This morning, I enjoyed a cycle on the old rail line from Mulranny towards Newport with Paul Harman of Harman-e-Bikes. Paul has quality battery power-assisted electric cycles for hire out of his base near Westport, with a drop-off and pick-up service available.

The new cycleway is by no means perfect, nor as good as it could have been, but is certainly a welcome addition to the West Mayo outdoors tourism product. Its best quality is that it is off-road and you can’t argue with that, in a country which boasts very few off-road cycling opportunities.

Cycling is a logical and attractive complimentary product to my guided walking tours, especially in and around the Nephin Beg mountain range. So why not consider coming to West Mayo and combining cycling, walking and, indeed, sea kayaking and wind surfing, for example.