Small details, big miles...

I will be riding with VBT Bicycle Tours
while in Ireland. Here's a map of the trip.

Essentially, I'll leave Texas and arrive in Shannon, make my way by bus to Ennis and meet up with the group. From there, as a group, we will travel to the beautiful Cliffs of Moher, in Lisdoonvarna. I've visited the cliffs when I was in Ireland for school back in 1999. The Cliffs are amazingly beautiful and breathtaking. Its a 600 foot drop from the cliffs down to the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

The next day we will be cycling in the area of the Burren- one of the only places where arctic, Mediterranean, and alpine plants grow together. "Burren" in Gaelic means rocky coast. We will be lucky enough to be joined by Shane Connelly, local expert, for a walk and talk of the Burren. We will also visit Black Head which is known for fishing- I am going to do some more research on this point and post later. We will lunch in Ballyvaughan.

The trip will then take me to Kilfenora, Carran, and Galway. Kilfenora is a 6th-century monastery and the road to Carran has many other chruches, dolmens, sacred sites, and the 12th-century Cistercian Corcomore Abbey. We'll be able to spend some time in Galway just hanging out. This will be a delight to me as I was there for a summer and remember it so well. I cant wait to take a nap in the park, walk on campus, and visit a bar or two I know quite well. I'm also looking forward to eating at Ellies, the lunch spot I ate at about 3x a week when I was there.

Next we will go to the beautiful Aaron Islands. I will be able to meet up with my family here. The islands are amazing and Inishmor contains Dun Aengus. I'll post more information on the islands later. I rented a bike back in 1999 and rode it on the island of Inishmor. I don't remember any downhills on the entire island, but then again, it was my first time riding in many, many, many years. We will stay the night on the island which is something I have never had the pleasure to do!

After the islands, we will be in Connemara and end up staying on Cashel Bay.

We will then cycle to Clifden. On my last trip to Ireland, I was able to spend time in Clifden and really love the place. Our cottage was in Lenanne (I'll have to check the spelling on this) which was really close to Clifden. I'm really hoping to ride by our cottage. It was such a beautiful place.

After Clifden, the bike part of the trip begins to wind down. We will have a big goodbye dinner and relax. The next day, many will be off to Dublin or their airplanes. I will leave in the morning on a bus to Cork and meet up with my family again. The next day I will be participating in the road race and hopefully be able to walk at least to get a pint after that.

I am planning on making a separate post to go more in depth with information on the places I will be seeing. Keep checking the blog because I hope to get this done soon.
Slan!