ETHICAL TRAVELLER:AS DUBLIN and its visitors are discovering with the arrival of Dublinbikes, cycling makes us smile. Is it that get-back-in-touch-with- nature vibe, feeling like a child again or just slowing down to take in the world that makes us feel good about ourselves?
If you are enjoying the capital’s new bike-rental scheme, then start thinking farther afield. Cycling holidays are about as green as it gets, not only because of their carbon neutrality but because bikes often take you to places you wouldn’t otherwise explore, bringing much-needed tourist income to those areas.
I am not talking yellow-jersey 200km-a-day cycling holidays, either, but the sort of trip where you just pack a couple of panniers, put your bike on a boat or train, get off at the other end and discover the powerful peace to be found in pedalling your way into unknown territory.
My most recent experience of this was in Scotland (Go, May 16th), when I travelled with the Scottish cycling-holiday company Velodays (velodays.com) and spent an amazing few days in Perthshire. I was met off the train with a bike and GPS, transferred my backpack to panniers and took on 50km a day, full of the highs only the Highlands can provide.
If you want to treat yourself to a bracing break in the saddle before the clocks change, another option is to put your bike on the Rosslare ferry and head for Fishguard, which is the start of Wales’s Celtic (West) Cycling Trail (see sustrans.org for maps).
A great eco-location to stay is Preseli Venture Eco Lodge, 10km from Fishguard. You could just stay there, but as the lodge is an activity specialist you could combine cycling with coasteering, for example (preseliventure.co.uk).
Closer to home, the Strangford Lough Trail leads you around the back roads of this exquisitely tranquil and utterly under-rated part of Northern Ireland. Starting in Comber, Co Down, the 130km circular trail is made even more accessible now by the Comber Greenway, an 11km cycle track along a disused railway from Belfast city centre.
Spend a weekend doing this trail to really enjoy the “loughscape”. I recommend one night at the eco-BB Anna’s House (annashouse.com), just outside Comber, with the best breakfast ever to put you on the road, and the second at the Portaferry Hotel (portaferry hotel.com), a family-run institution right on the lakeshore, where you can see the ferry arrive to take you away for more exploring (see cycleni.com).
For the more adventurous, put your bike on the ferry at Rosslare (€5 each way on Irish Ferries) and head to Cherbourg, in France. One hitch is that you can’t put your bike on the Rosslare train at the moment. Go figure. Try Bus Éireann instead, which, depending on space, will stick it in the boot for €11.
It’s a great buzz cycling down the ramp ahead of all the cars, navigating your way through the city and on to Cherbourg cycling trail, or La Manche à Vélo – 230km of off-road cycle trails on disused railways or towpaths, 35 cycle loops, each about 20km long (mancherandonnee.com).
The list of European cycling opportunities is endless, and I confess I have a bit of a habit of collecting cycle maps just to escape in my dreams, if not always from my desk. If you want to do the same, a great starting point is Eurovelo, a European cycle network (ecf.com). You can also buy maps from the UK cycling organisation Sustrans (sustrans.org) and start planning your next expedition.
ethicaltraveller.net, twitter.com/catherinemack