The wicklow mountains is the largest mountain range in the country which offers the outdoor enthuasiast lots of adventure activities such as, mountain biking, hillwalking, kayaking, rockclimbing and much more. Due to its unique landscapes and stunning scenery, wicklow is known as the “garden of ireland” and is only a 50 minute commute from dublin city centre to the heart of the wicklow mountains. As a daytripper or weekend break to get away from it all, wicklow has many varieties of accommodation such as hostels, b&bs and hotels that overlook many of the famous attractions such as glendalough, powerscourt waterfall, roundwood village, and lough tay to name a few. There are regular day trip tours from dublin city centre that stop along the way of some of the most famous sights that county wicklow is known for, glendalough, lough tay, braveheart drive, and michael collins drive. The st. kevin bus company offers a great service from dublin city centre to glendalough as a daily service.
We at TrackandTrail.ie offer the daytripper, backpacker or holiday maker a wide option of adventure activities in the wicklow mountains such as, mountain biking, bike hire, guided bike tours, rockclimbing, hillwalking and much more at great prices for 2012. We are a mobile adventure activities company based in roundwood, co. wicklow that is very unique in what we provide for the customer, and offer a great day out with an experience you will take home with you.
Contact us now for more information on our activities!
Have you ever wanted to try mountain biking in co. wicklow but dont know where to go?
As a beginner to the sport it can be confusing of where you can actually ride your bike in the wicklow mountains area. There are many coillte forrests that are out of bounds to mountain bikers and can only be used if a permit is required for various races and events. There is only one permitted public mountain bike trail in co. wicklow which is the very popular, ballinastoe mtb trails, located outside the village of roundwood and covers over 14kms of offroad singletrack for everyone to enjoy for free.
If you like funky fun singletrack trails, then ballinastoe trails is the best place. Forest road climbs lead you into tight twisty singletrack with loads of ups and downs, tight turns and technical rocky bits. The waymarked loop includes long climbs and descents over a wide variety of sometimes difficult terrain on trails that are only suitable for mountain bikes i.e. bikes with 26inch wheels, knobbly tyres and flat handlebars.
Roughly 9km of the waymarked loop is singletrack and these sections are narrow, sometimes steep trails of not more than 1m in width. On these sections, you will also experience variable surfaces including rocks, mud, roots, loose stones and gravel and they may become slippery in wet weather.
The remaining 5km of the waymarked loop are forest roads, which are wide gravel roads and tracks with variable surfaces including loose gravel and pot holes. You should expect to encounter vehicles at any time on these parts of the loop. The waymarked loop accesses high and sometimes exposed ground in remote situations and both bike and rider should be prepared for any eventuality. If you dont have a mountain bike with front suspension and in good working order thats needed for the ballinastoe mtb trails there are local biking companies that offer bike hire and beginner coaching sessions to help you to the next level.
We at TrackandTrail.ie are mobile adventure sports company specialising in mountain bike lessons and bike hire in the wicklow area so we deliver bikes to you!
Track and Trail.ie have now launched their new 2012 all new cycling holiday packages around the amazing scenery of the wicklow mountains. We offer customers various packages to choose from, so whether your looking for a 1 day, or multi-day bike tours of the wicklow mountains we have the best cycling packages at great rates. All our guided bike tours take in some of the nicest scenery in the wicklow mountains, Powerscourt waterfall, Glendalough (monaistic site, round tower), Sally Gap (highest road in ireland), Roundwood village and much more. Each bike tour can vary on road and off road trails depending on each customers needs so we have all the appropiate bikes for your bike tour. We organise all accommodation, bikes and all other equipment so you can relax and get the most from your experience in the surrounding scenery of the wicklow mountains and national park.
So why not contact us know for more information on our guided bike tours of wicklow.
Transition year students from Colaiste Cois Life secondary school got to try out some adventure activities, including Mountain Biking skills, Archery, Team Building/Games and more.
As part of our new adventure education programme for schools, students from Colaiste Cois Life will get to participate in a range of outdoor adventure activities like Rockclimbing, Hillwalking & Navigation, Offroad Mountain Biking, Orienteering, Gaisce hillwalking and much more!
This is a short film made by some young Mountain Bikers who are also doing a film course and decided to make a short documentary on Irish MTB and the growth of it.
Well worth a watch even for the non biker. I really think mountain biking could be Ireland’s next big tourist attraction if Scotland or Wales is anything to go by.
Anyway enjoy the show and if you like it drop them a positive comment on their Facebook page Here.
As part of our week long mountain bike skills programme we had 19 youths involved in bike maintenance, bike handling skills, as well as social skills for each youth. Students were presented with a certificate of merit for their hard work and dedication to this course.
Have a read of our article from the Wicklow People newspaper!
Over 90,000 bicycles have been purchased since the scheme started in 2009. Over 50 new bike shops have been established and 767 jobs have been preserved and created.
This is great news for the sport while supporting local bike shops and employees in this sector.
Fantastic day being able to facilitate AIB with our mountain bikes on their corporate team training day which took place from Kippure to Blessington Lakes. It was an early start for some as we went through the demo and safety talk on the bikes and equipment. As a part of their corporate challenge, the team set off on their journey having to navigate and reach key controls before rendezvous with their pick up at Blessington Lakes.
Well what a great day we had biking in the surrounding hills of Glendalough Valley and National Park with a fantastic bunch of lads from Holland. We started off in Laragh village and after a nice climb up we made our way up onto the lower region of Derrybawn Mountain which then linked up to the Wicklow Way, taking in amazing scenery of the Glendalough valley.
From here on it was all downhill, stopping off at Poulanass Waterfall and taking in the Upper Lake before we rode up higher into the valley to take in the sights of the Glenealo River and Old Miners Village. To finish the bike tour off we took it nice and easy riding back down to Laragh village through the grounds of Glendalough National Park and finishing at Lynhams Pub.
Great day to be had all round with a fantastic bunch of lads!
'Had a great time on the Ergo outing. Interesting challenges and great to do some orienteering once again. The bad weather might have dampened our gear but not our moods. It was a great day out!'
John Corkery
www.ergogroup.ie
