Just spent 2 days driving the route from Navan to Oranmore with Alan Heary. Not 1 wrong turn or argument! Which was nice.

The first 9 Time Stations on the route this year will be - TS01 Ballymascanlan, Co. Louth; TS02 Moira, Co. Down; TS03 Giants Causeway, Co. Antrim; TS04 Malin Head, Co. Donegal; TS05 Letterkenny, Co. Donegal; TS06 Sligo Town; TS07 Castlebar, Co. Mayo; TS08 Clifden, Co. Galway; TS09 Oranmore, Co. Galway.

We traveled some hard roads and saw beautiful scenery. Passed through a rain shower in Co. Antrim where we could hardly see through the windscreen only for the rain to stop 10 minutes later and for us to be greeted with fantastic views of Rathlin Island and the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland. Unfortunately didn’t see any whales from Malin Head this time (thats whales with a h Alan)!

Section 7 from Sligo to Castlebar is shaping up to be 1 of the hardest sections on this years race with an epic road over the Partry Mountains to Tourmakeady and climbs at Maumtrasna and Knocknafaughy. The road from Clifden to Oranmore was stunning as usual with the connemara roads passing by countless lakes and small woods with the Twelve Bens mountain range as a backdrop.

Next week we’ll be driving the rest of the route from Oranmore back to Navan. Now to put the all the information into readable routebook form! Easy!

Emmet