Ireland 2024
Our big summer vacation this year was a biking trip in Ireland. In late July, we packed our bike shorts and flew to Shannon, then a quick-ish bus trip took us to Galway. We meandered around the city for a bleary day before meeting with our bike trip coordinator.
Seeing Ireland from a bike saddle was pretty fantastic. The first day we pedaled from Galway to the tiny town of Kinvara (pop. 721). Along the way we stopped for some tea, and to snap a few photos of the sights. The end of the day bumped into Dunguaire Castle. We had a great lunch, and then a grocery-store dinner before crashing at our B&B.
Our second day of riding took us across the Burren. With ~1800ft of elevation, it had some rewarding climbs. Emily smartly opted for an e-bike, and was able to gleefully cruise up the hills. Big V and I ground it out, but we all had a ton of fun. We stopped at the Burren Perfumery for tasty bites and sampling of pleasant fragrances (we bought a sampler, then ordered more shipped home).
We stopped at Carran Church (pics below), Caherconnel Stone Fort, and Poulanbrone dolmen (no pics, they didn’t turn out) before arriving in Doolin (pop. 300). It took most of the day to reach Doolin, but it felt like an adventure! It was great to pedal around, detour to see some sights, stop whenever we wanted to take in the sights, and genuinely explore the countryside. We were all struck by how gracious the Irish drivers were on cramped roads.
Our last day of cycling was an out-and-back to the Cliffs of Moher. The cycling was a little more stressful because of the traffic around the cliffs, but the views did not disappoint. After soaking up the vista, we had a little lunch and parted ways. V & E headed back to Doolin to tour the caves and I went on to Moher Tower mostly to get a little more time cycling. The weather throughout our trip was blissfully cool, sometimes rainy, but always gorgeous views. I figured I might as well get as much time on the bike as possible before heading home.
The next morning we shared a cab. I jumped out at Shannon airport to fly home (princess class), and the girls continued on to Limerick to catch a train to Dublin for a few more days in the green. I laid my cycling shoes to rest in the motherland. They had deteriorated rather rapidly over the trip. “Odd, I can’t believe these didn’t last longer.” Then counting up the years… omg, they are nearly 20y old. Time flies…
