We recently wrote a piece for The Irish Times about five of our favourite cycles in Ireland. While we were revisiting those routes to write about them, we made a short video diary of each spin.
This second video is a beautiful loop taking in some of the best of Co Mayo. This route forms part of my favourite cycle on our island, even in the rain.
It might be evident from the footage (especially towards the end) that we were a bit flaked after this jaunt. We cycled this route on a Sunday, after a spin in Donegal on the Saturday, and playing/socialising with the wonderful Twisted Sisters at the Tribal Gathering festival outside Omagh on the Friday.
We kept ourselves somewhat in check during the aprés-gig shenanigans, but we were still drained by the end of this Sunday spin. If we can manage those two cycles after a festival, you should definitely be able for one of them.
If you would like to follow the route yourself, the directions are below. We’ve also included a snippet of the accompanying article we wrote.
If you use a map or route app and you’d like a .gpx map of the route we followed, let us know in the comments below and I can send it on to you.
Hold her steady and keep it between the ditches!
Mark writes:
The stretch up and over Sheeffry Pass and down alongside Doo Lough isn’t just beautiful to look at. The honeysuckle was in bloom the last time we cycled here, and at the bottom of the mountain the sweet smell mixed with turf smoke from fires that were still being lit in mid-summer.
All the way down the mountain you’re flanked by a river that gurgles, plunges, splashes and speeds its way down the hillside with you. You don’t get to hear and smell this route by car.
Doo Lough, the black lake, is brooding, dramatic and historically significant. On the 30th of March 1849, 600 starving people walked 12 miles in poor weather from Louisburgh to Delphi House to petition their landlord, the Poor Law Inspector, and a member of the Board of Guardians who were all lodging there.
When the starving people arrived, the men they hoped would help them were at lunch, so they had to wait. When the crowd were eventually seen, they were sent back to Louisburgh empty handed. Some reports say that 400 people died of starvation that day while walking this road.
Stories are told of corpses found at the side of the road with grass in their mouths. For all its beauty, there is a palpable solemnity to this stretch.
Ellie writes:
This loop is an absolute winner for me. The variety of scenery, from lush hilly woodland and rocky mountain streams, to barren bogs scattered with twin white tufts of bog cotton and sheep, is just breath-taking.
The Sheeffry pass has all the rewards of any mountain pass but is surprisingly doable, with no punishing switchbacks. Views of Tawnyard Lough from the rest stop on the L1824 on the way down from the pass are out of this world on a clear summer’s day.
There’s plenty heritage interest too, with an obligatory stop at Doo Lough famine memorial, the brooding mass of Croagh Patrick with its endless succession of pilgrims, and the well-signposted Clew Bay Archaeological Trail all around.
The only downside might be the 12km stretch alongside the busy R335 from Louisburgh to Murrisk: Almost all of the rest of the route is on very quiet laneways and from Murrisk, an incomplete greenway brings you the last 6km back to the turning to Aughavale.
Distance: 64km
Elevation: 421m
Diversions: Starting in Westport instead of Aughavale cemetery adds an extra 7km to the loop. Turning left onto the R378 at Cregganbaun between Doo Lough and Louisburgh adds an extra 14km and brings you past the extraordinary Clapper Bridge of Bunlahinch. Staying on the N59 at Liscarney to take in Leenane, the spectacular Aasleagh Falls, Killary Fjord and Delphi adds an extra 10km.
Directions:
Park at Aughavale Cemetery, up a left turn about 3km outside Westport towards Louisburgh.
Take the immediate left fork at the cemetery, signposted with a cycleway sign for Killary Harbour.
Keep following the Killary cycle signs until you reach Brackloon woods: then, at a signpost for Owenwee Kennels, go straight on to join the N59 for 1.7km before turning right onto the L1824 at the sign for Drummin and the Sheeffry Pass.
The L1824 emerges onto the R335 at Doo Lough. Turn right here.
Stay on the R335 all the way through Louisburgh, and towards Westport. Views of Croagh Patrick will open up on the home stretch along the edge of Clew Bay through Leckanvy and Murrisk, where a roadside cycle path starts and continues into Westport. Keep an eye out to your right for your turn back up to Aughavale cemetery.
Route: Doo Lough Loop