Wicklow Passport Cycle

The end of 2022's summer was approaching and I wanted to do something big in the span of a week before college started again.  Something inexpensive, yet exciting and achievable. I remembered a poster I saw a while ago, advertising the 'Wicklow Passport' - a small foldable tourist 'passport' where its owner can collect stamps from 23 selected touristy locations around Wicklow. Those who manage to collect 15 stamps get a certificate of "Wicklow Ambassador" and a bandana. The idea sounded great, however I added some challenging layers to it:

1. I wanted to visit ALL stamping locations

2. Since I had taken only 1 week off work, I was to visit all the places within that 1 week

3. I had no car and no license, so I was going to cycle, and take my bike on the train to the very distant places.

 

By pure chance, that exact week turned out to be the heat wave. So basically I had picked the best possible week for my cycling, and a decent bonus was my newly acquired tan. I know this blog is called "Neon Hoodie" but in such a heat it would be suicide to carry a thick top like that.

 

And so I rode my bike to all destinations within a single week! I got 22/23 stamps, one of them is missing because the place didn't have their stamper but I was still there! And by the end of it I had cycled a total of 300 kilometers... in the most mountainous county of Ireland. This is probably one of the best self-planned vacations I have ever done. And I will definitely be doing more stuff like this.