Destination: Five countries of the British Isles

Amy McPherson experiences the excitement of the Tour of Britain on a cycling tour across the five countries of the British Isles and discovers that each has its own culture, landscape and challenges.

When you live in a land as vast as Australia, it’s hard to imagine traversing five countries by bicycle in less than two weeks, but that’s exactly what you can do in the British Isles.

Did you know the Union Jack is made up of three crosses? The Cross of St George for England, the Cross of St Andrew for Scotland, and the Cross of St Patrick for Ireland. Yes, okay, so Wales is missing from the picture, and as of today, there is still a border between the two factions of Ireland. Nevertheless, I’ve never really given it much thought that what we consider the ‘British Isles’ is, in fact, a combination of five countries.

On a cycling tour across England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, I fell in love with every one of them.

England

You wouldn’t expect England to be challenging. How tough can it be? I mean, there’s nothing like Alpe d’Huez that’s for sure. Yet, the rolling hills of Yorkshire were certainly punchy with plenty of sharp climbs to test the legs, especially on the Buttertubs Pass of the Yorkshire Dales, a scenically lovely, deceptively difficult climb.

“Didn’t look this bad from a distance, did it?” laughed Ben, one of our guides from Wilderness Scotland, who has just pulled up beside me rather effortlessly. “There’s more to come, England is not as flat as you think!”

Over the next two days, I would discover that Yorkshire was home to many such climbs, some as steep as 25 per cent! No wonder the Tour de France held its Grand Depart in 2014, which fuelled a passion for cycle races. From then, the Tour de Yorkshire was born until the COVID years induced a permanent end to the race.

We spend two days cycling across Yorkshire and the Yorkshire Dales National Park, characterised by its quaint villages and squares of farms fenced by stonewalls. The landscape was washed green by the famous English drizzle, which also coated me with fine droplets of mist. Distracted by the scenery where the sun shone through between patches of dark clouds that splashed bright highlights on the farmland below, there was little time to complain about the rain. We closed our England chapter by crossing over to Lancashire, to the Forest of Bowland, and there was already a slight change in the surroundings. More rugged. More wild. I was told that’s because we were closing in on Wales. The dragon was coming.

Wales

Wales, a country known in the cycling circle for the annual Dragon Ride, covering a whopping 296km, accompanied by 4,433m of ascent. Known for Snowdonia and Brecon Beacons National Parks, with more mountains than England, I knew the next part wouldn’t be easy.

It had stopped raining. At least that was a good omen as we crossed the border at Pen-y-bont Llanerch Emrys into Wales, and I immediately felt the country change. Wales welcomed us with ‘Croeso i Gymru’, Welsh for ‘Welcome to Wales’, at the border with place names I found hard to pronounce. Here, the colour green continues to dominate the landscape, although it did feel like a different shade of green. Our previous days in England were set against a backdrop of a subtle olive green, but the Welsh nature was painted by a darker moss green, accompanied by the purples of fox gloves.

Skirting around Mount Eryri, believed to be King Arthur’s final resting place, I found myself huffing and puffing up sandstone hills that tested my legs again. We were to follow the curve around the base of the mountain, and the climb just never seemed to end.

Then I found Ben by my side again.

“Keep going! You’ll love what’s coming up, it’s the best descent in Wales!”

He was right. The winding road weaving itself down the hill, with the cinematic view of the valley stretched in front, was quite something. It even made me forget that I am normally afraid of freewheeling descents.

Ireland

From Wales, it was a ferry ride away into the Emerald Isle. Ireland, the Republic one, was our next destination, starting with a rest day in Dublin, which I spent strolling the parks with Oscar Wilde and went for a much-needed beverage education at The World of Guinness.

Then, Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way beckoned. This epic touring route stretches from the Inishowen Peninsula to Kinsale, taking in the rough edges of the coastal scenery in 2,500km.

Enduring the sheet of rain and wall of wind, we cycled the northern part of County Donegal, following the coastline north-westwards, across Drongawn Lough and Broad Water, stopping by gorgeous beaches and up a brilliant zig-zag climb south of Portsalon – all the best bits of the Inishowen Peninsula. Lunching at McGrory’s Hotel was a highlight, famous for accommodating the film crew of Star Wars VIII in 2015.

From here, we continued onto our next country, which was not far around the corner at all.

Northern Ireland

Across the border, we found ourselves on the Causeway Coastal Route. Northern Ireland is known for the Giant’s Causeway, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary of being designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2026.

The day was bleak, with scattered showers and occasional sunshine, but the route was scenic, featuring rocky cliffs and rough seas. We cycled past the famous golf course of Portrush, and sighted several castle ruins perched on the edges. Dunluce, Dunseverick and Kinbane, and the rope suspension bridge of Carrick-a-Rede. All in a row, along with the famous Giant’s Causeway. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, though, for the terrain of Northern Ireland is also punchy, and by now, my legs have tired, and I had to walk up one steep bit!

Scotland

There’s something really special about taking bikes on the ferries that makes it feel like a proper adventure. The crossing between Rathmullan and Buncrana in Scotland was accompanied by a couple of dolphins and a brilliantly sparkling sea.

We cycled on surfaces with a mixture of tarmac and gravel, across a landscape that was lush in green pastures punctuated by big red-haired highland cattle, laced by rivers that flowed into mirroring lochs and villages that appeared to be stuck in time. 

Leaving the best to last. This was the final chapter of our journey. The sun even made its glorious full-day appearance. Our bike ride ended at Drumlanrig Castle, which was a fitting end to this epic tour, for this is where (arguably) the first modern bicycle, invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan, is exhibited.

We toast one final pint in a traditional pub in Dumfries and promise each other we’ll meet again in Edinburgh for the Grand Depart of the Tour de France 2027 and do it all over again.

Travel there

Amy toured with Wilderness England, an adventure company specialising in British Isles travel. The Five Countries Tour has one departure in 2026.

**Note the itinerary has changed since the author travelled with the group.