Cycle Adventures of an Edmontonian: Galway to Athlone, Ireland

I finished cycling across Canada last year, and at that point I was not sure I would ever feel the need to cycle long distances again. But, having basically done a long distance bike ride every summer for twenty years, it turned out as summer came around again, I felt the urge to do more riding.

I traveled to Central Asia in May, and on my way back to Canada I have stopped in Ireland to spend a couple of days riding across the Emerald Isle. I arrived in Dublin yesterday, and this morning I stopped by River Cycle bike shop to pick up a rental from Paul, the friendly owner.

For 100 euro cash Paul got me going for the three days including panniers, lock, helmet, etc. I rode the bike over to Dublin Heuston and caught the 11:30 train to Galway.

The train was full, but the ride relaxing enough. It was almost 14:00 when I reached Galway.

I rode further west from the station and out onto the Mutton Island causeway.

This is by no means the westernmost point in Ireland, but as I looked west I could see far out into the Atlantic Ocean and it felt like a reasonable place to begin my journey from!

Galway looks like a cool place, but given my mid-afternoon start, I did not linger, and just took a couple of photos as I passed through.

Soon I was out of Galway and onto the back roads, weaving my way past fields and through villages on my way to Athlone. One day there will be a proper cycle route between Galway and Athlone, but with Google guiding me I did not have too much difficulty navigating, and you can see it was a scenic route and I could not have asked for better weather!