The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally
One of the greatest boasts of the Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally, is that of unravelling the centuries old enigma of time travel! Long has the question of its possibility been mulled over, and long is the list of failed contraptions, designed for quantum leaping! “So is time travel possible?” you ask. Well, we have been doing it, every August, since 2015, on a time-machine that was invented by an Irishman, in 1892! The apparatus in question is, of course, Ernest Bowden’s High Nelly Bicycle. Upon this machine, attired in vintage clothes, we plot our course through time; awakening long forgotten histories, exploring our rich cultural heritage, and bringing them both to life through talks, reenactments, and pageants. It’s relatively easy to visit the past because it envelops us! History is everywhere, and only ceases to be history, when time progresses beyond the unrecorded memory of a place, or event. And unlikely as that sounds, in our modern age, it happens. Our time travelling mission is to journey from present to past, preserving our heritage for the future! Our Heritage Cycle is inspired by William Bulfin, who returned to Ireland in 1902, having worked in Argentina. He purchased a steel framed bicycle, made by Pierce of Wexford, and set off on a road tour of his beloved Ireland. His journey would wind and weave a route of over 3,000 miles, along the countless highways, byways and country lanes of all four provinces. He recorded the details of his venture, cataloguing all the places he had visited, the people he encountered, and the histories they imparted; both whimsical and factual. These writings were published in 1907, in a book entitled, Rambles In Eirinn, and it is considered one of the most important social and historical documentations of Ireland in that era. Reading it is also a pretty astute way to time travel!
About our 2021 Event
ON THE ROAD AGAIN IN 2021 Irish Country Roads & Culture Trails Bulfin Heritage Cycle 2021 After much deliberation, which…
A Man Who Loved Ireland
William Bulfin William Bulfin was a man who loved everything about Ireland; its heritage, its landscape, its people. Nowhere was…
Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2021
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Program Schedule
Saturday August 21st 2021
- Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2021
- Event Itinerary 2021
- Rambles In Eirinn – William Bulfin 1907
William Bulfin (1863 – 1910).
The man who has inspired the Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally!
William Bulfin (1 November 1863 – 1910) was the fourth son in a family of nine boys and one girl, the children of William Bulfin, of Derrinlough, Birr, County Offaly, Ireland, and Ellen Grogan of Croghan, County Offaly.
He attended the national school in Cloghan, where he is said to have been taught by the father of Easter Rising leader Thomas MacDonagh, the Classical Academy and the Presentation Schools in Birr, and the Royal Charter School at Banagher.