If you had to carry only one book/guide with you during your Irish cycling tour get "Cycle Touring Ireland" by Brendan Walsh.  This guide is excellent for suggested routes including the Grand Tour.  Precise route markers explained, and excellent micro route maps.  Not full of color photos and journals but concise, precise, and great suggestions for lunch stops ! ... get it here

Eric Newby has written a witty and very helpful book re cycling Ireland. He covers alot of ground in this one, and his vision and observations are keen. Along the way, his wife Wanda and himself come across a moving, miracle-working statue of the Virgin, spectacular ruins and the traces of 20th century violence, in between stops for Guinness, tea and soda bread. Woven into the narrative is a wealth of information about Irish history/customs; his account is enlivened by a cast of eccentric and engaging characters.

Our featured cycling Ireland journal/story is by Jim Kennedy at the Ireland For Visitors site.  Read about Jim's Inishowen peninsula cycling experience; the Inishowen is Ireland's farthest north peninsula in Donegal ...  

Read an article archived from 2004 in the L.A. Times re: cycling from Killarney to the Beara Peninsula (Laragh, Eyeries, Allihies, Dursey Island, Castletownbere, and Glengariff). The author discusses how the Ring of Kerry is over-touristed and the Beara is just as scenic. No pics but an interesting read !
                  below: most signage is bilingual

02/01/2006 Current Featured Must-Do Cycling Route : the Beara Peninsula: cycle touring the Beara peninsula is a mindblowing experience. Why anybody would want to tour the Ring of Kerry (and Killarney ...eegads !) with the constant bus traffic and crowded villages is beyond me. The Beara is rugged, beautiful, and remote. The road surfaces vary but are in good shape. The distances between villages is relatively short and the lodging choices are plentiful, with good hostels and B&B's. Go to the Beara Tourism website for a complete reference for visiting the Beara.

When I toured the Beara, I travelled clockwise, heading out from Glengariff in a west/southwest direction along the south side of the peninsula. About halfway to Adrigole, even though I was on a slight ascent, it felt like I was being drafted by the breeze coming off the water of Bantry Bay. I stopped at Castletownbere for lunch and to chat up the proprietress of McCarthy's Bar. They rent bikes and sell bicycle related items, including repair stuff and patch kits, at the pub. click on the map at left for a larger map

Highlights of my Beara cycling trip: McCarthy's Pub, Puxleys Castle at Dunboy (just west of Castletownbere), maneuvering through the sheep on the descent into Allihies, visiting Dursey Island and cable car trip, O'Neill's pub at Allihies, the Village Hostel at Allihies, the colorful village of Eyeries, the antiquities of the Beara ( wedge tombs, ogham standing stones, and stone circles), the magnificent light in the west of Ireland, and the feeling you are on the very edge of the world.
 

O'Neill Web Studio copyright 2002-2006, all rights reserved (all photographs on this site are not property of O'Neill Web Studio)

Why not visit Dr Bob's h o d g e p o d g e page ??

Why not browse pictures of friends and relatives of O'Neill Web Studio ??