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Issue 5 • 2015
£2.95
Careless
map-reading
The Great
Mistake:
FRAMES AND
FOOD:
AN
INTERVIEW
WITH AWARD-
WINNING
DANI FOFFA
THE END
OF AN
IRISH JIG:
MORE
FROM
HISTORIC
ULSTER
Cheshire
a family
hack in
Products & Tech • A last taste of winter in the Dales
W
E
LC
O
M
E
Welcome to Seven Day Cyclist, March 2015
I am trendy. This is not official. However, it seems that I am or rather that
I do something which is “the latest trend.” Anyone who knows me will
recognise that this is the first – quite probably the last – time in my life
that the epithet “trendy” will be applied to me or what I do.
Many of you, too, are included in this. Ever carried all the gear for
camping, or hostelling or moving on each day or every now and again?
Then you are it! Bikepacking is the “latest trend” in cycling. This was
relayed to me, though he too had been equally surprised to hear it, by
Peter Bird, renowned frame and bicycle builder, currently joint owner of
Bicycles by Design.
So, there we are. There are a lot of bikepackers about. Take a look at the
web and you’ll find all sorts of blogs by cyclists carting their gear on their
bikes around the world, across continents, on LeJoG, away from home
for a year, a month, a week or a weekend. Whether all of these are aware
that we are all spearheading a major cycling trend is not known to me.
However, it is good to see that cycle touring seems to be on the up.
The whole business of carrying camping equipment, or, at least all the
gear one needs for a multi-day or multi-week trip, goes back a long way.
As soon as the safety bicycle conquered the high wheeler it became
apparent that a good deal of luggage could be carried. Eventually,
combining cycling and camping allowed working-class people to enjoy
extended cycle tours without the expense of hostels or hotels.
A growing interest in cycle touring in all its glorious variety should come
as no surprise. As we know, there’s no better way to travel.
The articles in the magazine reflect that, as we go along happily, even
when we go wrong. I hope you enjoy them as much as all those
springtime miles.
Steve
Seven Day Cyclist Copyright Statement: all material contained in Seven Day Cyclist magazine and on this
website, www.sevendaycyclist.co.uk , is protected by copyright. No material may be copied, reproduced or used
in any format or medium without express prior written permission from the publishers.
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issue 5 / 2015
W
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LC
O
M
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CONTRIBUTORS
Mark Jacobson
Paul Wagner
Tom Hunter
Kevin Walker
John Campbell
PRODUCT TESTS AND
TECHNICAL
Michael Stenning
EDITOR
Stephen Dyster
DESIGN
Colin Halliday
CONTACTS
See details on
www.sevendaycyclist.co .uk
Contents
4
14
22
29
32
36
Irish Jig – Part 2
Wheeling Down the Western
Front – Part 3
Products
Snappy Dressing
Tour de Jour
There’s More to Cycling
40
46
50
54
58
64
68
Cheshire Hack
The Brompton Goes Wild
Pressure Tested
Interview With Dani Foffa
The Great Mistake
The Good Old Days
Rear Rack
sevendaycyclist.co.uk
3
IRISH
JIG
GLENVEAGH NATIONAL PARK FOR ONE
The National Park at seven a.m. on a Sunday morning;
the thunder, lightning and rain which briefly woke me
overnight gone, replaced by lovely sunshine.
There is no traffic. It seems I have the Park’s 40,000
acres all to my lonesome, and what acres they are. Natural
beauty abounds, vast tracts visible for miles over the open
moorland, reminiscent of the far North of Scotland.
As I make progress into the very heart of the park,
the Derryvagh mountain range, and in particular the
mighty Mount Errigal, Derryvagh’s highest peak at 2,466
feet, is visible long before the road reaches it. It swells in
grandeur, its quartzite composition giving a silvery-white
tone to its slopes, as I get ever closer to its base.
DUN LUICHE FOR ME
A pattern emerged after a semi-circumnavigation of
Errigal. Cycle 30 yards, stop, camera out; repeat. Truly
breath-taking panoramas of Slieve Snaght, the Poisoned
Glen, and, just before the village of Dun Luiche, a ruined
church at the head of the lovely Lough Nacung, made
pedalling sporadic.
Through Money More and onwards to Gweedore,
the Loch finally peters out to resemble a canal. At
Gweedore be sure and look behind you to take in
Errigal’s full bulk.
The N56 from Gweedore is a great road, twisting
and turning all the while to religiously follow the
contours, interspersed with the hamlets of Crolly and
Loughanure. The latter presumably named after Lough
Anure, another beautiful lough, this one windswept,
the first evidence of the proximity to the sea and
the moods of the Atlantic as I edge my way south
westwards to Dungloe.
THE SILENT G
That’ll be Dungloe with a silent G. I found that out whilst
AnIrishJig,
Parttwo
John Campbell
continues his jaunt around Ulster, having
cycled around the coast of Antrim and headed into
Donegal – and he wakes at his wild camp to prepare for
the third day of the tour
4
issue 5 / 2015
IRISH
JIG
sitting in Roarty’s cafe in Dun Luiche. The owner whilst
chatting to me over coffee enquired of my road and put
me right on pronunciation.
Dungloe, sits on a steep hill. I parked the bike and
went for a wander. Perhaps Dungloe, is a shopping hub
for the surrounding area. Considering the town’s size,
seeing no fewer than four supermarkets and a healthy
mix of other shops, amazed me.
Perhaps, it’s the sheer volume of visitors attracted by
Wee Daniel. The perennial housewives favourite Daniel
O’Donnel has his very own visitors centre here. It wasn’t
quite One Direction mania – no groupies, no crowds
but it was early, perhaps they were still recovering from
there afternoon tea from the day before!
three weekend warriors rolled up behind me, kitted
out in their colourful Team Tinkoff-Saxo gear – the
presence of Nicolas Roche in its World Professional
Team influencing their choice of outfits. It was great to
chat with these guys and like every other cyclist they
enthused about the bike scene and what it meant to
them. We soon parted company as they were quite
clearly holding me back! Their fair play to you – good
luck on the rest of your tour messages a nice touch.
The town of Maas doesn’t reveal its charm till you
have passed out of its single street. As you do an
impressive bridge over the Gweebarra River and the
full vista of the bay of the same name open out. At the
nearby junction I went right, choosing the more tranquil
R261 over the option of the N56 to Glenties.
Good choice. An undulating road full of character
GWEEBARRA
Continuing south along the N56 from Dungloe,
Glenveagh, forty
thousand acres
and all mine
sevendaycyclist.co.uk
5

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