Part 3: From Ballycastle to the Sligo border by road bike. I chose my road bike for this section of the trail because it follows quiet country roads and only at the end does it use walking or mountain bike surfaces. I started where I left off the last day, at the picnic spot just […]

Part 2: From the Bothy at Srahmore to Ballycastle The trip is 54 kilometres long with 620 metres of climb. The climbing is well spaced with a long descent to Ballycastle and sea level at the end. It took me 7 hours at roughly 8 kph. I stopped on many occasions to talk to people […]

This account is about my adventures on the Western Way in 2016 on my mountain bike. I have been involved with the Western way since its beginning sometime in 1993, route finding, mapping, writing a guidebook, and most importantly walking the trail and leading others along the way. My wife Pauline has also long been […]

Cycling the Keenagh Loop 46 KMS 580 Metres height Gain I have completed this loop many times but never written about it before. I start from Knockmoyle where I live, but Newport would be a good place for a visiting cyclist. Invariably I cycle in an anti clockwise direction, why I don’t really know, perhaps […]

It was still dark outside as I sat in my sister in laws kitchen, in Swords, north county Dublin, stuffing myself with pasta followed by banana bread and tea. On time I headed for the M50 motorway and looped around to Heuston railway station, what a great idea I thought, a nice car park in […]

The Táin Trail Cycle For a few years now I have been talking about cycling the Táin Trail. The idea first arose when I was crossing the country with a Sierra club outing. Ian Schill, the sierra leader, noticed a Táin Trail sign and asked me about it. I told him the story and about […]

This is the trail followed by Queen Maeve of Connacht as she set about her great cattle raid to Cooley in north Louth. Her intention was to bring home the Donn Cuailgne the Brown Bull of Cooley.  Queen Maeve is a mythical figure, a warrior queen who according to her name intoxicates those whom she […]

My first memory of my own involvement with the society must be from the late 1950’s. I remember a Miss Keane who taught me in Donabate national school bidding me to carry a message to father Moynihan the priest in Donabate. He was Donabate Dramatic society. What made it so unique is that it was […]

Most of my writing life has been taken up with history and heritage, guide books for hikers and serious historical studies, factual stuff not requiring a free and fanciful imagination. Before I get to that freewheeling imagination let me tell you something of myself. I was born in the first half of the twentieth century, […]

I just got this message from my sister Mary and extend it to all my friends and acquaintances. Joe McDermott We are hosting a get together in Howth Yacht Club on Saturday 4th October 2014 to celebrate the publications of Pauline and Joe McDermott. These will include Joe’s novel Sheegorey and Pauline’s forthcoming Queen Maeve […]