This tour explores the beautiful region of Connemara. This land of Irish myth and poetry is famous for its rugged granite landscape and stunning beautiful lakes and rivers. This tour offers some breath-taking rofutes, where an incredible variety of scenery is on offer each day. In the morning you can be cycling along beautiful coastline while in the afternoon you could be on a quiet bog road with stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
DAY 1 GALWAY CITY
Once you have arrived in Galway, make your way to your accommodation. Check-in is available anytime after 3.00pm. Afterwards, you can enjoy an afternoon of exploring in this bustling medieval city. We will send your full accommodation details and the necessary contact details for the tour closer to your departure date. A folder containing your route details will be waiting for you at the guesthouse and any rental bikes will be waiting for you in a local bike shop.
DAY 2 TRANSFER TO CLONBUR CYCLE TO WESTPORT 38 miles / 60 kms
The first ride on the tour will take you north, along quiet back roads and through rolling green fields full of grazing sheep, before descending down and leading you to Lough Mask, where a pleasant cycle ride along the shores of the lake awaits you.
After lunch, and still will fairly fresh legs, you will take on the biggest climb of the week that will take you over the Partry Mountains. Afterwards you will cycle along a quiet back road, with stunning views of the surrounding landscape, all the way to colourful village of Westport.
DAY 3 WESTPORT TO LEENANE 33 miles / 52 kms
This ride will take you between Croagh Patrick and the beautiful Clew Bay, with its many small islands. Later you will continue to the village of Louisburgh where we stop for lunch.
In the afternoon you head south. Now you can drink in one of the highlights of the week, the stunning Delphi Valley with its beautiful lakes overlooked by Ben Bury, the highest mountain in Connemara.
Tonight we stay in the small village of Leenane which looks out over Killary Harbour, Ireland’s only fjord.
DAY 4 LEENANE TO CLIFDEN 35 miles / 58kms
Today you cycle into the heart of Connemara, a stunning setting where you will find yourself overlooked by the Twelve Bens mountain range and visit Kylemore Abbey, a wedding gift from a wealthy Liverpool businessman to his wife in 1868.
You then cycle along quiet backroads past small fields with grazing cattle to the seaside village of Cleggan where you can stop for lunch. In the afternoon you follow the scenic coast road to Clifden where you can watch cars travel across the beach to Omey Island only accessible when the tide is out! Clifden, the capital of Connemara , where you spend the next two nights is a pretty and bustling town of art galleries, cafes, pubs and restaurants established 200years ago at the whim of John D’Arcy
DAY 5 REST DAY IN CLIFDEN
The day can be spent in rest and relaxation or you can take part in a variety of activities including walking, golf or horse riding.
The town itself is a nice place to spend time visiting the museum, art galleries and book shops and cafes. In the evening there are a number of bars which have traditional music sessions.
DAY 6 CLIFDEN TO ARAN ISLANDS 35 miles / 58 kms
You cycle out of Clifden along beautiful waterside roads crossing extensive wild bogs with freshly cut peat waiting to be harvested against a backdrop of the Twelve Benns Mountains.
The afternoon cycle takes you through Gaelic speaking areas to the ferry in Rossaveel which will bring us to Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands where you will spend the night.
DAY 7 ARAN ISLANDS TO GALWAY 22 miles / 35kms
The day can then be spent touring the unique landscape of the island with its wealth of ancient stone forts and monastic sights.
In the late afternoon you return to the mainland and take a transfer back to Galway city for a final night on the town together before going our separate ways the following morning.
Total Distance: 265km Approx.
Over All Difficulty: Challenging
Start Point: GALWAY CITY
The roads are all tarmac and the route is designed to ensure that you spend most of the week on quiet back roads, away from the main tourist routes. The emphasis of our cycling holidays is to give you the freedom to fully enjoy Connemara and its beautiful landscape at your own pace whilst having the security of knowing there is a support van there if you might ever need it. During the day you can be an independent traveller, genuinely experiencing all the sights and sounds of hidden Ireland on routes most tourists never get to see, while in the evening over a delicious meal you can share your days experience with a group of like-minded people from all over the world.
Route Map (For guidance only):
Routes maybe subject to change or alteration. All route notes, maps and day-by-day information will be given to you upon arrival at the first hotel or at the welcome meeting. GPS/GPX Files are available for most our the cycling holidays we offer. Please ask us for details.
Visa requirements
If you hold an EU passport you only need to make sure your passport is valid for the period of your stay.
All other nationalities require a passport that is valid for 3 months beyond the intended length of stay. Most nationalities including the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand do not require visas for Ireland and receive an automatic 90 day visitor’s visa on arrival. If your nationality is not mentioned here you should check with your travel agent or consular office.
Inclusions
Not Included
Bike rental is not included in the basic tour price
In 2021 we will be renting GIANT CITY bicycles for our tours in Clare
To see the specification for this you can visit the website:
www.giant-bicycles.com/gb/escape-city ( Gents model )
www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ie/bikes/model/alight.2.city/28581/99470/ ( Ladies model )
Bikes come in different sizes and in gents and ladies style frames.
It is very important you give us your height on booking so that we can allocate the correct bike to you.
This is a not a difficult route however there are some hill climbs (particularly on the first day) so we would recommend that you do try to do some cycling before the tour in order to make your week more enjoyable. Try to get out for a few hours cycling during the weekends coming up to your trip and, if possible, do it on varied terrain and include some hill climbing. But don’t forget…our guide is always close by if you have any problems.
With the exception of the roads in and out of Ennis, the traffic on the route should be quite light. You should however cycle carefully at all times, especially when going downhill or during any rain showers.
We stay in a mixture of B&Bs ( in Galway & Westport ) and small hotels ( in Clonbur, Leenane, Clifden & Aran Islands ).
The B&B accommodation is a combination of two or three guesthouses in each night stop, where we hope to fuse the best standard we can get with the warmest welcome. We ensure en suite facilities. We do reserve the right to change the accommodation around during the week, but we will always endeavour to provide a high standard.
Day: | Accommodation |
Day 1: Galway |
consiliobandb.com |
Day 2: Westport |
www.rosmo-accommodation.com |
Day 3: Leenane | |
Day 4 & 5 Clifden |
foyleshotel.com |
Day 6: Aran Islands |
www.aranislandshotel.com |
Day 7: Galway |
www.aranislandshotel.com |
You can find out more about this cycling holiday by calling 0161 703 8161 to speak to one of the team.
Seasons | |
Season 1 | April to June | September to October |
Season 2 | July to August |
Season | |
Season 1 | £820.00 |
Season 2 | £855.00 |
Single room supplement (if traveling with others) | £215.00 |
Single tour supplement (for solo travelers) | £375.00 |
Extra | |
Touring Bike | £75.00 |
E Bike | £170.00 |
Date From | Date To |
---|---|
01 April 2021 | 03 October 2021 |