My original idea was just to cycle the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) in Ireland, catching ferries from Fishguard to Rosslare and from Larne to Cairnryan. But why not follow the Atlantic seaboard from Lands’ End to Cape Wrath and then extend it to John o’Groats too? Part 1 and 2 cover England and Wales, now into the meat of the ride.
After an uneventful ferry journey and nice campsite at Tagoat, I set out for the start of the WAW at Kinsale. Along the country lanes I immediately notice I am getting the finger from local drivers, but not the f’off sign I get back home, but the inverse – a gentle acknowledgement and welcome. This is pleasant cycling as I follow the new Eurovelo 1 signs through gentle remote farmland.
The ferryman at Ballyhack collects €2 and transports me to the opposite bank of the River Barrow and into Country Waterford. The car registrations confirming what the boundary signs tell me. It is a brief cycle to a cafe in Waterford Quay for lunch, before I connect with the Waterford Greenway – a traffic free cycle route along a rail line to Dungarvan. The route is easy under wheel, but hard going into the wind. I have to give way to a tourist train that runs parallel to the cycle path, full of warm cosseted passengers.
The sea comes into view after passing through a tunnel, decorated with pixie like carvings by local school children. I stop to check directions and meet Jack and Sonia again, a couple I met on the ferry. We cycle together to Caseys campsite and are made most welcome by the owner, busily preparing the site for the summer season.
