A few quick photos I took while riding
this route,
Lap the Lough 2008.
The ride is 87 or so miles around Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland. It's the biggest freshwater lake in the British Isles, about 20 miles long and maybe 10 wide.
The event is run by Castle Hill CC; sponsorship (and free tubes
) from Chain Reaction Cycles. And well run it was.
The gathering begins at Kinnego Bay marina. The weather is unexpectedly good (it's been a very wet and dull summer in NI this year), and the water is calm:
The gathering begins:
Custom Irish ti bling:
There was a lot of carbon on display, but a fair smattering of mountain bikes and one or two commuters. Given the lack of hills on the ride, I was very surprised that there were no fixies - it would have been ideal.
These guys were gathering too, in order to close off all the junctions en route
They did a great job; I didn't have to stop once at any junctions. No doubt to do this elsewhere in the UK the police would have to be involved, the health and safety aspects would have to be considered... here they just get on with it. Not a policeman in sight the whole way round
We set off clockwise around the Lough. The lough is fed by the River Bann, which runs from the Mournes in the south east of Northern Ireland, into the southern end of the lough, and out of the top and northwards to the sea. So first we had to move away from the shore to Portadown to get over the river, and then we returned to the lough to begin our run up the western shore. Portadown and environs caused a lot of Chainreaction's free tubes put to good use due to locals' bottle disposal techniques but we were soon into some great lanes. We had a tailwind from the south so made good time to a water stop at the footbridge at Maghery, which takes us across what I think must be the Blackwater river as it enters the lough:
Flat boggy country around here. Peat:
And lots of apple orchards too but I didn't manage to catch a pic.
On upwards to the first proper water / food stop at Ballyronan. My bike looking naked without its mudguards:
It's quite difficult to capture the size of the lough as my photography skills and camera are not really up to it, plus you are never very high above the lough.
So now we are curling around the top of the lough towards Toome, where the Bann emerges from the Lough so that we cross it again. Not totally sure what these structures are across the river, I'm sure Seamas will fill us in:
Now it begins to get a little harder as the help from the tailwind reduces and I for one begin to suffer a little for keeping up with the roadies. But it's not far to Antrim and the main food stop of the day. Excellent job done for what must have been 400 or 500 cyclists - plentiful sandwiches, biscuits and proper tea. I cannot recommend the combination of bibshorts and mobile toilets though... I think someone thought I needed rescuing at one stage.
Round the top and down towards Crumlin and Aghalee, more familiar territory for me. The route deviated away from that given on the organiser's Googlemap a couple of times - I can only assume this was due to recent floods. No matter, for the most part we stuck fairly close to the shore. I really like some of this stretch where it runs close to the lough. Signs of severe bungalow blight
since I was last along here but it's still a beautiful part of the world:
A ? heron pokes his head up in this shot:
Family enjoying the first sunny day in a while...
If I ever get a house in the country I'll have a goat or two.
That's all I have for now!
Thanks all for a great ride
