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Unfortunately, this excellent route never made it into the second edition of Cycling in Ireland. My plan had been to include a significant number of gravel routes, however, shortly before I went to print I got cold feet and removed a number of them. The routes I removed crossed Coillte land and as, technically speaking cycling isn’t permitted on the Coillte estate outside designated areas, I was worried that there might be an issue with their inclusion.
Since publishing the book I have put some effort into improving access for cyclists on Coillte land, but there has been no progress (in fact things have got worse!). You can read about the background to the Coillte situation in this blog post.
However, I think some of the routes that I omitted are excellent and feel it would be a shame for them to just sit on my hard drive especially give that I believe the current access situation is unfair and misguided.
This route below features a really nice mix of tracks and quiet roads so please control your speed, anticipate the unexpected and slow right down for other trail users.
A relatively flat route which spends the majority on gravel tracks through remote terrain.
The Slieve Aughty hills cover a large area west of Lough Derg straddling the Clare/Galway border. Their gently rounded slopes are covered with conifer forests and bog and criss‑crossed with a network of quiet roads, boreens and gravel tracks.
This route, which is about 60% off‑road, connects as many of these gravel roads as possible. For the most part the going is good with well-compacted gravel and no long or steep climbs. It is best done anti‑clockwise, this gives a gentle start and an easy downhill finish.
The route starts on the roadside (52.9549, -8.5717) at the entrance to a forest (don’t block the gate). From the start you head north, climbing gradually on quiet roads. After 2.8km you leave the road briefly to take a shortcut along a farm track. Eventually the climbing eases the landscape become a little wilder and the surrounding hills and lakes come into view. A fast descent leads to a sharp left turn (this is the point at the which the shorter route turns right), and about 900m later you turn right onto the first gravel section, 4.75km of rolling, fairly smooth gravel. Rejoining the road you turn left and descend gradually for about 4km
About to cross Turkenagh Bridge
Just before Bleach Bridge you turn sharply right onto the second 6.2km gravel section, which marks the start of a very gentle climb, initially alongside the river, before crossing the bridge. Once past a few houses the surroundings become wilder.
Back on the road for 800m you then turn right back onto the gravel. After pass the farm buildings the track becomes rougher.
Once you hit the road start heading south, gently downhill. At the junction right onto Woodford Road and after 100m turn left onto the penultimate gravel section. At the time of writing (May 2023) a lot of this 9km section had just been resurfaced and the going was tough due to the chunky gravel and the climbs. Near the end of this section you meet the East Clare Way which you follow for the next 6km. After 100m on the road you left onto a boreen which runs across the southern slopes of Turkenagh Mountain, with views across the valley to the final section of the route.
Just after Turkenagh Bridge turn right onto a gravel track that climbs to the route’s high point on the forested northern slopes of Cappaghabaun Mountain before dropping down, a number of sweeping bends to the road and shortly after that back to the start.
Climbing up towards Cappaghabaun Mountain
This a remote route that doesn’t pass any shops or places to eat. The nearest village to the start/finish is Scariff, just 7km to the south. It has a good few options including the Garden Cafe on Main Street (52.9102, ‑8.5321).
The Slieve Aughty Mountains stretch north for another 15km beyond this route offering plenty of scope to extend this route to around 80km and 1000m of height gain. However, the percentage of gravel riding is a little less than the described route. It would be possible to take a shortcut after 8km (52.9952, ‑8.5774) that reduces the route to 20.5km with 310m of height gain.
The second edition of this guidebook includes 96 routes from across the island on a variety of surfaces including tarmac roads, gravel tracks, canal towpaths and singletrack.
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