BikeE In Arklow, Ireland

Submitted by Robin Parkes

I have been traveling to Arklow in County Wicklow for my holidays for many years. I always take my bike with me as the roads are fun to ride not to mention fantastic scenery. In 2001 my son, Robert, wanted to come with me so I put the two bikes in the car and we had a great holiday. We covered just over 100 miles in three rides. Now it's 2003 and I am on a BikeE while Robert is still on a wedgie. How will I cope? I did better than I had expected. The weather was good most of the time. It was raining on the first day (Thursday) and despite that we headed out for a run. We did 12 miles and enjoyed it despite being soaked through. We stopped at the local bike shop and the reaction was 'that looks so comfortable'. 

Ride No. 1:

We had been in Wicklow town in 2001 so I thought it would make a good destination again. On Friday we rode out through the Vale of Avoca past the Meeting of the Waters, a place immortalized in verse by the Irish poet Thomas Moore.

We then passed through Rathdrum where Charles Stewart Parnell, the Blackbird of Avondale, lived. There is a lovely park where we stopped the last time we visited the place. We then headed for Wicklow via the village of Glenealey. The roads would be classed as narrow in America but they were wide enough for us not to feel threatened by any passing traffic.  Motorists, lorry and bus drivers were all very courteous and always slowed down and passed wide of us. We had to negotiate a roundabout and Robert had the sense to stay close behind me and we were on the last leg of our journey to Wicklow town. We had a long line of traffic behind us so we pulled over to let them by while I decided where to go next. We went to the shore and it couldn't be nicer. The fishing boats were returning to the harbour and the sun was shining out of a clear blue sky. We stayed there for quite a while.  Then we went out by the coast road up a long hill toward Brittas Bay. A stretch of the road had just been resurfaced with stones and bitumen but most of the cars passed by slowly. We were able to refill our bottles from a drinking water tap at Brittas. We then continued on to Arklow. The terrain was varied. The steepest of the hills was coming out of Wicklow but there were others bad enough. I could never climb very well even on a wedgie so I have a ready made excuse with the BikeE. It is slow for I am slow but I can pass Robert on a downhill - freewheeling!!! We arrived in Arklow and rode up through the town to where we were staying.  40 miles and a feeling of satisfaction. We met but never got talking to a lot of cycle tourists for Robert was so far ahead. I'd have loved to have stopped for a yarn. There were two, most likely English, on Bromptons that looked neat and a number of Dutch roadsters.

Ride No. 2:

We were not up to riding on Saturday - not enough miles in the legs - so come Monday I had another ride planned.  It was supposed to be 30 miles but turned out to be another 40 miles. We rode our through the Vale of Avoca to Woodenbridge and then inland past Aughrim to Carnew. More newly surfaced roads but a bit cleaner this time. Aughrim to Carnew was 21 km (13 miles in real money) Confusingly the Republic changed from miles to kilometers on the road signs but the speed limits are still in miles. We had a long drag to contend with up to the Kilcavan Gap. A friendly tourist took a photo of the both of us there. The scenery was nice, rolling hills and a patchwork quilt of fields. We went on to minor roads for the last ten miles after Carnew. The roads  were so narrow that any vehicle that tried to pass us had to go very slow. The hills just got too steep for me and I walked for the first time since I got the BikeE. I had warned Robert about one bad one and he was prepared for it but I had forgot another one. I found that I could push the BikeE up a hill just as fast as I could have ridden it. We were glad to get back for it was a hard ride. We did have a nice downhill run to finish with.

I found out that the BikeE is as unique in Southern Ireland as in Northern Ireland. I think I would enjoy it more if Robert was on a BikeE as well for he is too fast but at least he waits for me at a road junction when he is not sure where to go. I enjoyed the rides and was up to the challenge. It was the first time I had taken the BikeE on holiday and it fitted inside my estate car after taking the seat off and lowering the handlebars.