In the southwest corner of Ireland, the town of Killarney borders on the Killarney National Park, home to such antiquities such as Ross Castle, Torc Waterfall and the start of our adventure into some of wildest parts of Ireland. From here we will set out on our 12-day adventure on the Wild Atlantic Way, including both the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula.

The Ring of Kerry is world famous. We will get to experience some of the best scenery and history of Ireland. This part of Ireland is as riding through an open air museum.  Ireland’s breathtaking Dingle Peninsula was reportedly once cited by National Geographic as being “the most beautiful place on earth” and has been voted among the top 100 destinations in the world by Trip Advisor. 

The tour has been designed for CCCTS by a European tour company “Iron Donkey”, who have been providing tours in Ireland since 1997. They will provide accommodations, luggage transfers and maps in paper or GPS formats. Daily ride leadership will be provided by the CCCTS tour coordinators.

This trip will feature some of the highlights of the Irish Wild Atlantic Way, experiencing 2 of the peninsulas in southwest Ireland that face the Atlantic Ocean. The first peninsula we will cycle features the famous Ring of Kerry and features a stay at the largest town on the Ring. We will also cycle on the Dingle Peninsula before returning to Killarney. We will experience the local countryside and Villages. Four of the locations will be for 2-night stays, where participants can choose between rest days or do loop rides.

Hotel on first and last night in Killarney; other locations will be in B&Bs.  Sometimes more than one B&B will be needed to accommodate the group.  Typically bedrooms are shared by a couple or same gender singles. Lunches and dinners (not included) are typically taken in pubs.

Twelve days of riding are provided, with a choice of shorter or longer route options on 4 or more days. The average daily distance/ ascent is 64 km / 760 m for the shorter options and the total distance is 709 km if no rest days are taken. The longer options total 793km with a daily average of 72 km/ 857m ascent. The longest days are 87 or 91km for the two options.

Road standards will vary from good pavement with shoulders on some of the larger roads, to the narrowest little country lanes with poorer asphalt and no paint lines. Some of the roads will be quite rugged (picture Saltspring Island), but generally much narrower than in Canada.  Cyclists and traffic drive on the left.

Most of the route will have minimal traffic, except when on some of the more popular tourist areas, and the one weekend on the tour may be busy. Some of the route will have some significant climbing. There will be opportunities to see additional sights along the Irish Coast.

13 Nights Hotel or B&B Accommodations, 13 breakfasts and 1 dinner, luggage transportation during the tour.

Meals except as noted above, transportation to and from Killarney, which is available by bus or train. Note the tour is priced to us in Euro’s, the Canadian Fee listed is based on the current exchange rate with some margin for increase. The second payment instalment could be subject to change if rates increase beyond the margin allowed.

The tour operator offers a choice of bike rentals for the tour, of hybrids, touring bikes, or road bikes available at additional fee:
• Hybrid bike: €190
• Touring bike: €225
• Road bike: €280

Destinations with distances/ ascents are indicated below, with shorter/ longer options as provided by the operator. Most gradients are less than 8%:

Day 1 (Sept 3): Bike fitting / meet and greet / briefing
Day 2: Killarney Loop Ride (55.7 km/ 779m or 90.6/ 1093) – 9%
Day 3: Killarney to Gougane Barra (62.8 km/ 945m or 77.1/ 958) – 7%
Day 4: Gougane Barra to Glengarriff, the rugged glen (55.2 km/ 450m) – 5%
Day 5: rest day or Glengarriff Loop Ride (49.7 km/ 750m) – 12%
Day 6: Glengarriff to Kenmare (58.0 km/ 752m) – 12%
Day 7: rest day or Kenmare Loop Ride (87.2 km/ 984m)– 11%
Day 8: Kenmare to Cahirciveen, largest town in the Ring of Kerry (77.8 km/ 904m) – max 6%
Day 9: rest day or Cahirciveen Loop (30.09 km/ 237m or 51.3 km/ 847m) – 13%
Day 10: Cahirciveen to Killorglin (56.8 km / 737m) – 9%
Day 11: Killorglin to Dingle (56.5 km / 496m) – 5%
Day 12: rest day or Dingle Loop, (55.7 km /557) – 6%
Day 13: Dingle to Killarney (63.1 km / 783m or 76.6 km / 920m) – 10%
Day 14: Tour ends after breakfast.

A $2.00 non-refundable registration fee is required at tour signup, which must be done online. Participants will be selected first, on the basis of registration time; secondly, on fitness and experience in relation to the tour rating (see above); and availability of rooms to suit the number of couples and shared singles with same gender roommates.

Registrants will be contacted within 72 hours of registering, and if accepted will pay the first instalment of $1,000 online within 72 hours. Those cancelling will not be refunded those monies spent to cover fixed costs unless a replacement is found; and a second deposit of $1,500, to be paid online, is due June 15, 2017. If the tour fills, registrants can be placed on the waitlist, but will be expected to let the tour leader know if they no longer wish to participate.