Wild Atlantic Cycling Blog

Lisa is one of  our fittest Tour Guides! Here she tells us about her adventures on gravel in Mallorca and Spain. Adventure, that’s the word probably most associated with gravel riding and for those who do it we know why. The crunchy stuff under your knobbly tyres, the sound of birdsong and baby lambs as your soundtrack and constantly being surprised by cool single tracks, steep bumpy climbs that lead to amazing views, hopping over the occasional gate or fence and finding a cafe in a tiny off the beaten track village somewhere that has the best almond cake. That’s the kind of adventure that awaits you and why more and more people are trying out gravel riding, myself included. I came to Mallorca in the autumn of 2020, friends had told me about the smooth roads and long climbs that the island is famous for. Facing into a cold wet winter in Ireland and not allowed to work due to covid restrictions I packed up my bike and headed for the sunny island. The roads and terrain lived up to ex...

Walter joined us from the USA on our 12-Day Ireland End to End cycle tour in September 2021. We hope you enjoy reading his story in his own words. On my first trip to Ireland, my dream was fulfilled when I rented a bike in Westport and cycled through County Mayo to the Achill Island. The beauty of the hills and small villages was breathtaking. The next year I learned of Wild Atlantic Cycling’s twelve day Ireland End to End ride from Mizen Head to Malen Head. A new dream was formed! I knew this would be one of the most challenging efforts of my life since regaining the ability to walk after polio in my first year of life. But during my adolescence I slowly came to realize the only thing stopping me from achieving anything in life was my mind, eventually going from the boy lagging behind on Boy Scout hikes, to the one in the lead and setting the pace. I’ve continued to challenge myself throughout my life. Having biked casual from adolescence through adulthood, decades later my son & ...

Geoff Bates rode our 12-Day Ireland End-to-End Tour in July 2019…turns out he writes as good as he talks! Many thanks Geoff - delighted you enjoyed the ride and thanks for taking the time to write about it! Take 25 riders from as far apart as Melbourne, Manchester, Boston, Buffalo, Bungay and Bridport introduce them briefly at the Airport Hotel in Cork, sort out their myriad equipment requirements with patience and laughter, feed them, bus them to Mizen Head the following day, point them North and send them on their way. Sounds like a hoot! Remember, you have no idea how this crew will gel and what range of cycling abilities are represented across the group. But that’s what PKool and Brian the Vane are for - so fear not fortunate traveller because you are just about to embark on one of the rides of your life! And so it turned out … The daily tracks were designed to allow as many reduced traffic routes as possible, hugging the coastline, turning inland to isolated valleys, soaring over ...

Since I was a small boy when our parents took us ‘home’ to the west coast of Ireland for our August Summer holidays, through to later taking our own children, and now more recently introducing our grandson and son-in-law to the west, it has always been to me a special, magical and almost spiritual place. So when I saw the chance to cycle Mizen Head to Malin Head, or MizMal, with Wild Atlantic Cycling it was a challenge and experience that was calling to me! I started to dabble with cycling once I turned 50 in a half hearted attempt to improve my health and fitness, but MizMal was a whole new level of challenge for me now in my latter 50’s, with 570 miles to cover in 7 days! I knew I needed something more to inspire me through the necessary training in the lonely winter months so, as a further return to an emotional past, I decided to do the challenge for a charity - Sands, the stillbirth and neonatal death charity. “ Whatever the ability there was always someone to cycle with and we a...