Ireland: We Made It. Bikes Made It. Let’s Shenanigate!

Riding Stats (Link to Deb’s Strava)

Accommodations (daily mileage, elevation, etc.)

Route Tracker (track our northbound ride on a Google Map)

Time for some shenanigans and a shakedown ride!☘️

Tom boxed up the bikes nice and tidy for their direct overnight flight from Indy to Dublin with us in tow. We take them as checked baggage along with one additional duffle bag that includes our clothing and bike gear.

Since the Tipperary House wasn’t ready for us to check in (I mean it was only 10am), we strolled over to the park across the street to put the bikes together.

I actually went to get some coffee and donuts for us while Tom assembled the bikes. The Tipperary House will store the empty bike boxes and duffle until we get back in early October.

With bike chores out of the way we set our sites to visit the historic Temple Bar and the following day, a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. Tom loves the beer 🍻 here and I love the flowers. They are lovely!

A visit to the Storehouse isn’t complete without a “Stoutie” so yes we opted in for a couple of pints with our selfies on top of the Guinness foam. #typicaltourists

After two nights in Dublin we left our bike boxes behind and rode to the train station for our 2.5 hour ride to Cork where we began our shakedown ride to Kinsale as it’s the starting point for our portion of Eurovelo 1.

The bikes performed well and our legs even better on the hills between Cork and Kinsale, but dang were our lungs heaving and heart pumping.

Arriving in Kinsale with plenty of time to spare, we took in a four-mile round trip walk to Charles Fort, a fascinating 17th-century star-shaped military fortress built between 1688 and 1692 and named for King Charles II.

With discounts for “seniors,” we couldn’t resist a self-guided tour of this impressive structure, with its massive ramparts, bastions and parapets overlooking Kinsale Harbor.