Steve Kidd Cycling Trips and Guides
Steve Kidd Cycling Trips and GuidesA sweet little end-note to an Irish holiday, I wanted to make sure I was on the 11:30 AM ferry from Belfast, so I did this camping overnight about 10 km from Burr Point and 40 km from the docks, and it worked out perfectly, ticking off the most easterly point in Ireland in the process. The ride was so pleasant that the headwind didn't really matter (there were a few too many cars though).
Once again, there is no point slavishly following any given route on this peninsula, it is hard to get lost and Google Maps copes perfectly with it, other than, in a lot of the coastal towns, the quay road can be really pleasant. The Ards Peninsula has a road that goes, by and large, along the coast, overlooking the Irish Sea on the east side, and Strangford Lough on the west, in addition to the web of smaller lanes which criss-cross it. I did not explore the southern section, but I would imagine it only gets better.
My particular sojourn started in Bangor, with a most excellent wrap and cuppa for only £3 in Harvard's, half way down the hill on your right in the town center. Avoiding the showers was easy enough, following the coast was simplicity in itself. (Coincidentally a deal of the road is the A2, the self-same road that I travelled on between Malin Head and Derry).
The most difficult aspect of navigation was actually finding what part of Burr Point was the most easterly. There is a plaque which marks it, but I am 100% sure this plaque is significantly north (let's say 200m) of where it should be. Whatever, pick your way over the rocks and you will get there eventually.
I crossed the peninsula (it only takes half an hour) and camped behind the boat club at Kircubbin, overlooking Strangford Lough, down to The Mountains of Mourne in the South and Scrabo Tower in the north. Once again, if you are not fussy there are a zillion places to camp overnight, but this was kind of just right, with a single can of cider and a packet of hobnobs (Tip: don't use a banana for a pillow)
The town of Newtonards was half way to Belfast, the ride back is easy, with one hill before Belfast, a ride past Stormont, through Knock, past Loyalist murals and close to Harland and Wolff shipyards. I could have stayed and watched a parade, but the local bobby I asked didn't think it was "mad" so it was back over the River Lagan to Stenna Line and home.
Bangor - Burr Point - Belfast, 28th/29th August
2015, Distance > 80 km / 50 miles