Ireland – Tinkadventures

04/11/201418/11/2021

Sunshine cycling around Lough Furnace

We’d intended to pick up the bikes in Newport for our day’s cycling, but we’d left it too late to book them. In autumn the bike shop in Newport isn’t open all day, just first thing in the morning or for repairs at request during the day. This meant having to get them in Westport and cycle back along the Greenway (and back).

I wasn’t really put off by the additional distance (22km for the round trip), but I’m not one for doing something more than once so having done the full Greenway two days before I wasn’t that thrilled by the idea of doing part of it again. There’s so many other things to do! Its finally sunny outside we could go hiking!

I was in the minority, so we headed out cycling, and to be fair it was a great day to be out on bikes again.

So here’s some views of the Greenway from Westport to Newport which I didn’t take a few days earlier due to dusk setting in and the race back to Westport being a priority. I even managed to get a clear summit picture of Croagh Patrick!

04/11/201418/11/2021

Wet and Windy in the Nephins

After a long lie in and a stereotypical Irish morning of sitting around talking and drinking copious amounts of tea we finally headed out into the grey skies.

We’d been talking and drinking tea for so long that it only left us the afternoon for a walk, so we drove up to Newport and headed into the Nephin Mountains for a walk around the Letterkeen Loop.

As it was, the weather turned into a howling gale and sideways rain so a walk over the peaks wouldn’t have been a good idea anyway.

The Letterkeen loop is 12km and starts at the car park near the Altaconey River. Its not a long walk but a great loop to do in an afternoon or for a day out with children. Its also perfect for getting out into the wild areas of the Nephins without having to walk too far.

31/10/201418/11/2021

Cycling Westport’s Greenway

I’m not much of a cyclist (if you hadn’t noticed). But I do like a challenge and completing routes of any description and I love saying yes to opportunities thrown at me. So when friends I met in Corsica suggested meeting up and cycling The Great Western Greenway in Ireland, I wasn’t going to refuse.

This was my first trip to Ireland and my first trip somewhere which had been built around the idea of cycling and not hiking.

31/10/201418/11/2021

Autumn hiking on Croagh Patrick

Having left home at 4am I was bleary eyed and ready for a nap by the time I’d landed in Dublin. A relatively short hop across the Irish sea I couldn’t really understand why I’ve not made it there before. I was greeted by sunshine and friends not seen since the start of summer so it was great to catch up as we drove across the country to Westport in County Mayo, and straight for a quick hike up Croagh Patrick.