Best biking roads in Ireland | WILD ATLANTIC WAY | Blacksod | Sheeffry Pass | Doolough Valley

Today myself and Caroline headed around beautiful Mayo, specifically The Doolough Valley along with a few other amazing stopping points. It may not all be the Wild Atlantic Way but its still a hit and highly recommened.

Yardine, will you get up? It’s 6:30. Talk about a laugh of pure evil. I just want to sleep. Anyway, how are we all keeping folks already then? Today is a decent bloody day. We’re going to be doing a mountain pass. We’re doing black sod. Of course, like always, we’ll take you with us. And we hope you enjoy. [Music] I tell you what, I need to get my nails done when I go home. Oh, yeah. You really need a manicure. Yeah. Really bad. Ah, yeah. I’d have to get a manicure. You know yourself. Yeah. And they’re hanging behind you. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that’s fine. Yeah. Beautiful morning. Unreal. Absolutely. Unreal. That cloth right there. Breakfast champions. Well, we’re not stopping until tonight. So, get it in you. I’m ready, girl. So, first port of call this morning. We are heading to Black Sod Lighthouse. Couple of things have happened at Black Sod Lighthouse as well. So, it was constructed in 1864. Excuse me. But it’s most famous for being the location uh where the recommendation came to postpone the Normandy landings. So D-Day was originally scheduled to commence on the 5th of June 1944. But a report came from Morin and Ted Sweeney who was Black Sod’s lighthouse keepers at the time of like oncoming really bad weather which caused the General Eisenhower to delay the invasion until the 6th of June in 1944. So it delayed a day. [Music] That’s a good we drive first thing in the morning. Stop talking. I need to do a slow-mo action. [Music] Now, most recently, there was a helicopter crash on the 14th of March in 2017 where all the crew members were killed when the helicopter crashed into the sea while supporting a rescue operation. Now, if you look online, the souls, there was four, but if you look at the plaque on the lighthouse, there is five. So, it’s Captain Darth Fitzpatrick, Chief Pilot Mark Duffy, winch operator Paul Armsby, and the winch man Kieran Smith. And on the plaque there’s Kreiona Lucas as well. What a freaking morning. I swear this is maybe half 9 in the morning. The sky was just clear. Oh, we got such a good few days. Anyway, we are now going to head our weelves right down to Westport. Why not? Might as well. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] How many people need to go around this corner? It’s getting left on me. Easy. Easy. Wait. Do you see this? We pulled up here in Westport. You’ll see the fella in yellow. He looked at daddy like he had three heads. Daddy asked him if he could move, please. And he was just like just ignored him. And then he turned around. He’s like, “Would you sure you can just throw your bike in there?” No, you can’t move. I’m sorry. You’re not very going up another bit, daddy. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Common sense isn’t common, daddy. First stop and we’re getting our list ready for head. We’re getting our hit. We’re getting our hit before I go to the mountain pass. Do you know what this fun get this get just did? He forgot I wasn’t the dog. And the dog’s command to be let loose is free. But we went to the junction and this get said to me, “All right, turning free.” That means come out behind cheeky g. I do. I wouldn’t mind. That’s not his first time doing it either. Oh no, I’ve caught him doing it a couple times. Anyway, next we are doing the Shefree pass. This is a pass that’s honestly really overlooked just because it’s not really mentioned in a lot of maps or like any of that sort of crack like touring stuff and it’s not really on the wide Atlantic way either. What? If you can do it, trust me. Be prepared to get come here. Anywhere we take is our show, it’s because it’s worth showing. Put it that way. Um, so this Shiffrey Pass, it overlooks the Glenomera Valley. I’m so sorry if I butchered that. And it ends down at the Keri Fjord between the Dulac Valley which is the famine road and Lean as well. It is class. [Music] Look at that for a perfect speed over there. That’s a perfect. I tell you what, you’re showing your age when you go Jesus. What a lovely baby. Give us your best smile there. Now, miss a wee wee. Unbelievable up here, man. Absolutely class. [Music] Yeah, there’s every bit of scenic on a head on down. It’s absolutely class. Oh yeah. Well, Mrs. Were you here before? Bring all the technology. No, I haven’t been here before. Do you see this here? This is class. Daddy, this is unbelievable. I’m telling you. Oh. Um, what’s your language? That is something else, huh? Yeah. Beautiful part of the world, boy. That cloud or what? Oh, that’s beautiful. Huh? That’s just lovely and warm. Oh god. Oh, if it roasty up here, you can fry an egg in them stones. We’re not used to this yet. Nope. Yeah. The road [Music] There’s no water in it. Oh, there’s a lemon here. Pretty dry. I think I still Yeah, it’s lovely now in the summer, but Looking yummy. Yeah. And there is the glory. Yeah, I know where I am, Shirley. Don’t call me Shirley. So, we’re going left. Oh, yeah. I’m just trying to think. Daddy just Daddy put his foot down on the tow. The tower is melting. It’s melting. 25 degrees here today, Charlie. Holy Stay away from the stick. [Music] So this on the right is the Caller Fjord Harbor. You will see it again because we actually do like a big loop. We are going to do now. We head into Lean. We loop back to Westport because then we’re going to drive out towards Lewisburg and take it through the Dulock Valley that way. There was a lot of what would you call it? Back and forth, a lot of wiggly driving sort of thing to try and get it in one video if that makes sense. But actually, it didn’t make sense. I just heard it out loud. You know what? Sit back and enjoy. You’ll love the views. That’s the Ala Falls there on the left hand side. We didn’t stop just because this was the height of like warm weather. There was actually the waterfalls weren’t even going. So there’s there’s nothing to show you. So we decided a fet plow on [Music] found my memorial. No. Yeah. Oh, careful there. Stones in the in the tower. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so this here is the National Famine Memorial. It’s on your way from Westport heading out to Lewisburg and it’s on the right hand side of the road. It’s just across from where people would go to Katrick to climb it. And I’m pretty sure I have it in here somewhere. Ah, there she is. And on top of Katrick, you can actually see a teeny weeny chapel. I wouldn’t climb it for a pension, but a lot of people enjoy it. But this is a memorial commemorating the great famine between 1845 and 1849. It was actually designed by a Dublin man called John Behin. I’m sorry if I said that wrong. And it shows pretty much a coffin ship. So their skeletons interwoven as like through the seals there symbolizing the many Irish immigrants that didn’t survive their journey. If you’ve never heard the term coffin ship, it’s essentially a slang term what they used to call the ships because that is pretty much what they arrived as massive coffins. The amount of people, women, children that used to die in these ships was colossal. Hence why they call them the coffin ships. Now, in light of the famine theme, we are going to continue it by bringing you next to Dulock Valley, which is also known as the famine road. This drive, so before we even get there, the drive itself though is beautiful as you can see. And again, we are so freaking lucky. We hit great weather. Well, no, that’s not lucky. We don’t leave unless there’s good weather. So, [Music] But folks, leading up to the Doulath Valley here, I’m going to read to you exactly what is written on the Mayo Council website because it just puts it into words perfectly. The famine walk commemorates a tragedy that occurred during the height of the terrible famine the in the years of 1845 to 1849 in Ireland. In early spring of 1847, almost 400 starving adults children walked 10 miles from Lewisburg to Doolock in search of board of guardians who were meant to meet them in the Delelfi lodge. They had been given this direction from the relieving officer in Lewisburg as the sought food or a ticket to the workhouse. Needless to say, many of them perished on the return journey from fatigue, exhaustion, from hunger, everything that took hold of them. And some of those that had energy to start the journey back to Lewisburg were actually swept into the lake when heavy squalls hit. You imagine folks, this had no road here. These people had no very little clothes, no shoes. It is honestly heartbreaking. and the children that would have been on this as well. It’s very, as as beautiful as the scenery is, it’s a very sad history here, which is why they call this the famine road. Sometimes it’s difficult to think of how sad of a history it is here because it is so beautiful. You’re loving the look. Come on up here. Get a picture up there. Is that to commemorate the hungry poor who walked here in 19 sorry 1849 and walked the third world today. Oh and who walked the third world today? Freedom for freedom for South Africa 94. How can men feel themselves honored by the humiliation of other fellow beings? It’s very good. This is an extremely extremely horrible road. Yeah. Don’t quote me on this, but I know that a there’s a plaque. There was somewhere I seen this. Obviously cannot find this online, but apparently when people did eventually get to the Delelfy Lodge, you know, looking for food and and shelter, I believe the officers that were there had to stop eating their lunch to go out to them and tell them, “Sorry, turn back, go back the way you came.” It actually would infuriate any normal person. Like, it’s ridiculous. And again, where this is, you imagine the rain, the sludge, everything they would have had to walk through. Do you know what? You get what I’m putting down. It’s freaking sad. And the more you think about it, it make you sadder and and angry. But anyway, that’s the history behind it. But the view, you cannot beat this. This road is incredible. Myself, my dad, my mom have done this road many times between the bikes, cars, campers, you name it. It is stunning. [Music] On a lighter note, when me and daddy did this, we forgot there was people walking. So, normally there’s no one walking on this road. There never is. But they were doing the walk for Gaza and I don’t know even know where they began but they ended up in Lewisburg miles up the road. Like that’s a big walk and I wouldn’t even mind later on myself and dad end up in a pub and half of them ended up in the pub too with their tongues hanging out. That walk is massive folks. I don’t even think is understand. And that’s assuming this started in Lean. I don’t even know where they began. But anyway, next up we are going to go through Lena [Music] just there on the left. That’s where we came out of from the sheer pass. Where is it? Is it? Yeah, there. So that’s where we came down. And then so this is the second time we’ve been on this stretch of road. And if you are doing this road, do not let it fool you. You think you’ve got to the end and it just keeps going. It’s ridiculous. Because you’re going around that caleri fjord. There’s a lot more to it than you think. I promise you. [Music] Now there’s us coming into Lena. Now, we didn’t stop. We did just drive through. But for those of you that don’t know, Milan is the location. Do you remember the film The Field with the Bull McCabe? This is where it was filmed. And the field was somewhere up there to the left. That second pub to the left there, they have a picture of the Bull McCabe framed hanging above the fireplace. [Music] All right. Next up, we are heading to the the Caller Fjord viewpoint. Excuse me. Now, Caller Fjord is supposed to be Ireland’s only fjord, but there is arguments, however, that there is another two, which is Carolford Lock and Lock Swilly, but that’s an argument for other people. I couldn’t care less. Um, the story behind this as well, it’s also named as um the Devil’s Pass. So, according to legend, the devil created this pass by dragging Saint Rock over the mountains on a chain. There you go. Also, if you don’t know what a fjord is, a fjord is a long narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs at the side that’s been created by a glacier. So, learn something new every day. [Music] Last stop of the day. You’re going to see her over there. That, my friends, is Kyle Moore Abbey. It is deadly. Go to it. It’s also home of the Benedicting nuns. But of course, the abbey itself is massive. It’s huge. It’s got the abbey, the Victorian Stonewall gardens. It’s got a neo gothic church. It’s got a restaurant. You can do walks and trails around it. And of course, there’s our shop. Almost everything in that shop is handmade by the nuns from the products grown or rared around the abbey like their soap and lotions and jams and sauces and funny and whatever else you have. I don’t know if you can see it or not. Oh, is that the we we uh we cross up up there somewhere and people go up there in their bare feet for the crack. We want a head this time. I I’ll hold you a coat. So, we’re in Korea now. It is so hard on this whole day. This is the hottest day of the year. Cheers. It was 20 four and a half. I record 24 and a half today in that bag. I can hear people abroad laughing. I ain’t know that. That’s hot for us. Like we don’t do that. This is hot. Hot for us. Hot for us. I said that a couple good m some really good footage. Serious today. And we’ve done some seriously good footage. Yeah. Yeah. And she wouldn’t turn her camera off. She’s she’s not laughing. Just chip you. Do you know what? You keep on going cuz I’ve got you recorded of me telling you not to turn it on and you turn it on. Anyway, my chips empty. I have no other one with me. This could be a scarce ending. It’s going to be a very sudden ending. I’m not going to go into the history of the abbey because honestly it’s massive. You just read it up yourself. But what I will say is that the church that’s on the ground was built um it has marble pillars in it from the four regions of Ireland. So you have green from Konamara. There’s black from Kilkenny, red from Cork, and white from Terrone. But I’m pretty sure it’s actually from Arma. Don’t quote me, but I’m nearly sure. You know what? Rewatch our footage. And every time we say unreal, unbelievable. Don’t worry, we didn’t cuz we didn’t want to die. But that’s us heading back to Lewisburg now. And we are staying in the West View accommodation, folks. It was clean. It was tidy. I have no complaints, but it is definitely not suitable for bikes. Only we got talking to our we neighbor next door who allowed us to park in her drive. We had nowhere to put the bikes. So, it’s not exactly bike friendly, but a lovely we spot though. Right. He’s in the L. So, why am I whispering? He was in the L. So, I just showed you our room. It was just a we triple room. Like I said, clean, tidy, no complaints, very comfortable, but yeah, just not a great spot for parking the bikes. Hello. So, this in Lewisburg is where we’re staying for the night. And this chip shop, we’ve been here many times before and the grub is great. So, that’s us for a wee while you’re right. Not too much rock on the night either. No, we done a lot of stuff today. I know. A lot of stuff today, right? And still a bit more to go. Yes. Tomorrow. Loads. We’ll chat to you tomorrow. Happy hell. We accidentally fell into just rolled into it. Nice. Fantastic. Cheers. Cheers. Yay. There we go. This motorbiking is a tough iron job which look somebody has to do. They’re so full of crap.