Right so, I'm off to points South on St Patricks weekend.I'll be based in Charleville for Saturday~Tuesday.
Which of the trails would be the best craic given that I'm allergic to climbing?
Greenwood?
Mountrussell?
Garrane?
We use the Ballyhours a good bit. The 6Km loop is good fun if your legs aren't great. There is still a nice climb on the fireroad BUT you do get a very good downhill run back to the carpark. When my missus started biking we done this loop 2 or 3 times.
The 17Km loop is very good too. There are some nice climbs there too.
Keep an eye on the MBCC site. There will probobly be a bunch od us heading to Ballyhouras over the weekend.
Alan is right, MCC has loads of info regarding the Ballyhouras.
In my opnion the hardest climb is the very start of the trails which is common to all loops, so the best thing to do is put the head down for the first 20 mins and after that its all magic. Its not very technical but it is very fast flowing in general.
I pity the starters cause the shortest loops are the most demanding on enegy! Including the last part of the return loop back to the car part in Ard-patrick (Green-loop)
In my opnion the best of the loops is the "White loop" (Grainne), really enjoyable and free flowing.
Just a heads up, do go there every second weekend and the last number of times there was no access to some of the loops due to tree felling. However, the guy in the car-part (Lar) has been ok with entering these "closed" off areas for the last two visits... the trails are kept clear eventhough work is in progress. For the bank holiday weekend the equipment will not be working so it will be fine to do this I'd think? Just mention this to Lar first.
Also the suggested times for the loops are over the top. The silver pushing hardish can be done in 2.5 hours while the sign suggests up to 4 hours. Just keep this in mind! Do not want to return back to the part too early!