Dublin to Gallwey

[Richard Barcan]

I am thinking of an August road trip flying Easyjet from Bristol to Dublin, riding accross to
Gallwey/Mayo and then down to County Cork. Possibly getting boat from Cork to Swansea or Rosslare -
Fishguard.

Any experiences about routes/ accomodation (probably won't camp this time)/highs/lows would be
appreciated.

 

[Rudge]

I hav'nt cycled their yet but I would probably get a train to Galway and spend most of the time
cycling in Mayo, Galway and the west coast. The Connemara area is very scenic. Newport, Westport,
Clifden and Cong are very picturesque. The 'Burren' in county Clare is very unusual terrain if you
have never seen that type of stark limestone feature before. Late August/ early September is often a
good time to visit. Good Luck.

 

[Mike Causer]

On Sun, 09 Mar 2003 22:51:38 +0000, richard barcan wrote:

> I am thinking of an August road trip flying Easyjet from Bristol to Dublin, riding accross to
> Gallwey/Mayo and then down to County Cork. Possibly getting boat from Cork to Swansea or Rosslare
> - Fishguard.
>
> Any experiences about routes/ accomodation (probably won't camp this time)/highs/lows would be
> appreciated.

The further away from Dublin you are the slower the traffic gets, and the nicer it is to ride a
bike. I've only taken a bike to Ireland in the boot of a car, and left the car and cycled round; but
if it was going to be bike only I'd go to Rosslare, not Dunleary.

Wonderful place for a holiday Ireland. It takes a week to get to the rural Irish pace of life, and a
week to get back to the frenetic UK-stylee afterwards.

Be warned: The hills are f^WIrish steep! Fit very small chainrings before you go. You can get
good maps equivalent to the OS 50,000 series there, except I think they still work in inches
(1" = 1mile).

Accomodation varies. I've stayed in Georgian farmhouses with wonderful home-cured food for the same
price as modern outhouses with supermarket breakfast. For lunch expect to find alcholic drink
everywhere, but nothing to eat unless you're in a "tourist" area.

This only applies to the Republic, I've not ventured to the North -- yet.

Mike

 

[Mark Van Gorkom]

richard barcan wrote:

>I am thinking of an August road trip flying Easyjet from Bristol to Dublin, riding accross to
>Gallwey/Mayo and then down to County Cork. Possibly getting boat from Cork to Swansea or Rosslare -
>Fishguard.
>
You might be better of reversing this route because of prevailing winds (an Irish headwind can be
quite breathtaking...) This way yuo're on the seaside of the road too! For accomodation I'd
recommend hostels,preferably the independent type. Plenty along the coast, but only a few between
Galway and Dublin. To get in and out of Dublin, Galway,Cork (can't recommend Cork, but Cobh is nice)
take the N-roads: it's safer and quicker. In August., I'd avoid the ring of Kerry, but Beara is nice
(and the road too narrow for most touringcars!) The stretch fromGalway to Dublin may not be the most
scenic, but I find it makes for a nice change; I fondly remember going flat out for a day, with a
very wet-looking rainstorm nipping at my heels... Never had much of a problem getting lunch BTW,even
if it's mostly soup, sandwiches, or an early cream tea.

Mark van Gorkom.

 

[Tony R]

"Mike Causer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 09 Mar 2003 22:51:38 +0000, richard barcan wrote:
>
> > I am thinking of an August road trip flying Easyjet from Bristol to
Dublin,
> > riding accross to Gallwey/Mayo and then down to County Cork. Possibly getting boat from Cork to
> > Swansea or Rosslare - Fishguard.
> >
> > Any experiences about routes/ accomodation (probably won't camp this time)/highs/lows would be
> > appreciated.
>
>
> Be warned: The hills are f^WIrish steep! Fit very small chainrings before you go. You can get
> good maps equivalent to the OS 50,000 series there, except I think they still work in inches (1"
> = 1mile).
>

I wouldn't use the 1:50 000 (Discovery series). They're great if you're based in one spot but for
travelling across the country you'd need too many. The Irish Ordnance Survey have a series called
"Holiday Maps". The whole country is covered in four 1:250 000 sheets. I find them great for cycling
(I've used the north and the east ones). Even the smallest roads seem to be marked. Relief is
clearly marked (although only at c.120m. intervals) along with all the usual tourist type info. They
cost about 6 euros each over here. As for accommodation, as another poster said independent hostels
have a good reputation - I've stayed in one in Sligo that was fine. Go to
www.ireland.travel.ie/accommodation and enter hostels in the general accommodation search for a
pretty comprehensive list. Hope this helps, Tony R.

 

[Andrew Sweetman]

richard barcan <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I am thinking of an August road trip flying Easyjet from Bristol to
Dublin,
> riding accross to Gallwey/Mayo and then down to County Cork. Possibly getting boat from Cork to
> Swansea or Rosslare - Fishguard.
>
> Any experiences about routes/ accomodation (probably won't camp this time)/highs/lows would be
> appreciated.
>

I did this, Dublin -> Dublin, in June 99, using pre-booked Independent Hostels except for 1 night in
Athlone (on spec pub/hotel), and Dublin & Valentia Is. An Oige hostels. The independent hostels were
better than the An Oige ones, and An Oige didn't bother asking about YHA cards or anything. There
are guides to Irish hostels published - a title I remember is "Ireland - all the hostels", You may
be able to find who to get it from via google. I wouldn't really recommend camping anyway - there
aren't many sites away from the popular tourist areas, and wild camping isn't terribly practical to
my eye. There is a lot of low-density ribbon development (a house every half-mile), and they seem to
have half a dozen cows in every field, rather than have them all in one, with the other fields
recovering from the over-grazing, like they do over here.

Route: Dublin - (86m) Athlone - (66m) Galway - (65m) Lahinch - (67m) Tralee - free day (Dingle
peninsula loop) - (54m) Valentia Is - (56m) Kenmare - (32m) Bantry - (80m) Cork - (100m) Waterford -
(73m) Arklow - (52m) Dublin

Dublin to Galway was mostly headwind, but not too strong, Bantry to Waterford was a bit excessive in
terms of distance. In fact the whole pace was too fast - we didn't get a lot of sightseeing
opportunity. In retrospect, it would have been better to stop in Cork (apart from the cars being at
Holyhead that is!), and take the west coast slower. We were also a bit fed up with Guinness by the
end of the holiday (halfway, even). Most pubs round the west coast do meals just like here, but some
of the rural pubs off the tourist trail may be limited to toasties or soup&roll.

Some of the minor roads had awful surfaces - no big holes, but they seem to just put a shovelful of
tarmac in the hole and just pat it down (we did see this being done), until the whole road is
overlapping patches, with not a smooth bit left. On the other hand, the EC funded main roads were
immaculate, with nice wide shoulders for cycling on - generally eveyrone except cyclists and
tractors used the two central lanes, and pulled over to the shoulder when something wanted to
overtake - seemed to work well.

Andrew