Travel Life Summer 2017 - Digital

Photo courtesy of Tourism Authority of Thailand TREKKING KHAO SOK NATIONAL PARK TRAVELLIFE SUMMER 2017 | 49

Numerous tour operators run half- and full-day, as well as overnight, Kayaing in Surat Thani
trips in Khao Sok. Trails snake through the park and vary in length
and difficulty level, making it possible for a multitude of fitness levels
to enjoy a hike. The trail I’m on is a relatively flat one, but requires
some dexterity to maintain balance amidst a multitude of twisting
tree roots and grey-green, moss-covered rocks. Otherwise, the
moderately paced hike consists of gazing upwards as jagged rays
of sunlight cut through the dense jungle canopy or trying to catch
sight of a secretive gibbon (which are much easier to hear than spot).

The real adventure starts at the darkened mouth of Nam Talu cave,
our guide giving us the option to either wait at one end or head
inside. I, along with several others on our tour, choose to head into
the cave—and we are rewarded for our choice. Eerily beautiful
stalactites and stalagmites greet us at every turn, and at one point
we’re tasked with wading through a subterranean stream, at times
having to swim depending on water level. I’m exhilarated as we
make our way back to daylight, looping around to meet up with the
rest of the group. Along the way, we see frogs and snakes, long-tail
macaques, swinging happily from the tree canopy above, and insects
much larger than I’d like to admit exist. If you aren’t booking a tour
through your accommodation, you can also hire a local guide from
national park headquarters.

Photo courtesy of Tourism Authority of Thailand Courtesy of Our Jungle House, Khao Sok Rainforest

Our Jungle House, Khao Sok rainforest

Photo courtesy of Tourism Authority of Thailand

Photo courtesy of Tourism Authority of Thailand

Rafflesia flower Lantern bug

EVEN MORE WAYS TO EXPLORE IF YOU GO AND GETTING THERE

Guided canoe trips on Sok River are another great way to witness the park’s beauty. You aren’t It’s easy to get to Khao Sok by minivan, bus or airport
required to do much more than sit back and pay attention to wherever the guide points— transfer via your accommodation from Surat Thani (the
it will be something worth catching sight of, be it an iridescent butterfly gliding by, or a closest airport to the park), Phuket or Krabi, all of which
colourful hornbill perched on a tree branch. If you’re interested in paddling your own canoe are an easy flight from Bangkok.
(or kayak for that matter), the best place to do it is at Cheow Lan Lake.
You can stay right in the park, in rustic cabins directly
Depending on the season, river tubing is another option for adventure in Khao Sok. Tubing on Cheow Lan Lake, but I opted to bed down just
isn’t always possible during the dry season (roughly December to April) when the river levels outside the park. Our Jungle House was part of a
drop, but otherwise, it’s possible to hop into a rubber tube and ride it down the gently collection of chic, but minimalist, wooden bungalows
moving river, taking in the scenery as you float along. Helpful and observant guides ensure and treehouses, as well as a bar and restaurant, all of
you stay safe and don’t miss any wildlife that could be hiding just out of plain sight along the which sit on 25 acres of privately owned rainforest. I
riverbank. had an airy, mountain-view room, with a large veranda,
perfect for sipping post-hike beers and watching
If all the trekking, canoeing or tubing has you in need of some rest and relaxation, look monkeys swinging in the trees above.
no further than Nam Ron Hot Springs, located just outside the park. Fed and warmed via
underground spring, the large, body-warming baths are surrounded by jungle flora making a
long, quiet soak the perfect way to end an epic day in the park.

TRAVELLIFE.CA SUMMER 2017 | 50

TRAVELLIFE SUMMER 2017 | 51

EPIC ADVENTURES
GUYANA

TWAWTHHRHIEELIENDRGES

A trip through the
rugged Guyanese rainforest
reveals numerous wild species

BY MARK STEVENS
PHOTOS BY SHARON MAT THEWS-STEVENS

It’s dawn in a clearing at the Atta Rainforest Lodge in Guyana’s and a bright red serpent called a fire snake. We stop to move a
Irokrama Rainforest. I feel like I’m sitting in the sanctuary of an fallen tree to watch giant river otters.
emerald cathedral.
When my kids were young, they loved it when I read Maurice
A red-rumped agouti, a medium-sized rodent, strolls through the Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are to them. After the character
forest just behind me. On my way to breakfast, trees high overhead Max says: “Let the wild rumpus start,” a few pages just have
begin to flutter and a staff member points. “Red howler monkeys,” pictures. When we turned to those pages, I’d sing a little ditty
he says. I’d composed for the occasion.This ditty would be a constant
soundtrack to a week-long adventure courtesy of Wilderness
After breakfast, we begin a three-hour drive along a dirt road to Explorers, a Guyana-based tour company.
catch a flight from an “airport,” with a rustic hotel bar under the
trees that acts as a departure lounge (a spider monkey repeatedly Bordering Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname, Guyana’s name comes
descends from a nearby branch to check us out), where the from the Amerindian word for Land of Many Waters. But after a few
runway is red dirt and where the pilot of the six-seater plane we’re days here, you’ll be calling it the place “where the wild things are.”
about to board says “everything is good, but just in case, the
satellite phone is under my seat and the jungle survival kit is under Case in point: in Irokrama, a one-million-acre nature preserve, a
the next seat.” precarious walkway suspended in the canopy, high above the
forest floor, offers you a bird’s-eye view of the numerous species
Our driver slows down periodically. We check out turkey buzzards (nearly eight hundred) that make Guyana a birder’s must-do.

TRAVELLIFE.CA SUMMER 2017 | 52

When we hike through the forest bordering the Burro Burro River, I have a
close encounter with another snake. “Not poisonous,” says our guide with a
smile.

That night, in a grass-roofed roundel, snugged down at Surama Eco Lodge
in an Amerindian village, I check for uninvited guests. For here in Guyana,
nature is up close and personal.

Don’t like heights? March through the rainforest in search of an eagle called a harpy, English travel writer Chris Leadbeater once called Guyana “one of the
whose nest you might discover after a trek past incense and cashew trees, climbing over world’s most fascinating places to travel.” I call it the place “where the wild
the roots of skyscraper trees with trunks as big around as cars. You can’t miss the harpy’s things are.”
nest. It is three metres across and ten metres high. Or, clamber up a boulder-strewn
ridge in the Pakaraima Mountains in search of the cock-of-the-rock, a bright orange bird
boasting a distinctive and bizarre crested head.

Guyana is also a land of many waters as the country’s Amerindian name suggests. Some
of those waters, rivers with evocative names, like Essequibo and Demerara, actually form
part of the Amazon basin.

It’s possible to fly over unbroken jungle for four hundred kilometres, a vast emerald
carpet below you, and land beside a backcountry cascade called Kaieteur Falls, where
mist shrouds the jungle, where a rainbow hovers far below and where water plummets
straight down for more than two hundred metres, five times higher than Niagara Falls,
the biggest single-drop waterfall in the world.

Prowl the jungle butting up against this precipice and discover a tiny golden tree frog.
Negotiate paths skirting verdant, humid ravines and emerge at lookouts with vistas that
would make a politician weep.

It’s also possible to travel the Rupunini River in an aluminum runabout, following
another boat manned by researchers from the Macushi tribe in a quest to capture,
weigh and measure black caiman, the biggest members of the alligator family.

The night we embark on this adventure, not far from our eco lodge accommodations • Caribbean Airlines (caribbean-airlines.com) offers direct (though
at the Caiman House Field Station in Yupukari, located in the middle of a savannah not non-stop) flights from Toronto to Guyana.
Amerindian village, our guide turns off the motor for a while and we drift beside a • For more information on this country that’s both Caribbean and
four-metre caiman as the guide tells us that one killed his brother. He points at a nearby South American, visit guyana-tourism.com.
ridge, just visible in the dying light. “Last week a jaguar killed two cows on that very • To book one of the offerings of Wilderness Explorers, go to
spot.” wilderness-explorers.com.

During our stroll back to the lodge, our guide points to a tiny but pretty snake. TRAVELLIFE SUMMER 2017 | 53
“Coral snake,” he says, nudging it with a sandal-clad foot. “Poisonous, yes, but they are
very small.”

EPIC ADVENTURES
BRITISH COLUMBIA

SBinaadcthkdele

A return to Northern B.C.’s rugged, enchanting
Muskwa-Kechika area on horseback, which has
left a life-long impression

By Katharine Fletcher / Photos by Eric Fletcher

“Whoa! Second lunch!” Our guide, Wayne Sawchuk, women, joined Sawchuk and his wranglers— approached a wall of clouds filling a valley. “No?
reining in his horse Bonus, announces it’s time for Michelle Creegan-Dougherty and Alex Lepp—on Well, hafta turn back. Wonder if I have room.”
us riders to pause again during our day’s long ride. the second two-week segment of their summer
“This is a dandy spot to give our horses a break, expedition. We rode about 125 kilometres from We did.
where we’ll appreciate the view.” the Prophet River Camp (four and a half hours west
of Fort Nelson) to Tuchodi Lake, a four-and-a-half- We successfully landed at Prophet River Camp on
That’s typical Sawchuk talking, thinking of the hour jet-boat trip to Fort Nelson. day three. After a crazy landing on a narrow, short
animals’ welfare first. “A horse can sour if they’re excuse of a landing strip, we unloaded the plane,
worked too hard,” he explains. The entire trip started adventurously. We’d driven jam-packed with everyone’s two weeks of supplies.
our car—with a canoe strapped to the top—
So can riders, I’m thinking while I dismount, from Spiritwood, our Quebec-based farm, across Each guest is allowed to bring no more than 70
realizing my legs still function. After tying my Canada to our destination, Fort Nelson, on the pounds of gear (including two dinners to cook over
mare T’Suu to a tree, I find a spot where I stand, Alaska Highway. Here, we met our fellow riders at a campfire for everyone), all their own breakfast
then sit, snack, scan for wildlife, and embrace my Woodlands Inn. and lunch supplies (and those all-important treats),
insignificance amid the Muskwa-Kechika’s splendid bedding, clothes, toiletries, cameras, binoculars, art
vastness. Wherever we gaze, snow-clad mountains As you’d expect, pernicious anxiety mixed with supplies, books. Everything.
run to the horizon; alpine blossoms sway in fresh excitement: would we five get along? They’d all
breezes; sprawling turquoise rivers tumble; and been friends for years… Would we fit in? Stress As Villers disappeared, my heart sang. Finally we’d
sometimes, just sometimes, we spy boulders that waned while chatting over craft beer, delicious returned to our beloved Muskwa-Kechika. Eric and
slyly shape-shift into caribou. salads and burgers at Dan’s Neighbourhood Pub, I’d ridden with Sawchuk in 1999; the women were
where we discovered we were a well-matched, returning after riding here in 2015—another bond
The “M-K” is an area the size of Ireland in the outdoorsy group. for all five of us, who had lost our hearts to this
Northern Rockies region of British Columbia and landscape.
since 1998, Sawchuk spends summers leading It’s a good thing we were easy going, too. As
his string of horses through approximately 400 everyone knows, mountain weather can change Why is it so special? For us, it’s the wild, primal spirit
kilometres of it. In fact, he’s “the M-K guy”—an on a dime and we were trapped in Fort Nelson where rugged mountains and broad, rushing rivers
award-winning environmentalist who, since 1990, for two days. Our dry-humoured pilot Peter Villers with names, like Prophet, Muskwa and Tuchodi,
pursues his mission to preserve this backcountry attempted one fly-in, but swirling mist and rain grab our romantic hearts. It’s as close as most of
from resource development. forced a return. us get to feeling the true heartbeat of wilderness,
where we are nature’s guests.
For two weeks, my husband and I, plus three “Can you see anything, Eric?” he quipped, as we

TRAVELLIFE.CA SUMMER 2017 | 54

IF YOU GO

• Muskwa-Kechika (go2mk.ca)

• Northern Rockies BC Tourism
(tourismnorthernrockies.ca)

• BC TOURISM (hellobc.com)

• Fort Nelson’s Woodlands Inn
(woodlandsinn.ca)

• Muncho Lake’s Northern Rockies’
Lodge (northernrockieslodge.com)

Plus, the M-K’s a place of deep land for deer, moose, elk, grizzlies, When we met, wrangler Creegan- Fabulous Canadian cowboy
spirituality. As we ride, Sawchuk mountain sheep and more, we Dougherty assessed me, saying, “I’ll adventures
deciphers the land. With a sweeping honour those whose footsteps and give you my mare, T’Suu. She’s got Want to check out some other
gesture, he says: “We’re riding through hoofbeats we echo. I feel a deep a willing heart, but she’s young and awesome horseback trips? Here are
Zoo Valley—named for obvious resonance and connection to this needs steady, gentle encouragement. three of my top picks:
reasons.” He’s right. To our left, we land: it’s a part of me—a part I can I bet you’re the perfect fit.”
ride past two female grizzlies, one retreat to—when life gets stressful Saskatchewan’s La Reata Ranch
nursing triplets, the other, twins. To back home. We were. Whether we were (lareataranch.com)
the right, males oversee our progress. ascending moss-draped forests or Located south of Saskatoon,
Later, during a day of rest (Sawchuk’s Although we work hard, pitching our crossing turbulent rivers, plucky T’Suu German-born George Gaber
formula is two days riding and the own tents, looking after packing and won my trust and admiration. And, dreamed of owning a ranch like
third day rest) we hike up Love Lost unpacking the horses, we riders play I wager this threesome of wrangler- this and living the cowboy life.
Creek to a waterfall, where a bull hard, too, photographing, sketching guides will perfectly match you to He’s achieved his goals and here
moose roars, surprised by we five and hiking. And we don’t have to your steed, too. you’ll stay in a bunkhouse (separate
adventurers. Who was more shocked? worry about horseback riding skills. suites with ensuite bathrooms),
Likely the moose—Sawchuk passes “The main thing is fitness—and After 13 days of bonding, I was sad eat delicious home-cooked meals
through these trails only once a year, attitude,” says Sawchuk. “If you want to reach Tuchodi Lake, our final in the cookhouse, drink a brew in
so humans are rare here. to test yourself in remote wilderness, destination. Of course I was crying, Gaber’s very cool saloon and spin
if you’re okay being part of a team for disappointed to know the trip was tales of your day’s wonderful ride
On another day, during a third lunch two weeks, come along. It’s quite the over. However, the haunting serenity through prairie grasslands.
break, he explains we’re traversing ride.” of Tuchodi pulled me out of myself:
High Trail, the most ancient human we swam, pitched our tents, cooked Alberta’s Banff Trail Riders
pathway in North America, used by The King of Understatements is right. our last supper and chilled around the (horseback.com/rides/hourly-
First Peoples thousands of years ago Moreover, Sawchuk’s calm, sure- campfire. Suddenly, I gasped: there, a rides/) in Banff National Park
as they migrated from Asia. footed, athletic horses are friendly few metres away, a mule deer stood (pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/Banff )
gems. But, I admit: I’m always rather perfectly still while she regarded us, Ron Warner’s outfit offers a menu of
So, while riding and scanning the anxious about the horse I’ll get. before melting into the forest. expeditions, from hourly trail rides
and ride-to-lodge trips, to multi-day
The next day, packed and ready, we camping expeditions. I’ve ridden
waited for the jet boat’s return ride with them six times—evidence
downriver to Fort Nelson. Hardly of my love of riding into Banff’s
anyone spoke, everyone soaking up spectacular backcountry. Want a
their last M-K moments. special, heritage cabin experience?
Ride to Sundance and Half-Way
My advice is to go for it. Lose your lodges, where cooks prepare your
heart to the wild, just like we’ve done. food and bunks or beds await.
We’ll be back.
Alberta’s Alpine Stables
(alpinestables.com/)
Ride into Waterton Lakes National
Park (pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/ab/
waterton). Choose a trail ride to
view spectacular Waterton Lake
or, do what Eric and I did, riding
for three days into the Park. Learn
how First Nations traded buffalo
hides and dried meat through
challenging mountain passes, and
ascend steep trails to witness a sea
of ridges.

TRAVELLIFE SUMMER 2017 | 55

EPIC ADVENTURES
IRELAND & GERMANY

oSneetwEourwohpeeels
Consider cycling your way through
a country—or two!—on your
next European jaunt. Here, we
profile two pedal-worthy
destinations.

GREENWAY, IRELAND: The world-class Great Western Greenway, a traffic-free cycling and walking PHOTO BY MARIA JANUS
trail that follows the route of the renowned Westport to Achill railway, closed in 1937.

GermanyPAYING HOMAGE TO 200 YEARS OF CYCLING HISTORY
CELEBRATING A MILESTONE BIRTHDAY ON GERMANY’S BIKE TRAILS, WHICH ENTICE YOU WITH CASTLES,
GARDENS AND WHITE ASPARAGUS

BY CHRIS RYALL

Two hundred years ago, German bicycle inventor Karl Drais could never have imagined a Schwetzinger Relaishaus (coach inn).
world with dedicated bike lanes, multi-speed racers, electricity-powered bikes and
form-fitting Lycra and spandex wear. As I snapped on my bike helmet, I thought back to Drais and his challenges, but I had
many of my own to face.
Born in Karlsruhe, in what is now the federal republic state of Baden-Württemberg in
Southwest Germany, Drais was an aristocrat and inventor. He sought a transportation Here I was in Mannheim, ready to embark on a similar journey, trying to recreate the
alternative to the horse and buggy. The glory Drais felt trying out a new mode of
economy was in dire straits at the time and transportation. But for me, the goal was much
people were forced to slaughter their only simpler—survival. I’m out of my comfort
means of transportation: their horses. zone on a bicycle. At 54, the physically fit days
of my teens have given way to decades of
Drais, while residing in nearby Mannheim, half-hearted attempts to stay in shape. I pull
up my padded spandex biker shorts that I was
invented what would be considered advised to buy for this trip and throw on track
pants overtop. It’s a chilly five degrees Celsius
a very primitive bicycle in 1817. The and I wouldn’t dare reveal my spandex-clad
body (looking more like a sausage in too small
Draisine—also known as a “Laufmaschine” a casing) to the eyes of Germany’s very fit
or “Running Machine”—had no gears, population.
chains or even foot pedals. Riding it was
My fellow group of cyclists, one male and five females, all from the U.S. greeted me
challenging and uncomfortable because it warmly. We would be spending the next five days cycling around the cities of Mannheim
and Karlsruhe, following trails and secondary roads to the towns of Schwetzingen and
was made of wood and you had to use your City of Heidelberg - Photo by Chris Ryall Heidelberg, squeezing in visits to lush gardens, baroque castles and fascinating museums
own legs to pedal forward. However, the along the way.

Laufmaschine was the first mode of transportation that was two-wheeled and did not

require the use of an animal.

Despite the physical effort it took to ride and the uneven landscape, on June 12,
1817, Drais travelled almost 14 kilometres in less than an hour from Mannheim to

Day one leads us to Mannheim to explore the culturally diverse city Mannheim, is the starting point of the scenic 1,200-kilometre Castle wheeled transportation for a simpler mode: two feet. “Mark Twain”
known as the capital of German pop music and the Quadratestadt Road (die Burgenstrasse), which runs West to East, all the way was our Heidelberg walking tour guide. Twain spent three months
(city of squares), with letters and numbers replacing street names in to Prague, stringing together 90 castles and ruins, Neckar Valley, here in 1876, while he wrote parts of Huckleberry Finn. Heidelberg is
its city centre. Among its most famous landmarks are the imposing mustard seed fields and medieval towns. Castle signposts keep a city full of students—they actually make up almost one-third of
18th century Water Tower, with its meticulously manicured gardens you on track, though as our group found out, the trails, if one is not the city’s population—and they tend to get in trouble sometimes.
and soaring fountains, and the elongated Mannheim Baroque observant, can lead you astray. We had lost our way en route to the We visited the notorious, graffiti-clad 18th century Student Prison.
Palace, the second largest castle in Europe after Versailles. town of Schwetzingen. It was a badge of honour to land in jail.

First we bike to the renowned Technoseum, where we find a replica Much debate followed between Chris, who had downloaded maps It was only fitting we finish our trip in Karlsruhe, the birthplace
of Drais’1817 invention, as well other examples of bikes through on his phone, and our tour leader Victoria. Meanwhile, Katie and I of Carl von Drais. We proudly stood by the statue honouring his
history that are in a special exhibition. Looking at some of the had cycled ahead until we realized the rest of the group was MIA. invention of the bicycle. Drais never lived to see the success of his
rudimentary examples of the first bikes, my groin is thankful I live invention, but helped spur on other transportation innovators, like
in modern times. GPS may be useful in big cities, but we discovered it can’t always be Carl Benz and the Wright Brothers.
relied upon for navigating paths through fields and along rivers. At
Feeling adventurous, I inelegantly climb up on an 18th-century times we ended up on highways as transport trucks and cars sped My pre-trip worries that my out-of-shape body would not be able
velocipede and crown my achievement by donning a traditional by, leaving us in their dust. to handle the multi-day cycling trip were unfounded. Thankfully,
black top hat, smiling for the requisite picture. As I dismount, I Germany has constructed a network of paths, trails and designated
almost tip over the massive front wheel. Thankfully, no pictures Reaching Schwetzingen, we took a tour of the impressive cycling lanes both in the cities and countryside, which are flat for
were taken of that. Schwetzingen Palace Gardens that would rival those at Versailles. the most part, making it accessible for any fitness level. The Castle
Sculptures were scattered across the palace grounds, including Road fills the lens with vibrant forest green, flurries of yellow and
After a day crisscrossing the city and along the Neckar River (a Rhine the Apollotempel. Walking around it was a cultural feast, with every other colour imaginable as you cycle past century’s-old castles
tributary that stretches 367 kilometres), replenishing the body with architecture and designs featuring touches of Italy, Rome, Turkey and through medieval towns. Taste buds delight in a bounty of
calorie-rich food and drink is in order. We stop for a decadent and Germany. flavours, from white asparagus and spaetzle, to local sweet wines
dessert at the famous Eis Fontanella, inventor of Spaghetti Ice and award-winning wheat beers.
Cream, made through a well-chilled latex press to make the “pasta.” After generous helpings of white asparagus dishes, something this
Creamy fatness. Later that evening, I expanded my tummy with region is famous for, we continued on to Heidelberg, approximately Drais’legacy lives on two hundred years later. This trip motivated
copious amounts of schnitzel and German wheat beer at the historic 10 kilometres away. Directional challenges ensued and we found me to get on a bike again, and despite a few too many sausages and
Eichbaum Brewery. ourselves lost again getting out of Schwetzingen. With the clock wheat beers, I still lost a few pounds in the process. Who knows,
ticking and storm clouds forming overhead, my body began to maybe one day I will get to the point of being able to wear spandex
After the gentler first day of cycling, where I managed to keep pace protest the extended time in an unnatural position and wanted bike shorts in public without shame!
and even lead the pack at times, the next day we make our way to nothing more than some quality hot tub time. We ventured on to
Heidelberg. The Tour de France this was not, and no blood doping or Heidelberg, a beautiful baroque-style town on
steroid injections were required for the pace at which we rode. the banks of the Neckar and Rhine rivers, with

Heidelberg Castle - Photo by Chris Ryall

A bike garden in Mannheim - Photo by Chris Ryall For info on Baden-Württemberg: tourism-bw.com/
Bike rentals
But when your body hasn’t experienced long bike rides in decades, its historic Heidelberg Castle towering above and home to VRN in Mannheim: vrnnextbike.de/en/mannheim and
anything more than a few kilometres proves challenging. Heidelberg University (Germany’s oldest) dating back to 1386. MK Bikes in Karlsruhe: mkbikes.de
Accommodation
With overcast skies and temperatures in the single digits, many of Rain greeted our arrival. We were a dishevelled, wet and tired group Royal Leonardo Hotel City Centre in Mannheim:
the ladies seemed dressed more for a Canadian winter than a bike as we checked into Heidelberg’s premiere and family-run property, leonardo-hotels.com/leonardo-hotel-mannheim-city-
tour through Germany. No athletic, form-fitting wear today. Europäischer Hof. The next day, we were happy to forego our two- center
Europäischer Hof in Heidelberg:
europaeischerhof.com/
Hotel Eden in Karlsruhe: eden-ka.de/en/

TRAVELLIFE SUMMER 2017 | 57

Great Western Greenway - Photo courtesy of Tourism Ireland

IrelandPEDAL POWER

IRELAND’S GREAT WESTERN GREENWAY PROVIDES A PERFECT PATH FOR A TWO-WHEELED ADVENTURE

BY LISA JACKSON

I’m surrounded by sheep.

Just before the bridge, my pathway is blocked by a posse of white and black sheep. Some graze along- breathtaking views of Clew Bay. I awake at dawn to a stunning sunrise, just as crimson and orange
side the road, others laze directly on the path, sunbathing. It’s like the Three Billy Goats Gruff, minus the hues streak across the sky, and step outside to inhale the fresh sea air. A layer of mist hangs over a long
troll. I slow my pedal to a halt, contemplating my next move. stretch of golden sand, and at this early hour, there’s only the sound of waves lapping the shore.
“Shoo!” I yell. “Go on, move!”
After a hearty breakfast, the cycling company arrives with our
One big-horned fellow stares at me defiantly with beady rented equipment. We get a crash course in operating gears
eyes, chewing on a stick of grass like a mob boss. This isn’t and brakes, and are fitted for helmets and fluorescent vests. But
working. How will I cross the bridge? where are the locks?

On a whim, I let out a loud bleat, and this seems to resonate “Don’t worry about that,” says the bike deliverer, waving his
with the pack. A few scamper into the meadow, while the hand. “You could leave them out front with a sign that says,
boss saunters off the path. Apparently, I’m fluent in sheep.
‘take me,’and no one would. It’s not the big city!”

This is just one of many wild wonders along the Great I wheel my bike to the hotel’s rear, which directly connects with
Western Greenway—the longest off-road walking and the Greenway. I’m starting at the trail’s halfway point, since I’m
cycling trail in Ireland. Almost anyone can independently no pro cyclist and unsure of the challenge that this trail poses.
cycle this defunct railway-turned-traffic-free route, which spans 42 kilometres one way past seaside However, the smooth pathway is a cinch to pedal, even for families. Several kilometres into the ride, I
towns and along the scenic Wild Atlantic Way in Western Ireland. The road is mostly flat with gentle pass a husband and wife team pulling two children in a buggy strapped to the backs of their bikes.
hills, making the Greenway popular among pro cyclists and amateurs alike. Best of all, it offers
flexibility: the excursion can easily be done as a day outing or split over multiple days with a hired “Why are you slower than her, Daddy?” asks one kid, as I zoom by.
pickup service.
“Because she’s not pulling a small child who asks lots of questions,” he says, wiping beads of sweat from
I opt for a day trip, starting my journey from the Mulranny Park Hotel, a historic Victorian estate with his forehead.