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Ireland has 1246 miles of incredible coastline. More than any other country in Europe. (Except for England, but there are people in Scotland and Wales that would tell you that’s three countries…).

Anyway, fact is Ireland has an incredibly beautiful coastline. And we are going to ride almost every mile of it. The only parts we don’t ride are the couple of roads that are simply in too bad a condition due to their remoteness, and a couple of stretches of major highway.

When we say, ‘every single mile of this ride is spectacular’ we are not kidding. This ride will be an experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life. I guarantee it. “Hey buddy, been doing much riding lately?” “Yeah, I rode a lap of Ireland a couple of weeks ago…”

So let’s explain what it’s all about.

We are going to ride a century every day. That's 100 miles per day, with a day’s rest in the middle. The word, ‘century’ is going to have another meaning though – we are going to have a local historian come in to our hotel every night after dinner and give a relaxed, informal talk on what that part of Ireland was like in the 11th Century, 12th Century, 13th Century, and so on, right up to the 21st Century. So as you ride around the coast we hope to give you an insight into Ireland’s past as well. And we do have quite a history. Not only do these gentlemen invite questions by the way, they encourage them…

As I am sure you are aware by now, the McQuaid family is synonymous with cycling in Ireland. Going way back to the early fifties. When we were growing up our parents took us on bike rides all over the country. Sometimes it used to feel like we lived on our bikes. (Honestly). And then we got into racing and have literally ridden every road in the country. Suffered on most of them. It has always been in our plans to put together a ride of the whole coast of Ireland. So here goes -

You all know there’s a certain…mystic attached to riding across America, (and well there should be. I have done it and it is a great ride). And a lot of people want to do it at some stage of their lives. We reckon that our coastline is so beautiful, spectacular, and special that there’s no reason the same mystic can’t be attached to riding it. I mean, it really is awe inspiring in places. Many places. This is most certainly not a ride that there’s going to be sections where its miles and miles of nothing, and ‘lets just get through it’. Quite the contrary, around every bend the coastline changes and it will simply blow you away.

Okay, I’ll stop ranting on and on about how spectacular it is. I’ll get back to the point.

Our ride will begin in the west coast. Dublin is the airport to fly into. We will ride clockwise. The reason we will ride clockwise is because if we ride anti-clockwise, you will have to cross the road every time you want to stop and just, ‘take it all in’. Riding clockwise means we’ll be on the coast side of the road for the whole route.

Our first day’s ride takes in the coastline where the bulk of the Spanish Armada sank on their way up the west coast all those hundreds of years ago, on their quest to fight the British. (Bad move that; taking the westcoast route that day. But more of that later). Then there’s the Cliffs of Moher, the Fanore road, (only described by none other than, ‘Conde Naste’ travel magazine as, ‘one of the top ten most beautiful stretches of road on the Planet’. Not a bad compliment. Today’s ride also takes in, ‘The Burren’. This landmass is reckoned to be one of the most botanically important land masses in the world, and you will see signs as you enter it telling you all about it. Plants grow here that don’t grow anywhere else in the World, due to the makeup of the limestone, all glacially formed. And the last ten miles takes us along the southernmost section of Galway Bay. I feel like going off on another, ‘it’s so spectacular’ tangent. But fear not, I’m focused on the point. Amazing ride though.

So that’s the first day.

We’ll leave Galway via the northernmost section of the Bay and head west out to Connemara. Connemara is one of wildest parts of Ireland. We’ll ride over Bog roads, through farms, through all-Gaelic speaking regions, you’ll see some of the most beautiful and deserted beaches in the world, (I’m serious). And you’ll see more sheep and donkeys than cars and buses. (Guaranteed). We have ridden these road thousands of time by now, and we have had hundreds of people ride them with us, from all over the world. And we have yet to meet someone who wasn’t simply blown away by the scenery and the roads we chose to ride. Tonight we are staying in one of the coolest wee towns in the country – Westport. And not because of its dubious distinction; having more pubs on its main street than any other town in Ireland. Certainly not. It’s just a lovely wee town. And we stay right in the centre. Look forward to Westport

Day 3. Mulranny, Achill Island, Belmullet, Downpatrick Head, Donegal Bay. An amazing ride. All day.

We’re pretty far north west by now, and the scenery changes quite dramatically. Donegal is the county that is visited least, due to its distance from everywhere else. It probably sees about 1 tourist for every 10,000 that Dublin sees. And we love riding our bikes here. Remember the Cliffs of Moher on the first day, (don’t worry, when you see them you’ll never forget them). We’ll they are 745ft tall at their highest point. All very spectacular an’ all. Donegal has the highest sea cliffs in all of Europe! Slieve League, (look them up on the Internet). 1925ft tall at their highest point!!! There’s a few pictures of them on the site here but if ever there was a case where, ‘pictures just don’t do it justice’, this is it. Every mile of today’s ride is on tiny, (but well surfaced) roads. And the further north you go, the wilder the scenery becomes. Me and the boys will give you some good stories about our racing days around Donegal. We’ve got a few good ones. But that’s for another day. On with the ride…

The Antrim Coast is by now widely regarded as one of Ireland’s undiscovered beauty spots. Around 60 miles of incredible coastline. And the road is literally on the water for all of it. Most of you will never have heard of it, let alone ridden it and I guarantee you it will delight you. That takes us to Larne, a lovely town right on the coast.

So the next day we transfer you south because riding through Belfast could hardly be described as, ‘spectacular’. And the road down to Dublin is a highway. A major highway. And when we say we are only going to ride on safe, beautiful roads we mean it. So down to Dublin early in the morning, and we can spend the day relaxing, shopping, having a Guinness… (I haven’t mentioned the Guinness yet!! That’s not like me…).

Next day. South. Coast. Coast like you’ve never seen. Graystones, Wicklow, Wexford, Waterford. Look forward to today’s ride. It really is something. And we have found some roads that no one knows about.

After a night in Waterford, (one of the most historically important towns in the country, but I’ll let our local historian tell you all about that, after dinner), we head west along the coast towards Cork and eventually end up in County Kerry.

Kerry. They like to refer to it as, ‘The Kingdom of the Gods’ down there. (Kerry people like to refer to it in the manner!). Well it certainly is beautiful. No doubt about that. Hilly. Very hilly. Better make sure the granny gears are running smooth today because we gonna be doing some climbing. No but seriously, this county really is special, and the scenery is so different to anything you will have experienced before this on our ride that it will come as quite a surprise. Very different. Mountains as far as the eye can see. Incredible coastline. And then there’s Killarney. Great wee town.

So after probably a late night in Killarney we have our last ride. The few times we have taken groups around this amazing tour of Ireland have all told us that on this day they ride with so many emotions running through their heads that it is hard to take in at times. This day is quieter than every other day. I see people riding along and I just know they are reflecting on all the experiences they have had on their adventure. And it’s a nice day for it because the ride itself is quite flat, not as spectacular as other days, just winds its way up the coast and is a perfect ride to end the tour. We think.