We meet early in Belfast City Centre at Bed & Bike HQ. If required your bike will be fitted to you, so that you are ready to head out in the best of comfort. You will have overnighted in preparation for your self-guided cycling holiday in central Belfast, ideally located a short walk from Bed & Bike HQ.
You leave Belfast on the Comber Greenway, 8 miles of traffic-free tranquillity which was ranked third in the Sunday Times top beautiful British cycling routes heading for the small town of Comber, your welcome first pit stop and birthplace of Thomas Andrews, the designer of the RMS Titanic and among the many who went down with the ship.
You then cycle on to our proppsed lunch stop, Daft Eddy’s, a family run Bar/Restaurant on a small island on Strangford Lough. Access to the café is by bike, across the causeway as pictured below:
Causeway to Daft Eddys
After lunch you tackle the last ten miles of Day 1, routing your bikes along quiet lough coastal roads to the picture postcard village of Killyleagh.
Coast line of Strangford
Pictured here is the famous 12th Century Killyleagh Castle (myth has Disney castle modelled on it); still in private ownership it is a family home, claimed to be the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland.
Accommodation is lough side, boutique and locally owned, with dinner of locally sourced produce served overlooking Strangford Lough. There is always the welcome option of a short walk to the local pub for a night cap!
Day 1: 28 miles, elevation: