You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Presuming you can put your caravan on the ferry like you do for France, Northern Ireland would seem like a nice place to explore for mountains and a bit of wild countryside.. probably end up in Northern ROI as well..? Galway? I've heard bad things about ROI roads out in the sticks..
Any suggestions? Holyhead to Dublin ferry probably the best option...
Nothing wrong with the roads if you have done Scotland 😀
Cracking beaches on the North Coast. Of the Northern trail centres, I’ve only ridden Davagh forest on the bike, which was largely good fun, if a little limited in scale. MTB mates in the North mostly ride around Rostrevor. I hear good things about the mountains of Mourne from the same group of mates, all of whom are into other mountain sports (mostly climbing).
Belfast is cool; outside of Belfast, some of the rural spots might feel a little backward (certainly in terms of eating out). Been about 4 years since I was over, so it may have improved.
My riding started in Newcastle NI (Mourne) in the early 90s. It was a great place then, and apparently it’s got better. Good access to mountains for walking, riding and general outdoor shenanigans. Plenty of AirBNB places all over if you didn’t fancy towing a van
It’s pretty easy to get North from Dublin (mebbe 2 hrs with the caravan from the Port) - there is a toll road from the port to the motorway that’s normally €3 (but can be €10 at evening rush hour in the week). Another €2 for the motorway north. You can avoid em both if need be
Northern Northern Ireland has good scenery. Look for the coast road from Belfast. Then visit lots of small places on the way to Donegal. South of Dublin is good too (some good riding and walks in the Wicklow Mountains). Galway and the West Coast is meant to be good but I’ve not been for many years. Belfast itself has benefitted from the Game of Thrones and Star Wars filming (a lot more money / hotels / restaurants than when I lived there in the 90s)
I’m hoping to go back over next year for a week or so n do what you’re suggesting
As an aside - you could just put the bikes in the car and head to Stranraer via that Stane that’s out of the way. The Stranraer - Larne trip is pretty short.
The Antrim coast is brilliant. Then head for Donegal.
Used to live in Belfast, as mentioned, the Mournes is ace for riding, particularly Rostrevor, Bigwood and Donard Forest. Rostrevor is an excellent trail centre, and there's plenty of off piste stuff to go at that's a bit more engaging.
In terms of a general holiday, the North Coast is beautiful - will get busier depending on the time of year, and the weather can be a bit hit and miss, Donegal over in the ROI is stunning, all the way up the North West coast. Super rural and isolated, and a lot of the roads away from the main trunk roads are little more than gravel tracks. That said, pristine beaches which you'll generally have to yourself when the weather is good is unbeatable.
One thing to note, if you were planning a summer holiday, I wouldn't head over in July. Can get a bit lively, and a significant proportion of the population choose July to go on holiday.
I’m slightly biased as I live here but I think it’s a great place for a holiday.
Belfast has changed so much over the past few years and now has great attractions, restaurants & hotels.
If you are thinking of sticking to the top half of the island here are my recommendations:
Belfast, Carlingford, Rostrevor, Clare Burren, Doolin, Galway City, Don Aonghasa on the Aran islands, Leenane, Clifden, the Sky Road, Kylemore abbey, Achill Island, Slieve League and Glenveagh.
The Causeway Coastal route and the Wild Atlantic Way are good driving routes to base any trip around.
Happy to answer any questions or give any advice.
If you go post brexit you'll probably be able to make a few quid smuggling from the NI / EU single market back to the brexit wasteland.
Newcastle and Rostrevor as mentioned, very nice, Donncha seems to have banged out a pretty good list. The Wild Atlantic Way has been very good at getting a lot of the tourist areas and attractions to be more intergrated and well worth doing.
First of all, you've made a very wise choice 😉
For driving/caravan holidays check out tge following -
Causeway coastal route
Mourne coastal route
The wild atlantic way (my personal fav)
There's tons to do on any of them, enjoy!
We had a day free in Belfast for a wedding and had an interesting time touring all the Troubles landmarks, was genuinely gobsmacked by the number and size of peace walls there. We did one of the black cab tours, highly recomended.
Belfast, Carlingford, Rostrevor, Clare Burren, Doolin, Galway City, Don Aonghasa on the Aran islands, Leenane, Clifden, the Sky Road, Kylemore abbey, Achill Island, Slieve League and Glenveagh.
father ted'd parochial house is in the Burren.
nothing wrong with the roads if you have done Scotland
I would disagree with that, head right up to the top of ireland at Malin Head and the roads are crap, a caravan would be a real PITA
Ditch the caravan somewhere and just go for a drive. Even then, you’ll struggle
On a related note, we're off to Belfast for a long weekend New Year break - out on the 27th, back on the 1st. Any recommendations? Fancy the black cab tour as mentioned above, anything else?
If you go to Donegal, don’t forget your wet weather gear 😉
Donncha missed out Derry/Londonderry and the Lakes but otherwise it's all rather lovely. I can point you at a cracking AirBnB in the lee of the Glenshane Pass (Belfast side) that's rather good.
IHN I suppose it depends on what you want to do!
Belfast centre has good shopping & restaurants.
Botanic Park can be worth a walk as it has a nice museum & tropical ravine (all free) and is right beside queens university which makes a nice back drop for a photo.
Obviously a pub crawl is an absolute must! I recommend the Crown, Fibber Magee’s, Duke of York, upstairs in the Spaniard, but there are too many to mention.
If you want to stretch your legs then Black/Divis mountain or else Cave Hill make good walks.
The tour of Crumlin road gaol is really good. The titanic centre is supposed to good too though I haven’t been yet. The small zoo near cave hill is nice.
Any specifics questions feel free to get back to me.
Cheers donncha
That looks like a good range of stuff, including the pub crawl(s) natch 🙂
We're staying in the Ramada near the cathedral, so will want to do stuff that's walkable or easily bus/trainable from there. Any ideas for New Year's Evening itself?
You are in a great location and most places will be easily reachable. Taxis are very reasonable too.
I wouldn’t be a big NYE person. There will be plenty on. Here are four ideas:
https://visitbelfast.com/whats-on/events/the-governors-ball-new-years-eve
https://titanicbelfast.com/Explore/whatson/NYE/
https://www.blackboxbelfast.com/event/bedlam-bazaar-nye/?instance_id=74537
https://themaclive.com/event/i-heart-nye-big-top-party
Re roads, we went to the far side of Mull with the caravan two years ago. But at least there were lots of passing places 🙂
Re roads, we went to the far side of Mull with the caravan two years ago. But at least there were lots of passing places 🙂
You must have been popular:-)
The roads up in donegal aren't as bad as the ones on the that side of mull. Apart from the ones at the very top . If you go up to banbas crown just after malin head where they filmed some star wars stuff then you will probably get stuck
IHN also check out St George’s market...