NORTHERN IRELAND

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This route - 52 miles, 84 kilometres

This run through the middle of the province combines sweeping corners, some demanding, and a few long straights. Visibility generally is good. The description starts from the big well (Tobermore from the Irish) and heads for Maghera along the open and curvacious A29, passing underneath the A6 Belfast to Derry road. Until the middle ages, Maghera was the ecclesiastical capital of the Diocese of Derry – before this was moved to the city of that name. Once in the town, take a right and then a left - look for the signpost to to Garvagh (the A25), and after a couple of miles take a right on the B75 through Upperlands to Kilrea.

Upperlands owes its existence to the linen industry, and specifically to the Clark family who established the first linen mill there in 1736. You pass Ampertaine Primary School on your left and head on towards Kilrea. Once there, look for a signpost to Portglenone – the A54.

This can be fast - few corners and good forward visibility. Ahoghill is not far off – most famous for the problems news announcers have had in pronouncing its name. It has three syllables, first is a, last is ill and the sound haw passes well enough for the middle one. Say after me: a haw ill, emphasising the haw. Brill! If you want a truly authentic touch, start to clear your throat at the end of the haw sound.

The staggered junction at Portglenone, a left then a right, continues the A54 towards Bellaghy, birthplace of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney who, as a boy, stumbled in his ploughman father’s ‘hobnailed wake’. He wanted to grow up and plough but instead chose to dig with his pen. And he’s done very well with it, too.

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This, the A54, must once have been a lovely biking road until someone left part of it like a ploughed field (slight exaggeration) by cutting into it and not repairing it properly afterwards. Surely it’s possible to repair a road without leaving a sunken channel right on the line bikers want to take? Rant, rant, rant….

The road improves a few miles along and Bellaghy is soon left behind as we take the B182 towards Toome on the northern edge of Lough Neagh where the Bann leaves the lough on its way to Coleraine and the sea. TT fans might know of the link between Lough Neagh and the Isle of Man. Legendary Irish giant Finn McCool is said to have lifted a lump of Ireland and hurled it towards England. It fell short and is known now as the Isle of Man. The hole left behind is Lough Neagh. Fortunately, the TT wasn’t on at the time so no bikers were hurt.

The road south from Bellaghy is good open and fast with a few testing corners. It stops at a T-junction where it joins the A6. The surface is quite rough at this junction; watch you don’t put your boot down into a pothole. Go left on towards the Toome bypass.

At the archaeological investigation provoked by the building of this bypass, 10,000 individual pieces of flint were found - some dating from nearly 7,500 BC and thought to have been used by the earliest recorded men (and women?) in Ireland. Other early results suggest evidence of the first farming in Ireland and, possibly, the location of the transition from hunter gatherers to farming (www.roadsni.gov.uk/scheme/Toome/arch2.htm).

Proceed along the bypass and cross the River Bann on the new blue bridge and take a left at the immediately adjacent roundabout on to the B18 signposted for Ballymena.

This is a nice road for a bike – you carry on until taking a left on to the B52 (Roguery Road – what a name!) towards Portglenone where you ride through the town to pick up the A42 for Maghera by turning left.

Between Toome and Portglenone, you’ll see signposts to Newferry. This offers car park, toilets and a picnic area on the banks of the Bann. You’ll notice at least two things: there are metal plates bolted on to the picnic tables (for hot stuff?) and second, that parts of the approach road will shake your bike and bones enough to turn any milk in your panniers to butter. Be warned!