...it's time to dream again
People are already asking me where my next trip will be. And right now, I have to say that I don't know! I know that I'll be out there again with my bike, I just don't know where that will be.
Will it be someplace totally new to me? Or will I return to somewhere I've been before? There are quite a few destinations floating through my mind, from new places (for me) in Europe, to returning to places I've loved in North America (Glacier National Park in Montana and probably up into Alberta, Bryce and Zion National Parks in Utah), to exploring new places in North America (Vancouver Island and Nova Scotia are still on my list, and exploring new places in the southwest sounds like a good idea too). While I really want to go to Australia and New Zealand, I'm holding those locations for when I can manage a longer stretch of time. I'm still constrained by vacation time - but doing two shorter trips worked well this year. Maybe I'll try for a repeat next year.
Right now as we're going into fall and cooler weather, I'm wondering if I'll make it through the upcoming winter without escaping to someplace warm. Will a long weekend or two to a warmer locale help me through the winter, or is another week-plus trip to someplace like Hawaii in my future again? Only time will tell...
Monday, October 6, 2003
Sunday, October 5, 2003
Thoughts on touring in Ireland
Do you think it's possible to tour in a place only one time and not go back? When I was younger and more foolish I thought I could go someplace once, and then just move on to the next interesting spot. Now I know better - if I tour someplace and I enjoy it, I'm destined to go back. And I will be returning to Ireland someday. Besides visiting areas of the country that I didn't get to this time, I'd like to spend more time riding in Donegal, and I'd like to spend more time wandering and absorbing at Giant's Causeway.
I have happy memories of my two weeks in Ireland. It was a great place to ride for more than one reason. The people are wonderful, the scenery is beautiful, and the roads are lightly traveled. When I talked to locals - non-cycling locals that is - they always told me that there was too much traffic on their very narrow roads for good cycling. But, as we all know, traffic is relative. There weren't any roads that I rode on that I would consider too busy to be comfortable. That said I would not have been happy riding in central Dublin. But then again, I'm not happy riding in the center of Boston either.
The planned tour worked well for me, but if you're looking for the freedom of deciding where (and how far) to ride each day, Ireland is an easy country for a show up and just ride tour. There are B&Bs and hostels available all over the country, and unlike places where you have to know where the B&Bs can be found, these are very well-signed. And since it's a simple matter of buying an inexpensive train ticket for your bike, the trains can be used as an alternate mode of transportation when you want to avoid urban cycling (as I did leaving Derry and entering Belfast) or when you want to quickly get to another area of the island. I really wish this roll-on-board option was available on more trains in North America - I'm sure I'd make use of it!
On the reservations front - I think I'd be inclined to plan ahead and make reservations if I was traveling in an area that was a tourist magnet, or if I was traveling in high season (which I believe is July and August). There was only one night on my tour where the B&B I stayed in was full, but it's possible that was due to my visiting in September rather than in one of the more popular months. I did two tours this year, and both were planned out ahead of time with reservations set before I left home - my Hawaii tour which I planned myself, and this tour which was planned for me. The two tours were very different, and I enjoyed both of them. If I'd been able to stay in B&Bs every night in Hawaii that would have been my first choice as it was in Ireland.
I did have some food issues on this trip, but they really should be blamed on the fact that I spent most of my time in very small towns, not that there is an issue with the food in Ireland. I had the same issues on my trip across the United States in 2002. I tend to eat a diet that is a combination of vegetarian and fish, leaning more heavily to the vegetarian side. I could get vegetarian dishes in most places - but they typically only included vegetables with no protein source and no grains. And I do need more than vegetables! Of course once I got to Belfast and Dublin this food issue absolutely disappeared. Fish was readily available everywhere, and was very good. And yes, you could get non-fried fish - it's not all fish and chips! Most pubs served lunch and dinner, but pubs were out for me. I'm very picky about the air that I breathe, and I refuse to sit in a place that reeks of smoke. There were no non-smoking areas in pubs (yes, I'm spoiled by where I live!), so I didn't eat there.
The other food issues revolved around my usual touring snack foods, which typically include fruit, nuts, energy bars and Gatorade. Fruit was readily available, and once I figured out that peanuts were often behind the counter in small stores I was all set there. I never found energy bars other than cereal bars in any stores, and that surprised me. I eventually figured out that Kellogg's Elevenses bars were good, so that filled in the energy bar gap - but next time I'll consider bringing a larger stash of my favorite energy bars with me. I never found Gatorade, but I could usually find Powerade. Of the three available flavors, I only liked one, so I was forever on the hunt for blue Powerade. I must have done something right on the food front though, because I managed to maintain my weight on this trip.
Let's see - the money... as I mentioned earlier, I was juggling two forms of currency - pounds sterling, and euros. I came home with some of each, and I ran into an issue when I went to change the money back into US dollars. There was no problem with the euros, or with the pounds that were issued in Great Britain, but I was unable to exchange the pounds that were issued by the Bank of Ireland. Luckily I only had a 5 pound note from there... So - a word of warning if you're planning on traveling in Northern Ireland (and according to the banker, there would have been the same issue with pounds issued in Scotland or Wales) - if you still have pounds left at the end of your trip, try to make sure that the bills come from Great Britain and not from a Northern Ireland bank!
Friendly people, lightly traveled roads, beautiful scenery - a wonderful place to ride. I'll be back some day.
I have happy memories of my two weeks in Ireland. It was a great place to ride for more than one reason. The people are wonderful, the scenery is beautiful, and the roads are lightly traveled. When I talked to locals - non-cycling locals that is - they always told me that there was too much traffic on their very narrow roads for good cycling. But, as we all know, traffic is relative. There weren't any roads that I rode on that I would consider too busy to be comfortable. That said I would not have been happy riding in central Dublin. But then again, I'm not happy riding in the center of Boston either.
One thing that you should consider if you're thinking of touring in Ireland is that most of the roads are very narrow and for the most part there are no shoulders. I didn't find this to be a problem, although I'd imagine it could be a challenge if there was a lot of traffic. Not much traffic, so no shoulders was not an issue for me.I originally had planned to ride about 50 miles a day, but after some thought adjusted the mileage downwards to 40 miles a day. I've always thought that 50 miles was an ideal daily mileage, but I'm really happy I made the change on this trip. I was always relaxed, never feeling like I had to push on when I really wanted to stop and take pictures and talk to people. And I was finished riding by 3 almost every day. That gave me time to relax, take a shower, sit and work on my journal, wander and explore the town that was my home for the night. I was a happy cyclist!
The planned tour worked well for me, but if you're looking for the freedom of deciding where (and how far) to ride each day, Ireland is an easy country for a show up and just ride tour. There are B&Bs and hostels available all over the country, and unlike places where you have to know where the B&Bs can be found, these are very well-signed. And since it's a simple matter of buying an inexpensive train ticket for your bike, the trains can be used as an alternate mode of transportation when you want to avoid urban cycling (as I did leaving Derry and entering Belfast) or when you want to quickly get to another area of the island. I really wish this roll-on-board option was available on more trains in North America - I'm sure I'd make use of it!
On the reservations front - I think I'd be inclined to plan ahead and make reservations if I was traveling in an area that was a tourist magnet, or if I was traveling in high season (which I believe is July and August). There was only one night on my tour where the B&B I stayed in was full, but it's possible that was due to my visiting in September rather than in one of the more popular months. I did two tours this year, and both were planned out ahead of time with reservations set before I left home - my Hawaii tour which I planned myself, and this tour which was planned for me. The two tours were very different, and I enjoyed both of them. If I'd been able to stay in B&Bs every night in Hawaii that would have been my first choice as it was in Ireland.
A couple of plugs for my favorite B&Bs: My favorite room was at the Island View House B&B in Donegal Town, and my favorite hostess was Helen Dunlop at Ballyness B&B in Bushmills. All of my B&Bs were good places to stay (the names can be found in the journal entries for each day), but these two were my favorites.On the travel front - that is, the getting to the tour travel - my first day was a very long travel day. I flew from Boston to Dublin, took a bus to Belfast to meet Tony, and then we drove to my first B&B in Belcoo. I was pretty much sleepwalking by the end of the day - but I'll do the same thing again on my next trip. I'm not one of those people who happily assemble my bike in the airport and ride out. I usually plan for a non-traveling day as my first day on tour. I use that day to assemble my bike, get acclimated, do a little riding, and rest. I considered staying in Dublin the first day, but then I would have had another travel day to get to my bike start location. The long travel day worked well for me, as did the non-traveling first day.
I did have some food issues on this trip, but they really should be blamed on the fact that I spent most of my time in very small towns, not that there is an issue with the food in Ireland. I had the same issues on my trip across the United States in 2002. I tend to eat a diet that is a combination of vegetarian and fish, leaning more heavily to the vegetarian side. I could get vegetarian dishes in most places - but they typically only included vegetables with no protein source and no grains. And I do need more than vegetables! Of course once I got to Belfast and Dublin this food issue absolutely disappeared. Fish was readily available everywhere, and was very good. And yes, you could get non-fried fish - it's not all fish and chips! Most pubs served lunch and dinner, but pubs were out for me. I'm very picky about the air that I breathe, and I refuse to sit in a place that reeks of smoke. There were no non-smoking areas in pubs (yes, I'm spoiled by where I live!), so I didn't eat there.
The other food issues revolved around my usual touring snack foods, which typically include fruit, nuts, energy bars and Gatorade. Fruit was readily available, and once I figured out that peanuts were often behind the counter in small stores I was all set there. I never found energy bars other than cereal bars in any stores, and that surprised me. I eventually figured out that Kellogg's Elevenses bars were good, so that filled in the energy bar gap - but next time I'll consider bringing a larger stash of my favorite energy bars with me. I never found Gatorade, but I could usually find Powerade. Of the three available flavors, I only liked one, so I was forever on the hunt for blue Powerade. I must have done something right on the food front though, because I managed to maintain my weight on this trip.
Let's see - the money... as I mentioned earlier, I was juggling two forms of currency - pounds sterling, and euros. I came home with some of each, and I ran into an issue when I went to change the money back into US dollars. There was no problem with the euros, or with the pounds that were issued in Great Britain, but I was unable to exchange the pounds that were issued by the Bank of Ireland. Luckily I only had a 5 pound note from there... So - a word of warning if you're planning on traveling in Northern Ireland (and according to the banker, there would have been the same issue with pounds issued in Scotland or Wales) - if you still have pounds left at the end of your trip, try to make sure that the bills come from Great Britain and not from a Northern Ireland bank!
Friendly people, lightly traveled roads, beautiful scenery - a wonderful place to ride. I'll be back some day.
Saturday, October 4, 2003
A review and thumbs up!
...to Tony Boyd of Iron Donkey
Looking back after the trip...
This trip was a first for me - a solo self-supported trip that was planned by someone else. Iron Donkey offers self-guided tours, and has a selection of 5 pre-planned trips. Of course, being me, I had to do something slightly different I asked Tony to plan a variation of two of the trips for me, and what I actually ended up with touched pieces of three of his standard trips. Custom trip planning - not a bad way to go!
Tony supplied a map, directions, B&B reservations, and his knowledge of the area and of the roads. I had a cue sheet and highlighted map for each riding day. The directions were excellent - even though I was surprised when I first looked at them to see that there were few road names or numbers in the directions. Like my back roads rides at home, much of my route through Ireland was on unmarked roads. Not a problem - the distances noted in the cue sheets helped me to make turns at the right times. And the roads were as promised - back roads with little traffic. I was on roads that I would have found on my own, and roads that I wouldn't have seen without Tony's directions. I'd say that most of the roads are small roads, but those teeny tiny ones - the ones I thought must be driveways and not roads? Well, I needed a little help to find those... and I got it!
As a self-guided tour, my day to day itinerary was planned ahead of time. As you'll see if you read the rest of my journal, I took some liberties with the directions, shortening, lengthening, or changing days as I saw fit. Having both the directions and a good map made me very happy! My behavior with following the planned route (or not) was typical for me. When I was following Adventure Cycling's routes last year I found that I strayed off route on occasion, and the same was true on this trip.
I was very happy with my accommodations. Every one was different, and every one had a very friendly host or hostess. I was often greeted with an offer of tea or coffee before I got settled in a cozy room. And all of my homes for the night were within walking distance of restaurants - which to me is very important. I know some people don't mind riding to dinner, but I prefer to get cleaned up and then give the bike a rest for the night.
Choosing a self-guided option on this trip worked well for me. I didn't need to spend time ahead of the trip really researching the entire island of Ireland. I spent enough time reading to decide the general area I wanted to visit, and used Tony's expertise to pinpoint the towns and things to see. I did some more reading after I received my itinerary from him, but I didn't feel pressured to spend a lot of time doing research before I left on the trip.
Tony did a great job of putting this trip together for me. He gave me a lift from Belfast to my first B&B. That was the last I expected to see or hear from him - but he actually stopped by at the end of my first day of cycling (he was heading home from starting another group of cyclists off in the southwest), and he called to check in with me on my last day of riding. That was a nice touch, and as I said, totally unexpected.
Looking back after the trip...
This trip was a first for me - a solo self-supported trip that was planned by someone else. Iron Donkey offers self-guided tours, and has a selection of 5 pre-planned trips. Of course, being me, I had to do something slightly different I asked Tony to plan a variation of two of the trips for me, and what I actually ended up with touched pieces of three of his standard trips. Custom trip planning - not a bad way to go!
Tony supplied a map, directions, B&B reservations, and his knowledge of the area and of the roads. I had a cue sheet and highlighted map for each riding day. The directions were excellent - even though I was surprised when I first looked at them to see that there were few road names or numbers in the directions. Like my back roads rides at home, much of my route through Ireland was on unmarked roads. Not a problem - the distances noted in the cue sheets helped me to make turns at the right times. And the roads were as promised - back roads with little traffic. I was on roads that I would have found on my own, and roads that I wouldn't have seen without Tony's directions. I'd say that most of the roads are small roads, but those teeny tiny ones - the ones I thought must be driveways and not roads? Well, I needed a little help to find those... and I got it!
As a self-guided tour, my day to day itinerary was planned ahead of time. As you'll see if you read the rest of my journal, I took some liberties with the directions, shortening, lengthening, or changing days as I saw fit. Having both the directions and a good map made me very happy! My behavior with following the planned route (or not) was typical for me. When I was following Adventure Cycling's routes last year I found that I strayed off route on occasion, and the same was true on this trip.
I was very happy with my accommodations. Every one was different, and every one had a very friendly host or hostess. I was often greeted with an offer of tea or coffee before I got settled in a cozy room. And all of my homes for the night were within walking distance of restaurants - which to me is very important. I know some people don't mind riding to dinner, but I prefer to get cleaned up and then give the bike a rest for the night.
Choosing a self-guided option on this trip worked well for me. I didn't need to spend time ahead of the trip really researching the entire island of Ireland. I spent enough time reading to decide the general area I wanted to visit, and used Tony's expertise to pinpoint the towns and things to see. I did some more reading after I received my itinerary from him, but I didn't feel pressured to spend a lot of time doing research before I left on the trip.
Tony did a great job of putting this trip together for me. He gave me a lift from Belfast to my first B&B. That was the last I expected to see or hear from him - but he actually stopped by at the end of my first day of cycling (he was heading home from starting another group of cyclists off in the southwest), and he called to check in with me on my last day of riding. That was a nice touch, and as I said, totally unexpected.
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