I cycled down here on a totally different bike to the one I’ve been riding all week, on busier roads, with many more sketchy moments.
I write this sitting in my favourite Cafe in Donnybrook, Dublin. I cycled down here on a totally different bike to the one I’ve been riding all week, on busier roads, with many more sketchy moments. But, riding a fixed gear Bianchi from the 70s around Dublin city centre on a Monday morning has a few things in common with riding a pink gravel bike in the pouring rain on unpaved roads in County Mayo: you have to be very good at picking your line, you can’t panic, and you should be prepared for sheep to dart in front of you any minute (well in the City they preferred to be called pedestrians but this is a small point).
Now, I would be lying if I said the whole trip to Mayo was to ride gravel, it wasn’t, but I did manage to get out one afternoon and chose to take on the path less ridden: and I would recommend that you try this route too. With pouring rain and poor visibility you may think that going off into the wild is the less sensible choice, but I would argue quite the contrary - off into the wilderness means fewer cars, less people, more fun and more achievement (after all, you will be wet on the road so it doesn’t really matter).
When choosing gravel routes there are two options:
- Just head out there and take random paths and see where they end up
- Use something like Strava to “plot” a route that hopefully takes in some gravel
Both of these are great options, but what I really wanted was the third option: follow a recognised and previously ridden route that was recommended. As much as I wanted this I couldn’t quite find it, so I opted for a combination of the other two options, but it did cement in my mind why I set up this website and why I think it’s such a valuable resource (if you agree please send in your routes).
The fun of this route started the moment I left the door, knowing I was going to be soaked but I would be cycling a route many would never have even known existed. From this moment on the fun only continued to be amplified as the kilometres ticked on (slowly). The first stretch of gravel was after a left turn, after the garage heading west of Westport on the R335. It is paved for a short time and then suddenly you are throwing your bike over a gate faced only with the climbing that’s to come. The road here is loose, chunky gravel. You have sheep left, right and centre wondering what on earth you are doing cycling on a path that was clearly only made for them. The road, if you can call it that, meanders round the back of Croagh Patrick and then drops down marshy grass paths back to the Leenane Road. I must admit the climb really did take it out of me, even a climber struggles with this type of surface in the wet. It was just extremely steep and you need a totally different type of power to keep going. There were pitches consistently over 20% on the way up but thankfully the descent was less steep and much more flowing.
Flying down the grassy descent was a lot like I imagine a rally driver feels. It was sketchy - not because you couldn’t see what was coming, but because you have no real stopping power and things can come at you out of nowhere. I also learned you have to put a lot of trust in the sheep there. They may look like they aren’t gonna move, but if you adjust your line to move out of THEIR way, they do exactly the same: darting across the path and back into your line. It is a bit like dancing with someone who has two left feet. However, half way down you realise that if you just hold your line they will move (just at the last minute).
Having got to the bottom safely you then hit the road. Again, you wouldn’t know it was a paved road for the potholes and muck everywhere, but this is why you took out the gravel bike and not the road bike right?
The next off-road sector starts near Tangincartoor - a brilliant scenic path through two hills, with some lovely turns and overall a net negative gradient. You will be flying down the final stretch to only come to what the map says is a small stream crossing. Let me clarify this though for you: it is a river crossing - and one that certainly cannot be crossed in the pouring rain. It had swelled to at least waist deep. I stood there for a few minutes yo-yoing between risking it and going back the way I came until I saw a small red bridge about 100m to my left. Crossing the bridge safely gets you to the next obstacle, or is it the next “game”? Again another river crossing…
This one looked shallower so I was definitely of the mind of risking it until again I spotted another bridge. With the light drawing in it was a case of better safe than sorry, and I suggest that you also take the bridges (unless Ireland suddenly becomes a desert before your next ride). I had to hop over a few more fences through some private land to get to the road, but once there it was essentially a straight run for the coast and then straight back into town.
I would highly recommend this route.There weren’t tonnes of gravel but the small bits that are there are amazing and I am sure that if you had more time and more adventure in you, you could find some even better paths.
The only thing I would do differently on this route, I would head out earlier in the day so that I could head back via Louisburgh to stop at Seven Wonders Cafe (sevenwanderscafe - Home | Facebook) for a coffee and to chat all things cycling with Louis! I popped in there after a different ride a few days later and it is one hell of a spot so please check it out!