Which ferry to Ireland
 

Good afternoon I am planning my first trip on a motorbike next year, which will be a week long round Ireland. I will be starting off near Milton Keynes and just wondering which is the best ferry company to use? We will be planning to go up to the giant causeway at some point during the week but apart from that will touring around hopefully as much of Ireland as possible.

Any suggestions are more than welcome
Cheers

Charlie

I did the Holyhead/Dublin ferry earlier this year. Ferry left mid afternoon and arrived in Dublin just in time to park the bike up and head out for a night on the Guinness .......

Don't expect to be doing big mileage in Ireland unless you are sticking on the motorways. Country roads are pretty tight, twisty and bumpy.

If you are around Northern Ireland and like road racing, a pint in Joey's Bar in Ballymoney is a must.

I just got back from six week ride through Europe, starting in Ireland. Do not miss the Ring of Dingle! Town itself is a bit touristy, but the sea and landscapes out towards the western end are breathtaking. Also Molls Gap!
I ended up in Cork and took the Brittany Ferry to Roscoff. Good opportunity to get some sleep in a private berth onboard something like a cruise ship for about $100.

Dale

I'm in Thame, so not so far from you, and we used the Hollyhead to Dublin ferry when we went a couple of years ago. Dublin's a good starting point as there's fast roads both north to Belfast and south to Cork. You could easily spend a week just in Dublin though. Keep your fingers crossed about the weather - when it's good it's fabulous there, but when it's not ... (IMHO)

Hello Charlie
Another option worth considering is the ferry from Fishguard (Wales) to rosslare (Ireland)

Riding across the Brecon Beacons to reach Fishguard would be a great way to start your trip

I rode the Irish coast this year and can recommend the south and west coasts for beautiful scenery and great riding - in my opinion much more interesting than the east coast

following the coast road from mizzen head in the south to dungloe in Donegal county will take best part of a week

The sea cliffs west of Donegal are spectacular and although higher than the famous cliffs of moher they haven't been captured as a commercial attraction (yet)
Be prepared for crowds at the giants causeway!!

As someone said the weather can be challenging so take you wet weather gear - however riding through rural Ireland on a sunny day is glorious

Good luck with your trip

Giants Causeway
 

Went to see it by car years ago and the car park seemed a bit steep. Felt I knew it intimately by the number of times the BBC have shown it on various prog's so saved the money. Weather was indifferent mind.

Cheers for the replies, I like the idea of the Fishguard route

Ireland
 

Here's some Irish advice from an Irishman who's toured Ireland a few times.
Suggest from your neck of the woods Fishguard Rosslare ferry - turn left off the ferry and keep going keeping the sea to your left. No seriously.
Rosslare to Cork via Waterford and join the Wild Atlantic Way at Cork.
Wild Atlantic Way | Ireland.com
When you finish in WAW in Derry join the Causeway Coast Route round to Belfast taking the Antrim Coast Road (including a bit of the NW200 road race route and Joey's Memorial and Bar is a must)
Causeway Coastal Route
Then pick up the East Coast Tourist route back through the Wicklow Mountains to Wexford and Rosslare.
http://www.ireland.com/en-gb/itinera.../celtic-coast/
A word of caution. The Wild Atlantic Way is as long as the coast of Norway. Don't be fooled by the distances. They are all Irish Miles! so if you are short of time you will have to be realistic on what you can achieve.
Try taking a few of the short ferry hops across the Loughs. The Shannon ferry at Tarbert. The Swilly Ferry at Rathmullen. The Foyle Ferry at Greencastle. The Strangford Ferry at Portaferry. They all add to the experience.
A month should do it justice. PM me if you want any more suggestions. Regards Victor

Cheers victor wish I had a month spare, will probably only have 7 - 10 days available this time round but will definitely have a look at some of those routes.

Ireland
 

Hi Charlie, I went to Ireland in 2011 for 7 nights and it was my first trip on a bike . There were 6 of us in total, 3 bikes (one with pillion) and one car. We ended up doing a mix of Camping, B&Bs and one Outdoor activity centre hostel type accommodation that I managed to haggle a good price on for the group.

Took the ferry from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire. Spent a night in Dublin (camping on the outskirts and got the bus in), then headed to the Giants Causeway.

On the trip we also visited the Guiness Factory, Bushmills distillery, Father Ted's house and took in the Wild Atlantic way. Joey Dunlop's bar is also meant to be well worth a visit but we didn't make it on that occasion.

Found everybody there to be really friendly and a lot of people we bumped into were really into their bikes.

We kept the plan quite loose, normally planning where our next stop would be by speaking to locals in the pubs etc the night before. We only pre booked where to stay for the first and last night. Appreciate that isn't to everybody's preference when it comes to planning but worked well for us.

The post recommending the Brecons before the ferry sounds a good idea. I went through them on a separate trip and the roads / scenery are brilliant.

Have a good time.

This is one option for 2-3 days.

https://goo.gl/maps/6itrN4gBzaM2