Mizen Head to Malin Head Challenge 2008

The trip started after flying down to Cork Airport on the Thursday and then cycling from Cork Airport to Mizen Head then back to Bantry for a stop over.

Day two (Friday) was from Bantry to Ennis going through Kenmare, Killarney, Tralee and then over in the Ferry from Tarbert before finishing up in Ennis. This was the longest day with the party being out on the road from 9 am to nearly 9 pm when they arrived at the hotel. A lot of time was spend trying to locate a bike shop in Killarney for replacement cleats for one of the party.  Although we had an extensive spares collection (tyres, spokes, cassettes etc) it's difficult to have replacements or everything.

Pictured below is the Shehy Mountains en route to Killarney one of the highlights of the trip.

Day 3 (Saturday) was the wettest day.  It was raining all day when we went from Ennis via Athenry and Ballyhunis finishing up in Sligo. Where possible the route tried to stay off the main roads and take in as much of the beautiful scenery as possible.

On the final day (Sunday) of the cycle we went from Sligo to Malin Head via Bundoran, Donegal Town, Ballybofey, Buncrana, Malin and finishing up in McGrory’s in Culdaff with a well earned pint of Guinness.

Malin Head, Donegal was not quite the end of the road as we had to get back down to Culdaff where we were being collected.

Along the way we were kindly supported by the wives of a couple of the party who followed the route and met us each night enabling us to collect changes of clothes, wash bags etc.

For the group of 7 riders who completed in excess of 3000 miles we had no punctures and one blow out due to a worn tyre.  A testament to Continental 4 season tyres.

 “If we were to do it again we would definitely want to sample more Guinness on the way so an idea may be to do the journey in reverse from Malin to Mizen over a longer period for charity.”
Peter Swann 31/08/2008