Cycletouring in Ireland

Audax UK has published a review of Cycle Touring in Ireland in its magazine Arrivee. The mag isn't available on-line so I've attached a copy of the review.

Cycling Northern Ireland have put a short blog piece up for me ...
http://www.outdoorni.com/blog/cycling/#

Daydreams of a cyclist

The office and the city outside fade away and vivid cycling memories flash past in colours as bright and clear as the view of the Scottish coast from the Torr Head Road in April.

Anyone who has looked at the reviews on this site or read my book will know I love Paramo. Just for the record this is all stuff I have paid for myself – the dream of being showered in freebies by publicity seeking companes is alas that, a dream.
But I have managed to get a write up into the Paramo Travel and Trek catalogue. So if that sells ahem, several hundred books, I might be able to afford a new jacket or at least replace the towel I left at Belfast City Youth Hostel.
If you want to read it, click here and go to page five.

The book has had not too bad a review here:
http://www.thewashingmachinepost.net/cicerone/ireland/

Cycle touring in Ireland is slowly becoming available in bookshops and, of course, the all important Amazon.

As you tour around Ireland you will probably soon get sick of the piped 'traditional' music you hear blasting out in shops and tourist offices (Sneem - you are the worst of many offenders, shame on you). So here are some brilliant, fungus free, alternatives for you iPod:

1. This Charming Man - The Smiths. Why: "Punctured bicycle/on a hillside desolate/will Nature make a man of me yet?
   
2. Why Does it Always Rain on Me - Travis. Why: Do I need to say more?
   

The official youth hostel network has shrunk considerably in th past few years, but in most tourist areas an independent hostel network has sprung up to fill the gap. The Midlands excepted, it is pretty much possible to get around the whole country using hostels, although their might be a few longer-than-average days on the road. For my picks see six brilliant hostels

Camping is the most economical way to see Ireland, and for my money the best. A number of sites have, however, closed in recent years or have been converted into the oxymoronic 'static caravan' sites. This means that away from the main tourist areas official sites can be scarce and 'wild camping' isn't always possible. But a combination of camping and the odd night in a hostel can still get you around most of the country - so take a tent, you won't regret it. For my recommendations for the best camp sites in Ireland see six brilliant camp sites.