We spent eight days of our trip cycling. This was our fourth cycling trip abroad. Our first trip was to France and the Loire valley when Anna was seven years old. We have also been to Germany and the Netherlands. Two of the previous trips were self-guided; meaning that a company organizes the routes, accommodations and bike rentals. We then get maps and have to get ourselves from point A to point B (no sag van or group to ride with). The company organizes for our luggage to get to our next destination.
We thought we were signing up for a self-guided tour in the Netherlands. But it was a guided bike and barge trip (no sag van). However, we talked the guide into letting us go on our own routes, by ourselves, for several days of the trip. We prefer riding on our own.
This trip was the first where we did it all "on our own". We didn't go through a company except to rent the bikes for eight days. We planned our own routes and had to find our own maps (Frank did most all of it using Google mapping system). That also meant we had to carry our "luggage" with us as well. I booked our accommodations through the internet. It was a bit more adventuresome on our part.
Why do a cycling trip at all, some may ask? I really like this way of traveling. There is something called the Slow Food movement. Well, I like to think of this as the Slow Travel way. I feel like we are really being part of the place when we cycle and are out in the natural elements. It seems more like living there than just being a tourist. Also, you can only go so far on a bike. Therefore, you really can only cover a small area as opposed to riding in a car, bus or train. I think this lends itself to paying more attention to the details of the place you visit (i.e. flora, fauna, etc.). It also is more environmentally friendly. I hope I can continue traveling this way for a long time.
They talk about narrow shoulders on the roads in Ireland. There are no shoulders, in my opinion. Above is my bike stopped at a viewpoint pull out. But you can see there isn't much shoulder further back and this was a two lane road. Although sometimes the cars and buses had to get close to us, we really didn't encounter any problems with it.
In the above picture you see Frank and Anna eating "lunch" outside a small grocery store/gas station. What you see on the bikes is all the stuff we had for eight days (the bike rental company was unable to get us front racks), including clothes, biking gear, rain gear, snacks, repair items and other stuff. We washed clothes nightly in the sinks.
In this photo you can see the boat, with bikes piled in, that we took through the lakes in Killarney National Park to get to the Gap of Dunloe. Frank is in the boat along with another person. The rest of us had to get out and walk around this section of the river because it was so shallow the boat would have hit bottom otherwise.
Frank and Anna at the top of the Gap of Dunloe, looking toward the part we got to ride down. I don't know why we didn't take a picture of the steep, switchback road we had to go up. I guess our bodies and brains were fried just trying to get to the top.
This is me on the downhill side of Connor's pass, I believe, which we went over. It was very windy, cloudy and cold at the top. We were glad to get down into the sun again.
Beautiful lands and coast were encountered wherever we went. The riding was challenging as we went up many hills over the course of almost 300 miles. But we did it. I also learned that I do much better with the long, slow climbs rather than the shorter, steeper climbs (that might have to do with always having to ride up Shaw Mountain road to get home, here in Boise). Somehow, my legs managed both, though.
