Now I've gone and done it-booked for Ireland
 

A buddy and I have jumped off and booked the tix for our August Ireland/Scotland/England/Ireland bike tour. The trip will include some train and some ferry, and about 500 miles of biking. There are a couple wildcard days as well, as we will be visting some folks as well. Leaving on August 2nd, and flying back out on the 19th. Flying Lingus, and got the bikes all booked as well, so we are set there. Lots of other things to do between now and then, but now that the wheels are in motion, it will be fun.

Any particular destinations in mind?

You'll love it!

could there be a bit of irish blood in you guys,only asking . as oddtanlines say,s the craic should be mighty,ok i know he diden't exactly say that but you will love it.

I am actually a dual citizen through heritage (my family hails from Skibbereen, down on the SW coast), and my buddy is Irish-American. We are planning on hitting, in various ways, Dublin, Belfast, then over to Scotland for Glasgow, Edinburgh, then south to Newcastle, on to London, south of London, then back over to Ireland. There are some trains involved, and some non-biking days as well.

if your cycling dublin /to /belfast you'll pass through my town .be sure to take the coastal route from dublin through rush,skerries,balbriggan to drogheda my town,if you need a good route from drogheda let me know.the weather here at the moment is class a word you will get used to here,oh and welcome home by the way.

Thx Anto- I am gameplanning a number of routes-I will def look into your wisdom here. Is it ok for me to PM you with any questions/advice? Cycle maps are quite scant, as you doubtless are aware...

and yes-we are cycling from Dublin up to Belfast. We are coming in early am on day 1-we are going to spend a day/night in Dublin, as my buddy has never been, and then we are going to set out the next day. we are looking to cover 50 miles per day so that we don't feel too rushed.

77midget i'll do my best ask away,if you get the weather it's beautyful here at the moment well up in the 20's light winds,so hopefully you'll get some of that when you visit. the best map's to buy are ,discovery ireland ordanance survey they cost about 7 euro each buy there great ,if you chech out easons bookshop in dublin they will have all the maps you need or there's the map shop in ? jeez for the life of me i cant remember , but if your really need to find it i'll did deeper.. but easons should have what you want, your looking for 43 and 36 series that shows you all along the route your best takeing (belive me).anyway im here all day if you need to get in touch .

Thx!

no problem, im off to france touring for three weeks next thursday. so if you need anything let me know before then.

There's a book...still in print I think called 'Cycle Touring Ireland' by Brendan Walsh. Lots of day trips and mini tours of specific regions. Most of the info used for a self-guided tour was obtained from this book. Ended up doing what's called 'The Grand Tour' where one does the perimeter of the island. My route was clockwise through Rathdrum, Arklow, Wexford, Waterford, Dungarvan, Fermoy and west to Killarney. Did the Ring of Kerry. The book may be dated by now, but I'd imagine most of the info is still valid.

If you fly into Dublin I wouldn't recommend cycling into town via Swords Road. I did it and it's VERY busy and scarey. Try going north as there's a nice Independent Holiday Hostel in Slane. Much nicer ride. Google Earth wasn't available when I did my tour, so I made some pretty hellacious choices w/some steep climbs.

My tour was 7 weeks. 4 in Ireland and 3 in Wales. Took the Stennaline ferry out of Dun Laoghaire(pronounced dunn-leary) to Holyhead in Wales. Had the time of my life. Enjoy yourself.

I'd say it was the trip of a lifetime, but my wife and I are planning to spend a similar amount of time cycling in GB, Ire next year, so I'll have 2 trips of a lifetime. :)

BTW, take raingear....REAL GOOD raingear. You're gonna need it. :p

Just read the other posts before I submitted mine and as you're going into Dublin...take a cab and live. I wasn't kidding about Swords Road. :thumb:

nasscomguy that book your talking about brendan walsh, is as old as the hill's i have a copy, ireland has changed big time since his tour,but a good read never the less. also the trip to slane is a wee bit different since your last visit ,mainly lot's more traffic , the heavy traffic lorrys use that road from dublin to derry so as they dont have to pay toll charges on the motorway.(can't blame them really there only trying to make a living.if the lad's go to swords ,then head to rush skerrys to drogheda it's a great route ,traffic can be busy ,but it does ease up the further north you( or )they go.from drogheda there is loads of different routes to take ,back roads,loads to see in the town of drogheda besides me ha, newgrange /battle of the boyne.saint oliver plunkett remain's (his head),,monasterboice,all world famous google any of those names for more info.if they ever get here i'll ask the wife to make them a nice pot of irish stew to help them on there journey. goodluck anto..