The Wild Atlantic Way and Western Ireland. Tom Cooper
to Kilkieran
Stage 7 Kilkieran to Galway
Stage 8 Galway to Cong
Stage 9 Cong to Westport
Route 3 Route cards
Route 4 The Aran Islands and the Burren
Stage 1 Galway to Inishmore
Stage 2 Tour of Inishmore
Stage 3 Tour of Inisheer
Stage 4 Round the Burren
Stage 5 Doolin to Kilrush
Stage 6 Kilrush to Ennis
Stage 7 Ennis to Limerick
Stage 7A WAW link from Limerick to Tarbert
Route 4 Route cards
Route 5 The Dingle and Kerry Peninsulas
Stage 1 Tarbert to Tralee
Stage 2 Tralee to Dingle
Stage 3 Tour of the Dingle Peninsula
Stage 4 Dingle to Killorglin
Stage 5 Killorglin to Portmagee
Stage 6 Portmagee to Caherdaniel
Stage 7 Caherdaniel to Kenmare
Stage 8 Kenmare to Killarney
Stage 9 Killarney to Tralee
Route 5 Route cards
Route 6 The Fuchsia Coast
Stage 1 Kenmare to Allihies
Stage 2 Allihies to Glengarriff
Stage 3 Glengarriff to Schull
Stage 4 Schull to Clonakilty
Stage 5 Clonakilty to Kinsale
Stage 6 Kinsale to Cork
Route 6 Route cards
Appendix A Useful contacts
Appendix B Glossary
Appendix C Deviations from the Wild Atlantic Way driving route
Appendix D Further reading
Appendix E Calibrating your cycle computer
THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY CYCLE ROUTE
This table lists the stages from the six cycle tours devised for this guide (see ‘Six cycle tours in western Ireland’) that make up the route of the Wild Atlantic Way. Details of any variations from the official WAW driving route are set out in Appendix C.
SIX CYCLE TOURS IN WESTERN IRELAND
INTRODUCTION
Sunset at Strandhills (Route 2, Stage 3)
Officially launched in 2014, the Wild Atlantic Way winds along more than 2000km of coastline at Europe’s far northwestern shore. Here, breakers rolling in from the Americas have shaped ancient rocks into a land of special beauty. The people, too, have forged a distinct cultural identity. Gaelic is still spoken along the Atlantic coast and the island’s story is etched into the landscape in prehistoric remnants, early Christian architecture, castles, grand 18th century houses and contemporary Nationalist murals. From Derry/Londonderry and Malin Head in the north to Mizen Head and Cork in the southwest, fine beaches, harbours and towering cliffs await the turn of your pedals.
This guide adopts and adapts the Wild Atlantic Way to suit the cycle tourist. The official Wild Atlantic Way is a driving route. As such it includes long stretches of main road when quieter and more scenic alternatives are close at hand for cyclists. The ‘Way’ also skips two excellent cycling spots – the Aran Islands, where there are no car ferries, and Killarney, which is a sublime day-ride away from the coast. (See Appendix C for a detailed breakdown of the ways in which the route described in this guide differs from the WAW driving route.)
Since not everyone has seven weeks to spare for a full Wild Atlantic Way tour, this guide offers six self-contained tours based on sections of the Wild Atlantic Way, each of which can be fitted into one week or two. For the full Wild Atlantic Way experience, the distinct routes link together into a 44-stage, 2400km trip along Ireland’s west coast.
Geology
The beauty of Ireland’s Atlantic coastline is based on its geological foundations. The island’s oldest rocks are found in the north and west. For a large part of its geologic history these parts of Ireland were part of the continent of Laurentia, the bigger part of which is now part of Canada and the northern United States. These rocks remain as the foundations of the island to the north and west of the fabulously named Iapetus Suture which runs from the Shannon estuary to Clogherhead, north of Dublin on the east coast. Ireland’s oldest exposed rocks are the 1.8 billion-year-old granitic gneisses of Inishtrahull, an island visible from Malin Head in the far north west. Further south along the Wild Atlantic Way you will find the 200m high Cliffs of Mohr, made of Namurian slates and sandstones about 320 million years old. Close by are the rock pavements of the Aran Islands, and the neighbouring Burren, shaped from slightly older Carboniferous limestone.
The bays and peninsulas of Kerry and Cork were shaped into their east–west alignment by movements some 270 million years ago (known as Armorican folding), while in the north and west the mountains follow the northwest–southeast alignment of the far earlier Caledonian stage of mountain building, some 500 million years ago.
Fine glaciated features at the Poisoned Glen, Dunlewey (Route 1, Stage 6)
During the most recent ice age much of what is now Ireland was covered by ice, and the landscape retains some of the finest glacial scenery in Europe. Doo Lough Glen in County Mayo and the Poisoned Glen in County Donegal are glacial valleys of the highest order. Two glacial landforms, the esker and the drumlin, take their English names from Irish words. Drumlins are low, whale-backed hills deposited under the ice, while eskers are long sinuous ridges believed to result from water flowing under the ice.
Wildlife and flowers
The development boom of the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy increased the pressures on Ireland’s wild places, but as a cycle trip along the Wild Atlantic Way will reveal, Ireland remains predominantly rural.
Ireland’s plant and animal populations are typical for a northwest European country. The main points of interest are some absences – Ireland has a slightly impoverished flora and fauna compared to mainland Europe and Britain – and a handful of unexpected species. Of the absences on the animal side, most notable are the snakes which, according to legend, St Patrick banished from Ireland in the fifth century.
The few unexpected residents mostly fall into the category