Pulse On Tour 2026

Report by Margaret O’Brien

The annual Pulse training weekend took place at the end of March, and I made a late (but great) decision to join what would be my first Pulse trip away.

The Journey Down

I travelled down by myself as I wanted to stop in Waterford and have lunch with my sister who owns a shoe shop, Shoobaloo, on The Quay. Needless to say, some shopping had to be done too! The weekend was already off to a good start.

We were staying at The Park Hotel in Dungarvan, and when I arrived, I quickly learned we had some over ambitious folk on this trip, my roommate Caroline being one of them. She had joined Niall, Brian & Emma who came down early for a 50km cycle on the greenway to get a head start on their training. Niall, Emma & Brian took that a step (or spin) further and had cycled to Tramore and back, totalling 80km – just long enough to whet their appetites for dinner later on.

I met Jen in the bar around 5ish, and gradually other bodies began to appear and join us. Slowly, we began to notice that not all of these were Pulsers, and instead wedding guests who had already finished eating by 5pm. Thankfully, the staff took pity on the few of us in the minority and moved us to the restaurant. Some of us ate in the hotel, but the wiser among us waited and ate at The Moorings, where the Festival of Food was taking place. The food looked amazing – the rest of us watched them eat and consoled ourselves with drink instead. We made it to our beds at a respectable hour, with our alarms set for our early morning swim in the pool, despite hearing the bar hopping with wedding guests.

Day 1

Our first training session was 6.30am – 7.30am on Saturday morning with Fergus in the 20m pool in the hotel. Quietly, we made our way to the pool, passing a few sleeping bodies on the hotel couches, and feeling glad we made the decision to not join them in the bar the evening before. Fergus put 10 of us through our paces for the hour, ensuring we got our money’s worth at the hotel breakfast afterwards. In stark contrast to dinner the night before, we had the restaurant to ourselves (no wedding guests to be seen) and we began to prepare for the next activity on the agenda, our cycle.

The red group left at 9.30am to do a 120km cycle, the yellows at 9.45am for an 80km trip to Tramore and back, and the whites at 10am for a 50km cycle to Kilmacthomas and return.

Sun, Sea, and Stradbally Hills

We had the most glorious day for cycling with the sun shining and a slight cool breeze. There were 7 of us in our group, with Fergus leading the 6 women – myself, Caroline, Tracey, Judith, Jen and Michelle. We dusted off the bikes, pumped our tyres, and headed for the Greenway. We went out on the Copper Coast Road through Stradbally and Bonmahon. All I can say is that the next time I am near the Copper Coast Road, I will be in a car! The hills in Stradbally nearly defeated me. We stopped at Church in Bonmahon for a lovely coffee, then on to Kilmacthomas where we stopped for ice-cream and then returned on the Greenway to Dungarvan with plenty of stops to take in the views of Clonea Strand, and refuelling in the form of 99s at the Railway Cottage Café, bringing us to about 50km round trip. A nice leisurely day’s cycling was had by most of us (those without electric gears… the less said about that the better).

The yellow group went to Tramore, had lunch there, and got back around the same time as us. The yellows were led by Miriam, with Tom, Steven, and Dee. And the red group, Niall, Brian and Emma, arrived back later.

After our cycle, myself, Tracey and Caroline went for a natural cold plunge/ dip in the 10° water of Clonea Strand. Fergus had also organised Stretching and Boxercise for 5pm, but I decided to bow out of this but everyone who did it had a great time.

The next scheduled item on our agenda was to be in the bar for pre-dinner drinks at 7pm, with dinner at 7.45pm in the hotel restaurant. The gang washed and scrubbed up well, although Emma put us all to shame in her gorgeous Marlene Dietrich dress, and both Niall and Brian were fulsome in their praise of Emma for cycling with the Red group for the weekend. Well done, Emma!

The hotel looked after us well with a separate area for us all to eat in – away from the Saturday wedding party. We repaired to the bar for post dinner drinks and had our choice of seats with no wedding guests around! At one point, I was sitting beside Niall who got up and left. I thought he had gone to the bar, but no, he had retired – it must have been my exciting company! There was some good-natured slagging going on – something about picking strawberries and kissing – which shall remain on tour. I think Emma was the last person in the bar, as she had promised to be, but I had bailed by then.

Sunday Scaries? Not in Waterford!

We met for breakfast around 9am Sunday morning. The restaurant was full of all the wedding guests – so different from the previous day! Some of us headed out for a 5k run at 10am on the Greenway. Fergus did his first 4k jog on his new hip – with no aftereffects – which was wonderful for him.

Then a group of us headed to Clonea Strand for a final dip before heading home. It was still cold but gorgeous once you got in. There was some streaky sunburn on display post the Saturday cycle. Now it’s all lovely and brown – I saw this for myself at OWS on Monday!

Then coffee in the Railway Cottage Café and back to the hotel to check out.

In conclusion, it was a great weekend full of laughs and fun, and a chance to catch up with friends while training and socialising. The hotel and location couldn’t have been better – rooms were great, storage for bikes provided if needed, cycle routes for all levels and SUNSHINE for the whole weekend. I would thoroughly recommend the weekend away to any Pulsers who are sitting on the fence about going next year.

For next year, we should book The Moorings for food on the Saturday night, after we have all worked up an appetite throughout the day. Everything else was fab – would definitely go back here again.

Thanks to David for organising, to Fergus for coaching (missing from all photos) and leading the White group, and to Miriam and Niall for leading the Yellow and Red groups respectively. Until next year…..