As another year begins, I’m looking forward to new cycling adventures, including my first bike tour in Ireland since 1996, and my longest ever ride.

But first, a few reflections of my cycling year in 2023. Life events (notably the death of my father aged 96 in February) meant I didn’t get out on the bike as much as I’d have liked. But I beat 2022’s modest total of 2,278 miles: my very wet ride on New Year’s Eve brought the total to 2,648.

As I recounted at the time, those early months were a struggle, as the weather in the weeks after Dad died was awful, and I was also struggling with a persistent throat infection. It wasn’t the best training for a very hilly cycle tour of Portugal, but I coped, helped by Goldilocks weather: almost perfect temperatures after the end of an Iberian heatwave a couple of weeks before we arrived.

I fell in love with Portugal during our 11 day adventure. (You can read my day by day account of the tour starting here.) As always, Peak Tours arranged a wonderful route, which was a perfect introduction to this special country. The first five days were very hilly, and my lack of training showed on the steeper, longer climbs. But I loved the stunning Douro valley, followed by the quirky hill towns of Monsanto and Marvão. And the Portuguese people were delightful hosts.

It was a special moment when we reached the Atlantic coast at Tavira in the far south of Portugal, after a freewheeling descent from the mountains. It was my second ‘end to end’, after Land’s End to John O’Groats – but a lot hotter and drier! If you are interested in the tour, you can find out more on the Peak Tours website here.

Back to Ireland in 2024

I’m really looking forward to cycling in Ireland again in 2024, 50 years since my first visit, with Mum and Dad in a lilac Hillman Imp. Back in 1996 I cycled solo from Dublin to Rosslare (for the ferry home to Wales), and loved the quiet roads and magnificent scenery, especially over the old military road over the Wicklow mountains south of the capital. (I smiled to find a Morris Minor parked outside Mrs McGuirk’s tea rooms near Sally Gap.)

My 2024 trip is another Peak Tours holiday, from Mizen Head in the south west to Malin Head in County Donegal. We’ll be staying one night in Lahinch, a small coastal town that I remember from 1974, where we bought a bar of Irish chocolate. (Human memory is a remarkable thing…) I imagine Dad had chosen the scenic, coastal route between stays at Ryan motels in Galway and Limerick. I am sure Lahinch has changed in the past half century, as Ireland has cleverly carved a prosperous living since joining the (now) European Union the year before that first visit. I just hope that the weather is kind – but will be prepared for the worst the wild Atlantic can throw at us!

Cycling to Wales – and back

I should be better trained for Ireland than last year’s Portuguese tour, as the previous month I will be taking part in London Wales London, a 400 kilometre ‘audax’ endurance ride. The name is slightly misleading as the start is almost on my Buckinghamshire doorstep in the village of Chalfont St Peter. (But you can hear the traffic on the M25 London orbital motorway from St Peter, so it’s not too misleading.) The ride does enter Wales, briefly, at Chepstow, before heading back into England over the old Severn Bridge.

It will be my longest ever bike ride, more than twice as far as my previous 103 mile record, so I will need to train my body for the challenge. And my mind – cycling over 250 miles in 27 hours will require resilience, and the ability to keep going no matter what setbacks come my way. I’ve already started keeping a list of the things to take and things to do in preparation.

I’ll report on these and other 2024 adventures in the coming months.