Maynooth to Dublin, Ireland

I rolled out of Maynooth at 8:52 this morning, with less than a half day of riding left to finish off crossing Ireland. I began again on the Royal Canal Way, which was a bit more rugged of a stretch than it had been yesterday.

After seven kilometres along the canal I had to leave it and cycle along roads.

Partly this was because I had to make a small detour to stop at the Cherry Grove Hospital to get a rabies shot (a story I have told on my traveling blog, anedmontonian.blogspot.ca).

After about 40 minutes at the hospital, I carried on further into Dublin . . .

. . . along the River Liffey and past the Guiness Factory . . .

. . . to the Dublin Port.

I stopped at the Irish Ferries terminal. I will travel from here over to Wales tomorrow as a foot passenger, and I might carry on cycling in Wales some time in the future, so this was a logical place to end. 

From Maynooth to here was just 28 kilometres, and took me 84 minutes.

I watched a ferry set off across the Irish Sea . . .

. . . before cycling back into the city centre, where I checked into my hotel, dropped the bike, and headed for some lunch.    

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!

It was 90 kilometres from Galway to Athlone, and I arrived just after 19:00. It took me 4:26 ride time.

I was hosted perfectly in the Arch House Bed & Breakfast.

I made sure to enjoy a Guiness at Sean's Bar, which is over 1000 years old!