Bicycle Touring Ireland: Ballymena to Newry

Life after sepsis and back to bicycle touring, my latest update: cycling in Ireland, Ballymena to Newry. 57 Miles. That was a hard day at the office! That wind has been relentless again, hopefully tomorrow it’ll have eased off, or at least changed direction!

I started the day off on a very busy dual carriageway, which really wasn’t much fun, even by my standards. I thought it was busy! It was then that I decided to give Belfast a miss! I couldn’t think of any reason to go there, and it would be a nightmare getting in and out, if the road I was already on was anything to go by!

After that initial start on busy roads, I soon found some quieter ones, although I still had that headwind!

Along The Newry Canal

To be honest, I’d had enough about 20 miles back and was even going out of my way to find a campsite! But then I came across the Newry canal way, which was going in the direction that I really wanted to go! So balls to the campsite, I started to follow the canal and had a pleasant cycle for the last 20 miles.

The canal has fallen into disrepair and is no longer navigable, but they’ve made good use of the old tow path and made it into an excellent cycle/walking route!

Now I know that I can be a bit slow sometimes, both mentally and physically! But I’ve been wondering why it’s been taking me so long to get anywhere these past two days, wind aside that is. The road signs are all in miles, not kilometres! 20 miles is considerably more than 20 kilometres! I should be back in the Republic of Ireland tomorrow, and back to kilometres!

Life After Sepsis: Ireland Bicycle Tour Information

• • Photos: See my photos on Flickr
  • The route: My route to Ireland and back
  • Videos: Check out my YouTube videos
  • Tour page: Ride overview

Follow & Support

If you’re enjoying the ride and want to fuel my next mile, you can always support me by buying me a beer. Or subscribe to my blog and follow me as I travel around on my bike. As a subscriber, you’ll be among the first to receive news and updates on future tours. And, of course, you can always follow me on social media: Facebook, Bluesky, Threads, X, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. I’m also on Flickr, where you’ll find pictures from all my tours, along with regular photo updates that I generally publish each month.

If you want to find out if I’m away touring at the moment and check my location, visit the Where’s Garry page. And for an insight into the gear and logistics that keep me on the road, see my Life at 10mph Guide.