Nettles are probably the first plant a child will identify and the last they’ll want to encounter again! The painful sting is a stronger identifier than shape, colour or form and a reminder to tread carefully when galavanting in shorts through the countryside!
While cycle touring or multi day hiking, wild camping is our preferred method of spending the night. It offers greater independence and options for you to choose where and when to set up tent for the night. It can also be the only way to spend the night when remoteness or lack of facilities means you have to lay your head where your hat falls! Read More
We have put together a list of some of our favourite designers and makers in Ireland. Whether you enjoy hiking, camping, cycling, surfing or if you are an armchair outdoorsman or woman. Here is our wish list of ethical style and eco-friendly designs for an outdoor lifestyle. We have selected designers whose approach we admire and all products are designed and/or made in Ireland.
Travelling by cars, buses and trains to take us from our houses or flats to work in offices or factories, we seem to move from box to box by boxes! We spend a lot of our time contained in boxes and equally as much time trying to break out of boxes! Read More
Three-cornered leek, also know as three-cornered garlic, is quite abundant along the roadside where I live in North Sligo, Ireland. The plant is originally of Mediterranean origin and was brought to Ireland about 300 years ago. It’s an invasive plant that can easily spread and become dominant if unchecked. So I suppose the most environmentally friendly way of keeping it under control is eating it! Read More
Considering my fondness for maps I’ve an awful sense of direction! I may give the impression I know where I’m going, but instead my internal compass has spun off it’s axis leaving me adrift and rudderless. The upside of this is you end up in completely new and unexpected places, the downside … you get lost! Read More
•music by Aglow Hollow.
On October 30th when the clocks were wound back to signal the start of shorter winter days, I wasn’t expecting the summery phrase “Grand day isn’t it?!” uttered with such frequency! Luckily, the unaccustomed mild winter has increased such positive weather musings and in turn, cycle trips in the countryside. It’s hard to beat a brisk cycle along twisting rural boreens in unseasonal winter sunshine. Read More
It certainly was an eventful past 12 months , 2017 has a tough job cleaning up after a messy and boisterous 2016! With the new year comes new plans. Unfortunately as is my habit, my initial epic and grandiose plans gradually shrink over the course of a year to more manageable, minuscule arm-chair versions! But there’s no harm in dreaming big! Read More
I’ve been asked ‘What do you think about when you’re cycle touring?’ on quite a few occasions, or ‘You must have so much time for self reflection while on the bike?’. In truth, I actually don’t think about a lot! Usually I’m either cursing the persistent head-wind or dreaming of chocolate coated swiss-rolls and king sized snickers! Life on the bike can be very simple! Your main concerns are getting from A to B, food, water and shelter. This leaves room for appreciating, observing and focusing on what happens along your journey. Enjoying the moment as it happens. Your surroundings, the weather, the people, the hills, they all remain with you long after you’ve stopped cycling. It’s great fodder for travel writing with many great books written on cycle journeys.
There are certain books that encourage you to dream of cycle adventures ahead; authors whose words keep you company during your trip; and books that allow you to reflect philosophically on bicycle travel.
