The Rock of Dunamase – Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018

admin July 21, 2018

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018.

The Rock of Dunamase.

On Day Two of this year’s Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally, we will visit the magnificent Rock of Dunamase. It is here that we will merge with our visitors from Kerry, who will arrive with seven torches, each representing one of the Seven Septs of Laois.

The Tarbert Historical Society, will carry the torches, representing the families, that were banished from Co. Laois in 1601, by Crown forces, and relocated in Co. Kerry. Under Sentence of Death, should they ever return to the county, their descendants remain in Kerry to this very day. But the time has come for the Seven Septs to finally make their return! The seven torches will arrive at the former O’More stronghold of Dunamase, to light up a Ceremonial Laois Sept Vessel, at a very special, and unique Heritage gathering on the Rock of Dunamase.  (more…)

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018 – Event Menu

admin July 18, 2018

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018.

Event Menu.

All cyclists need sufficient fuel to keep those pedals turning! And for this year’s Bulfin Heritage Cycle, we supply all participants with an amazing variety of food, along the route.

So once you’ve purchased your ticket, and start preparing for the journey, the one thing you need not worry about packing is food. Each day the Heritage Cycle route is punctuated with stop-offs at the many wonderful heritage sites we will visit, and refreshment will always be readily available.

We also supply participants with a fully packed lunch each day. On Day One, there is a Fish & Game Breakfast, all served up at the Irish Fly Fishing & Game Shooting Museum, in Attanagh, followed two stops later by scones and G’s Gourmet Jams!! (more…)

G’s Gourmet Jams – Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018

admin July 17, 2018
G's Gourmet Jams

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018.

G’s Gourmet Jams.

Day One August 24th, 2018.

As part of our Heritage cycle, on Day One of this year’s Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally, we make a courtesy call, to the award winning G’s Gourmet Jams, Abbeyleix, Co. Laois.  Our stop off to see how jams are made the good old traditional way, stirred and poured by hand from a boiling open pan, is pencilled in between our visits to Heywood Gardens and Timahoe Round Tower & Heritage Centre.

G’s Gourmet Jams, Abbeyleix Co.Laois was founded by Helen Gee in 1998 and launched in 1999. It was set up as an alternative farm enterprise and is family run. Helen moved from Abbeyleix, from her hometown Bagenalstown Co. Carlow after marrying Cyril and quickly became involved in the local Community.

Throughout the years Helen has had one burning ambition – to own her own food business. From an early age she developed a love for making traditional home made food, thanks to her mother Elizabeth. (more…)

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018 – Route Details

admin July 4, 2018
Day One of the Bulfin Heritage Cycle, following in the wheel rims of William Bulfin

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018.

Route Details.

Route and itinerary details for this year’s Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally, as our Event Tickets are now on sale! As well as our usual Full Event Ticket, you can now purchase single tickets for Day One and Day Two, should you so prefer.

We visit amazing heritage sites, and many places of interest in between; such as Castle Durrow and Heywood Gardens, round towers and hilltop strongholds, Gourmet Jams and Evening Markets, Museums and Heritage Centres, restaurants and public houses, eating as we go …. fuelling up for battle re-enactments, heritage talks, pageants, recitals, the long awaited return of the Seven Septs of Laois, music, song and dance, with our Austrian visitors, to mention but a bit of it, and then finish everything off in style, with a celebratory meal at the Ashbrook Arms, except that’s not the end of it because there’s more music, song and dance, vintage bikes and the likes, at Bob’s Bar, back in Durrow, where it all began…. where it all began it should end….. and begin once more, for next year we go again…. to where we yet not know, but rest assured that once again we’ll be rambling in Eirinn!

But before all that here is the itinerary/route details for the Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018.

(more…)

Attanagh: Irish Fly Fishing & Game Shooting Museum

admin June 30, 2018

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle 2018.

Bulfin Event Heritage Trail.

Attanagh: Irish Fly Fishing & Game Shooting Museum

August 24th, 2018

One of the many heritage sites we will visit along the route of this year’s Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally, is the wonderful Irish Fly Fishing & Game Shooting Museum, located in Attanagh, Co. Laois.

In fact the museum will be our first stop, having departed Castle Durrow, and we hope to arrive there at 11:45 am; where a medieval style fish and game breakfast awaits, to fuel us on our way.

Also on the schedule is a heritage talk with museum curator, Mr. Walter Phelan. Walter founded the museum in 1986, and has continuously added to his amazing collection of artefacts. These include guns, tackles and rods, as used by the affluent society of yore, who hunted and fished for pleasure. (more…)

Calling All Cyclists! – Bring The Seven Septs of Laois Home.

admin May 28, 2018

Cyclists Needed!

Be A Part Of History!

Are you a cyclist? Part of a cycling club or group? Are you looking for a cycling challenge this summer?

If so, then the Bulfin Heritage Cycle has one for you!

We are looking for a group of cyclists, to take part in this year’s Rally, and have the honour of returning the Seven Septs of Laois, to their ancient homestead.

For many centuries before its plantation by the English, and its subsequent renaming as Queens County, Laois was under the control of Seven Septs (Local clan families). Following many bloody battles with the Crown forces, the surviving members of the Septs, were transplanted to Co. Kerry, being under sentence of death, should they ever return to Laois. The Septs were established in Kerry, as tenant farmers under their landlord, Patrick Crosbie, and their descendants remain in the Kingdom to this very day.  (more…)

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018 – Video Promo

admin April 28, 2018

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018.

Promotional Video.

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally…

….. is a merging of two separate cycles, at the Rock of Dunamase, in Co. Laois.

The First Cycle

A Laois “Lores & Legends” Trail – Learn the amazing story of “Laois Sept -Rebel, Rory Óg O’Moore. It’s a  60 KM, two Day Event, on August 24th & 25th 2018, and is a Vintage Bicycle / High Nelly Cycle, through the rolling countryside of County Laois.

To explain more – It’s about parking the mountain bike, the 24 gears, the carbon fibre, the racer, and mounting a bicycle from another era…something made of steel…maybe even something a little bit rusty! It’s about dressing up for Ancient Ireland, sharing our heritage in the company of our overseas guests and generally enjoying the Craic.  Whether you cycle on an old time butcher’s bike, a restored  High Nelly charmer, with a stylish wicker basket, a 40’s or 50’s Raleigh, or a modern replica, it doesn’t matter. What does matter, is that you get involved in a novel heritage event where cycling is only part  of the fun.

The Second Cycle

The Listowel to Laois Cycle Challenge  – “7 Septs of Laois Torch Relay” from North Kerry to Laois.  To light a ceremonial Laois Septs Family “Vessel” at the Rock Of Dunamase.

To explain more –  For many centuries before its plantation by the English, and it’s renaming as Queens County, Laois was under the control of the Seven Septs (Local Clan Families). Following many bloody battles, the surviving members of the Septs were transplanted to Kerry, being under sentence of death should they ever return to Laois. The Septs were established in Kerry as tenant farmers under their landlord, Patrick Crosbie. Descendants of these Sept families remain in Co. Kerry, down to the present day.

(excerpts from the book; From Laois to Kerry by Michael Christopher Keane)

To mark the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage, seven torches, each representing one of the Seven Laois Septs will return to Laois, in cycle convoy, to light up a “Ceremonial Laois Sept Vessel” at a special Heritage gathering at the Rock of Dunamase.

View the full resolution video Here

 

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018 takes place on August 24th & 25th.

Eamon Bulfin – Raising the Irish Republic Flag on the G.P.O. in 1916

admin April 7, 2018

Eamon Bulfin and The Easter Rising.

On Easter Monday, in the midst of the 1916 Easter Rising, Eamon Bulfin hoisted aloft, on the roof of the rebel headquarters of the G.P.O. in Dublin, a green flag with the words “Irish Republic” painted on it. When the insurrection was crushed by British forces, Bulfin was sentenced to death for his role in the uprising.

William Bulfin is the inspirational figure for the Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally. Having returned to Ireland from Argentina at the turn of the century, Bulfin undertook a road trip of his homeland, on a bicycle made by ‘Pierce of Wexford’. As he cycled the highways and byways of Ireland, he duly noted everything he had seen, and everyone he had met along the way. In 1907 the fascinating account of his 3,000 mile exploratory journey was published in a book entitled ‘Rambles In Eirinn’. It is an enchantingly descriptive narrative of an Ireland of old, that so eloquently blends landscapes and geographies, with people and histories.

Eamon Bulfin

But this important social document is not William Bulfin’s only legacy. He was a proud Irish Nationalist, and so it was perhaps inevitable that his son Eamon would inherited his father’s deep devotion to Ireland. Eamon was born in Argentina in 1892, at a time when William was writing of his experience on the pampas, for the Buenos Aires newspaper The Southern Cross , which was owned by Cork man, Michael Dineen.
After the Bulfin’s had returned to Ireland, Eamon was one of the first students enrolled in Pádraig Pearse‘s Irish language school Sgoil Éanna (St Enda’s). He forged a strong relationship with Pearse, and after he had graduated, he assisted with teaching at Sgoil Éanna, and continued his own studies at  University College Dublin.  (more…)

Bulfin Heritage Cycle – Picture of The Day No. 01

admin April 6, 2018

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally.

Picture of The Day No. 01.

Image taken from page 113 of ‘Romances of the Wheel, a collection of romantic cycling tales. By W. J. C., an old rider [i.e. W. J. Coppen]’

Image taken from:

Title: “Romances of the Wheel, a collection of romantic cycling tales. By W. J. C., an old rider [i.e. W. J. Coppen]”
Author: C., W. J. – an Old Rider
Contributor: COPPEN, W. J.
Shelfmark: “British Library HMNTS 12641.c.31.”
Page: 113
Place of Publishing: Coventry
Date of Publishing: 1880
Publisher: Iliffe & Son
Issuance: monographic
Identifier: 000561729

Source – Flicker Commons – The British Library

About The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018

About

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally 2018. What’s This All About? The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally… ….. is a merging of two separate cycles, at the Rock of Dunamase, in Co. Laois. The First Cycle A Laois “Lores & Legends” Trail – Learn the amazing story of “Laois Sept -Rebel, Rory Óg O’Moore.

William Bulfin – The Inspiration

The Inspiration

The Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally. The Inspiration behind the event. William Bulfin was a journalist, travel writer and proud Irish Nationalist, who was born in Derkrinlough, Co. Offaly in 1864. Having returned from Argentina in 1902, (after working there on the pampas amongst the native gaucho tribe), he set off on a journey that took…

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally

Bulfin Heritage Cycle Rally. 83 likes · 62 talking about this. Following in the ‘wheelrims’ of William Bulfin 1864-1910, and remembering his journey through Ireland’s highways and byways, on his…

Bulfin Heritage Cycle (@bulfinheritagecycle) * Instagram photos and videos

661 Followers, 2,097 Following, 23 Posts – See Instagram photos and videos from Bulfin Heritage Cycle (@bulfinheritagecycle)