A few weeks ago I started the Audax Ireland RRTY challenge once again. About a week or so later Donegal was put into Level 3 Covid restrictions for 3 weeks minimum. Part of the restrictions means we can’t leave the county except for essential travel. I have a couple of days booked off for next week and had planned to complete my October ride on one of those days which, unfortunately, is still within the Level 3 time period.

In 2017 when I was really getting interested in Audax I was playing around with a 200km route for a Permanent. I didn’t get it finalised or published but it gave me a good starting point for a route that would stay within the county boundary and would allow me to keep going with RRTY.

I’ve created a new route and I’ve ridden most of it already but there is a section from Newmills, around Letterkenny to Manorcunningham and then to Raphoe that I hadn’t been on before. Wednesday last week I decided to ride this section for my mid week spin.

To get there I went via Stranorlar and Drumkeen before turning off on to the long climb to Coravaddy that is part of the back road to Letterkenny. I’ve ridden this road before but not in this direction which gave me a new perspective on it, making it feel like a new road.

The completely new section from Newmills was a breath of fresh air. Despite being on minor rural roads the surface was pretty good with a lot of it having been recently replaced. After Manorcunningham I was relying completely on my GPS track but only had a couple of minor miscalculations. On the approach to Raphoe there is a really good climb which is rated as Cat 4 according to Strava. This is an enjoyable and challenging climb and could be interesting at this stage of a 200km!

After Raphoe I was back on familiar territory but once again I hadn’t ridden these roads in this direction. They’re a cracker this way and I’m looking forward to doing them again.

Overall there was a lot of climbing on this route but I really enjoyed the climbs. The highlight though was riding roads I’ve never been on before. Having been riding for over 6 years now it’s a real novelty to find new roads and be able to get to them from my front door.

Header image by Pixabay from Pexels.com