair and balanced assessment of his experience and covered the good and bad fairly adequately.

I had an interesting time honeymooning in Ireland a few years back. My wife is American and her heritage includes a clan from the County Cork region in the Southern part of the Island. It was interesting to observe the mixed reactions to a UK accent and an American accent by some of the locals. But of course you can't go to a foreign land and expect to impose yourself on the local population and come away with anything positive. The idea is to switch your own perspective so you can experience things 'as a local'. That requires a certain amount of flexibility and effort in changing one's own mindset and I must say that many people from the USA seem to have difficulty with it. I think people from my own country have similar difficulties. Perhaps that's what came through to some extent on the video. No offense intended to Americans, it's just an observation and an opinion.

fietsbob

He didn't even go to the Atlantic shore, the West Coast?. FWIW my heritage goes back to the Plantation Of Ulster

ksryder

Went on my honeymoon there and didn't bike because we didn't have time but I would love to go back and bike tour. The narrow roads are a little intimidating for this midwesterner but I'm sure I'd get over it; the drivers didn't seem like they'd run you off the road just as soon look at you (like they do in the states.)

FWIW I like the "find the place next door to the really popular destination" strategy. We spent lots of time exploring the Beara and Sheeps Head peninsulas and had a blast.

mcallaghan

I went on a Tour of Ireland in May, 2013. Rained on me the entire time - to the point where actually seeing the sun was a photo-worthy event. It was also extremely windy the whole time too - for most of the time, the rain was coming in parallel to the ground. I don't recall a day where I was not wearing my rain gear.

I rode from about Galway down the West Coast before turning around at the Sheeps Head peninsula. The headwind decided to turn around at the same time, so I battled the headwind all the way back to my Aunts house too.

The roads are narrow and many of them were in crumby condition - really rough roads, constantly rattling the bike. My extra spokes fell off my bike at some point (not that I needed them) but I have no idea when due to all the rattling. I enjoyed the rare sections of recently paved road that were nice and smooth - though they took a little getting used to as there was almost no noise coming from my bike.

A lot of the roads are large-flakes of chip-seal. I avoided main roads like the plague and stuck to the quieter country lanes mostly. No issues with the narrow lanes or passing vehicles. Lots of potholes in places too. Roads could be a lot better, but they don't have the money to resurface all the roads that need it.

Did about two weeks on the bike. Lovely countryside and views, even in the bad weather. A bit pricey - yes - even my Aunt agrees so, her having lived more recently in the UK than I, where food etc is cheaper than it is in Ireland. I enjoyed myself, even did the Tour de Conamara in the rain (taking the bus there was a nice sunny day, for once, but woke up to more rain for the sportif.)

Walter S

It's a meaningless question to ask if the area is good or bad for touring.

This sounds pretty bad...

Then the touring cyclist psychology kicks in...

People that have the touring bug can apparently have a good tour anywhere!

mcallaghan

Exactly.

For me, its being in a place I've never been before, steeped in lots of history and culturally significant places. Exploring such a place by bicycle is much better than exploring it in a car.

Sure, the weather sucked and the roads weren't perfect...but if I wanted perfect roads and perfect weather I'd go ride my bike in San Diego...or some place like that where there is very little change in weather, with good paved roads.

Of course, I understand that the better roads are going to be the ones more traveled by motor vehicle (for the most part).

I suppose it all depends on your mentality and reason for touring. For me, its a way to get away from everything. Next summer, I plan on doing the same thing but in Wales. The weather, I hear, can be just as bad there, but that won't put me off. How many people can say they cycled across Wales too?

Doug64

+1

My wife and I experienced 35 days of rain which most of it occurring toward the end of a 3 month tour. We were not in Ireland, but rain is rain. We had a great time, and came to appreciate good rain gear. However, we are from Oregon, and if we let rain stop us from doing things we would miss a lot of riding from about now until May.


Somewhere in Europe.


]

mcallaghan

Yes - I am glad my rain gear is tried and true! I really appreciate booties too - would have been miserable having wet feet the whole time.

For certain parts of Ireland, like the gap of Dunloe, i don't think it would have been the same if it had been sunny out. It just screamed IRELAND to me in the rain like that. Quite epic. And gives me, at least, more of a sense of accomplishment, battling the weather to get to my destination. Being in a car, you'd not have wanted to get out and walk around and take pictures.

A picture from the Gap of Dunloe:



The Tour de Conamara was fun too - a few hundred people showed up, despite the 'glorious' weather but I guess thats the norm for them in Ireland.



Rained the whole ride through.

antokelly

thats a great photo fair play to you mecallaghan bet you had a great craic on that tour rain or no rain.,im just gearing up to head out for a 40 mile spin with my buddy around the Byne Valley and the Sky is black so i guess i had better take a rain cape

mcallaghan

There were certainly pleasant days, like this one:


But there was always rain (looking the opposite way):



I watched that one blow across the bay from the Bearra Peninsula to the North, South onto me on the Sheeps Head.