Blog | Mark Stratton Travels

About It starts with Bus #173

This is my occasional blog focusing on my travels abroad and at home in Dartmoor. All my journeys, whether it’s a 4-day schlepp to Pitcairn Island or a 3-week boat journey across Micronesia, begin with the local country bus #173 from my home in Chagford to Exeter, where I take the train or bus to London.

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Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 12)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 12)

Day 12: Letterkenny to Malin Head (92.6km) D-day had arrived. The final push towards Malin Head and the end of an epic end-to-end cycle along the length of Ireland known as the Mizmal. Twelve days of aches, hills, lovely countryside, way too many pub meals (and Guinness) ... in the company of individuals who love cycling and being outdoors. You can dress up award-winning lodges with the latest eco-design as being good for the planet .... but ultimately, we used leg power only

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way

Day 11: Donegal to Letterkenny (90.7km) Our usual 7.15am briefing started with a prophecy of impending doom in the hotel lobby. We were all aware it was going to be a hilly day heading north on the 11th day of our end-to-end odyssey along the Mizmal route of western Ireland. But the weather gods apparently weren't going to make the day's cycle any easier. "There's going to be 90% chance of rain and winds up to 30mph. So we will shorten the tea break stop to see if we can get

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 10)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 10)

Day 10: Sligo City to Donegal (86.4km) "Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking," quoted the visionary Irish poet, WB Yeats, whose grave we passed as the rain fell on the 10th day of our all-Ireland end-to-end cycle. Taking these words to heart, our resolve remained strong as we attempted to fulfil this Irish challenge of a lifetime. The cycle along the coast of Donegal was sublimely scenic yet throughout the day I couldn't help but sense a sin

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 9)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 9)

Day 9: Westport to Sligo City (106.2km) Firstly, a gratuitous plug for Stephen Mullane of Chain Driven Cycles - the fastest bike repairman in Sligo (and possibly Ireland - who happens also to stock beautiful Italian Bottecchia cycles). I'll just add this is not a blogger's inflated statement in return for a freebie as I paid for my repair. Anyway, it was 4.20pm when I limped into Stephen's cycle shop with a damaged crank. Basically, my pedal fell off my bike - in layman's ter

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 8)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 8)

Day 8: Clifden to Westport (85km) Connemara really is something special and if you don't believe me then listen to the great Irish pet, novelist, and playwright, Oscar Wilde, who described it as possessing 'Savage Beauty'. Today, we got both parts. The beauty of cycling through Connemara National Park amid the '12 Bens' - and a certain degree of savagery with fearsome winds on day 8 of my attempt to cycle the length of Ireland along the MIZMAL cycle route. But first a picture

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (day 7)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (day 7)

Day 7 Galway to Clifden (99.4km) We're over halfway now to completing a 12-day cycle along the Mizmal route in Western Ireland to navigate the whole length of Ireland and I'm experiencing a little wear and tear. My knee is playing up slightly but today I could hardly complain about hardship in light of a quite amazing story I discovered in wonderful Connemara. It's 100 years since two British airman (daredevils more like) - Alcock and Brown - made the first transatlantic flig

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 6)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 6)

Day 6 Ballyvaughan to Galway City (53.8km) The pictured bottle of legendary Irish firewater known as Potcheen is a statement not of my own alcoholic predilection - although I did visit Margaret O'Loghlen's sixth-generation whiskey bar the previous night in Ballyvaughan to 'learn' a little more about Irish whiskey. It's more a statement how, on our shortest day of a 12-day cycle the length of Ireland following the MIZMAL route, it was very easy to get drunk on the most breath

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 5)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 5)

Day 5: Lahinch to Ballyvaughan (66.7km) If you're an Irish reader you'll probably be a bit a fed up with my rather dismal attempts at humour with the word 'craic'. So look away. Because today was all about 'limestone craic' - actually 'cracks' between grey rocky fractured limestone plateau escarpments that characterised an unbelievably scenic day in the Burren. It proved a shorter day on my attempt to cycle the length of Ireland in 12 days along the West Ireland route known a

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 4)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (Day 4)

Day 4 Killkee to Lahinch (99km) Shipwrecks seemed an appropriate theme for another feisty day along the Atlantic coast in County Clare as we tumbled out of our overnight pub accommodation for the 4th day of a trip to cycle the entire length of Ireland along its majestic west coast. When I say 'shipwreck' I'm in no way implying we'd had an all-night bender on the 'black stuff' - Guinness and the like - but my own slightly weary legs on the wreck of the previous day's epic 3rd

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (day 3)

Sweaty Craic! Cycling Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way (day 3)

Day 3: Killarney to Killkee (119.5km) On really tough long days of cycling, as this was, the 3rd day of my attempt to cycle end-to-end Ireland along the Mizmal, logic can sometimes become a little scrambled as looking for psychological shortcuts that overtake sound reasoning. For instance, the sight of a large and most unexpected Dutch-style windmill at Blennerville set me thinking the winds (which were buffeting throughout a long tiring day) must magnify significantly due to

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