Ireland 2026 - Day 5: Clare to Galway
Waking up in our glamping pods the weather was bright and sunny, but the wind was to make an unwelcome return.
The plan for today was to ride up to the western tip of Connemara and stay in a coastal campsite. After a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs we then saw to the bikes; fixing a puncture in one and then adjusting the chain slack on two others. After settling up for our night’s stay we headed off north, with the plan to reach the coast in Connemara after riding along some coastal roads in the shadow of the Iorras Beag / Errisbeg mountain.
However the ride wasn’t going to go to plan and we needed to make another decision. Because there were a lot of miles to do on the interesting coastal/mountain roads we decided to take the motorway up to Galway to speed up this section, and then cut out west to the campsite near Clifden and enjoy the roads there. However by the time we got to to the motorway, after a short but lovely ride to Ennis, we could tell the wind was really high again today, and coming from the west! This thought ran through my head as we approached Galway and as we pulled into a service station with Marksies Food and Burger King I checked the weather report. I’d already emailed the campsite to ask if there were any sheltered spots we could camp in but they’d replied while we were on the road to say that they were busy so the sheltered spots had been taken.
With two damaged tents and not much of a desire to have another sleepless night in the wind, I suggested to the others that we instead book a place locally and online I found a small cottage with 4 bedrooms and parking for all of our motorbikes. I think it’s fair to say there was a bit of disappointment and a concern about spending more money when we’d already paid for the campsite, which I totally get. The campsite had a very strict no refunds policy and it’s not a cheap site so we would be paying twice for the night.
But as we considered things it was clear that this would give us a bit of respite for the night and a chance to avoid the weather which would have made life pretty tough out on the coast. So a short ride later we were pulling up to a lovely little cottage near Galway. The owners had left us a bottle of wine and lit the fire so it was already very cosy. We all felt really happy to be in a comfortable house for the night.
The girls decided to head into Galway for the evening although I was absolutely wiped out so I watched a little bit of TV then headed to bed.
Sometimes making a decision is important to avoid a situation you don’t want to find yourself in although sometimes it can come with a really pleasant outcome and I think we were all glad of that night in GiGi’s cottage. The weather the next day already looked good so we could enjoy the campsite we’d booked into for 2 nights anyway and the amazing roads were almost on our doorstep.
Stage Distance: 95 km (60 miles)
Overall Distance: 1171 km (728 miles)
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