Hello from Saoirse Cycling Tours
Some of you are probably asking yourselves, why would a four time Oscar nominated actress set up a cycling tour company in Waterford? Rest assured, Saoirse Ronan hasn’t gone all Daniel Day Lewis and given up the day job.
Just in case she thinks we’re not rolling out the red carpet for her, we’d love to see Ms Ronan pitching up at one of our tours. With her sense of adventure and devil may care attitude, we can see her whizzing along the Waterford Greenway or shooting the breeze over a ham blaa and coffee in the Viking Triangle.
Now that she’s in with the Derry Girls, she could bring her new bff Saoirse Monica Jackson along to avail of our ‘Saoirse goes free’ offer. Since we’ve high jacked the name, we feel it’s only fair to invite anyone bearing the name Saoirse to bring a friend on our City or Greenway tours for free.
Where did the name come from?
For those of you unfamiliar with our native language, Saoirse is the Gaelic word for freedom or liberty. We love the sound of the word and the images it conjures up. In a nutshell, we feel the word captures the essence of what we do.
We invite you to embrace the freedom of two wheels to explore the best that Waterford has to offer. Rest assured, all our tours take place outdoors away from large crowds on mainly car free routes and you won’t need Tour de France levels of fitness to take part.
We operate a come as you are dress code as we believe you don’t need to wear lycra to cycle a bike. There are plenty of stopping points to allow you to learn more about your surroundings, take pics and get to know your fellow cyclists.
Did someone say coffee?
We firmly believe that coffee and cycling go hand in hand. All our tours include a coffee break to allow you to lig do scíth (take your ease) to reflect on your experience.
Did you know that Waterford is the home of coffee in Ireland? Waterford and Ireland’s first Coffee House was reputedly located in Coffee House Lane in the Viking Triangle. It’ll come as no surprise to hear this area is fast becoming known as the Coffee Quarter with a cluster of very fine coffee shops.
Your Tour Guide
My name is Frank Ryan, I’m the guiding force behind Saoirse Cycling Tours. Our cycling tours are designed to showcase the best that Waterford and the South-East has to offer the visitor, delivered in a memorable and entertaining manner by friendly and enthusiastic guides.
Growing up in Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city, instilled in me a curiosity about the history of my hometown and a pride in sharing the rich and varied stories of all the adventurers, rogues and idealists who made it their home.
Having been bitten by the cycling bug from an early age, I’ve been a lifelong advocate of spending more time on two wheels and not behind one.
A career in financial services has fine-tuned my customer service skills and given me a love of meeting new people and building lasting relationships.
The growth in the popularity of cycling as a leisure activity spurred me on to identify a business opportunity to combine my love of cycling with the skills I acquired during my professional life, thus, Saoirse Cycling Tours was born.