Ireland has some great cycling possibilities with some stunningly beautiful scenery, from quiet rolling countryside to the more tougher mountainous areas in the south. The people are friendly and most welcoming, the climate is generally mild but due to it's position can pick up the fall force of the incoming fronts rolling in from the Atlantic, so therefore be prepared for rain. |
Cycling on the Kerry peninsular |
The distribution of designated cycle paths on the roads of Ireland are about the same as in the UK, mostly small sections marked as cycle path. On the main roads there is an hard shoulder type area on the left hand side of the road that is about half a car width. This usefully keeps you away from the main traffic but can vary in width and goes down to nothing at junctions.
There are some waymarked cycle routes in Ireland, the Irish tourist board booklet 'Cycling in Ireland' shows 24 cycle routes covering South and Northern Ireland, however some of these are only suggested routes and not officially waymarked as yet, some of them I'm told are hoped to be made official and sign posted in the near future. Most of the local tourist board sites give more information on these routes, see Tourist info. links below.
 The campsites in Ireland are generally very good, (we have yet to find a really bad one) however they aren't too plentiful in some parts, so some careful route planning is needed. There is a 'Camping & Caravan in Ireland' booklet available from most tourist information offices for €4 which lists over a 100 sites that are registered with the Irish Tourist board, they use a 1 - 4 star classification with some sites choosing to be unclassified.
1 Star - Minimum facilities offered.
2 Star - Limited range of facilities provided.
3 Star - A good range of facilities provided and good management.
4 Star - Extensive facilities provided and a high standard of management.
More information can be obtained at the Caravan and Camping Parks in County Ireland's site. which gives details of opening dates, prices and facilities offered for all the sites listed. We found that the average costs for 2 adults and a tent is about €12.If you get stuck for a campsite then you will find that some of the hostels will allow you to camp in their grounds and you can use their facilities, there is a leaflet available from most tourist information offices priced €1 which lists all the hostels and whether camping is available.
As far as cycling maps of Ireland are concerned your choice is rather limited. The maps in Ireland are produced by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. You have a choice of the 'Holiday' series1:250,000 map which covers Ireland with just 4 maps and the 1:50.000 'Discovery' series maps which uses 89 maps to cover the whole of Southern and Northern Ireland. The Holiday series maps lacks a lot of detail and unless you plan on sticking to the main roads aren't much use for cycling using the quiet lanes. Irish sign posting is notoriously unreliable and sometimes on existent. Where you do find them at junctions there is a plethora of signs on a post pointing in all sorts of directions telling you where all the nearest B&B's, Guest houses and local attractions are, but only if you are lucky a road sign giving you actual directions to places! so a detailed map is a must and your best bet is the 'Discovery' series which are actually very good, the down side is that you may need a lot of them and they are not cheap at €7.50 each. You can purchase the 'Discovery' series online direct from the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. |
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The Rough Guide to Ireland - Published by Rough Guides ISBN 1-85828-128-8 A very useful guide to all things in Ireland.
Finding a shop open till late is not much of a problem in Ireland. They seem to have long opening hours and seem to be open most of Sunday. Most petrol stations have a small shop or supermarket attached.
 We have used the Irish rail service several times to transport our bikes, however we have heard that the Irish Rail company this year (2008) have installed a new fleet of rolling stock which have no guards van or cycle storage facilities. Therefore there may be some trains that you can not use, you will need to contact Iarnród Éireann (Irish Railways) for more details and up to date information.
If you know which dates you are traveling it is best to check for engineering works in advance, as we got caught out hoping to travel from Rosslair to Kilarney and found when we got to Rosslair that they were replacing the bridge at Cahir and thus had to travel via Dublin!
 You can also take your bikes on most of the buses in Ireland. However it is up to discretion of the driver as to whether your bikes are carried, as it depends on the available luggage space. If you are on a long journey with several changes of bus, you may be OK on the first leg but may have problems with later connections. Having said that we had no problems on our journey to Kilarney from Wexford where we had to change buses at Waterford and Cork. For more information on the Irish buses look here.
- The roads in the more remote areas can be narrow and in the more tourist areas such as the Kerry peninsular quite busy in the summer months.
- The surfaces of allot of Irelands roads are often quite poor in places and care needs to taken to avoid the lumps,bumps and potholes.
- Irish sign posting as mentioned above can be a bit of a hit and miss affair and a good map is advised.
There are numerous ways to get to Ireland either by Ferry or plane, it very much depends on where in Ireland you wish to go. Here are a few links that might help you.
- Aerlingus - Flights to Dublin, Cork & Shannon.
- Aerarann - Flights to Cork from Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh & Southampton, to Donegal from Glasgow, to Galway from Birmingham, Edinburgh, London & Manchester, to Kerry from Manchester, to Knock from Liverpool, to Waterford from London & Manchester.
- Ryan Air - Flights to Shannon from Glasgow & London Stansted , to Knock, Kerry, Cork from London Stansted and flights to Dublin from most of the UK's regional airports.
- Easyjet - Flights to Cork, Knock & Shannon from London Gatwick.
Tourist Information
There is a Tourist information Office in most of the major towns and cities. They have information on places of interest in there local area and sell Ordnance survey of Ireland maps of the area.
- Cork Kerry Region - A guide to cycling routes, cycling holiday specialists in the Cork and Kerry Region.
- Donegal, Cavan Leitrim, Monaghan, Sligo - A guide to bicycle rental, cycling routes, cycling holiday specialists in Ireland North West.
- South East Ireland - Cycling information, routes and guides in Carlow, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Waterford and Wexford.
- East coast & Midlands - Cycling routes and information.
- Cycling in the Clare, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary and Offaly - Cycling Routes and information.
- Galway Mayo Roscommon Region - A guide to cycling routes, cycling holiday specialists in the Galway Mayo and Roscommon Region.
General Information
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