UK & Ireland this spring! Tips needed!
 

The time has come for a visit the British Isles! I'll be arriving late April and the plan is to visit all of the UK countries and Ireland. So I am looking for tips on where to ride.

I already plan on visiting the Isle of Man, since it was "one of the 7 motocycle wonders of the world" on Adv Rider Radio Raw. But that is all I have for now. Maybe a visit to Stonehenge would be worth it?

I'm mainly looking for motorcycle specific roads/places, but also non motorcycle specific recommendations are welcome!

May can be a great month in the British Isles weather wise and you’ll miss all the holiday traffic.
There’s so much to see so it might be an idea to give us more information - how long have you got? Have you got an arrival/exit port in mind? Have you got any must sees on your list?

The plan is to spend a month or a little more. But a lot of that time will be spent working remotely on my laptop. So I'd move cities during the weekend and then explore the nearby areas during the afternoons.

I can use any exit/entry port but i'm probably taking the ferry to Dover, since that seems to be the cheapest/easiest. For the exit i'd like to try the Eurotunnel.

For must sees, just the Isle of man.

Ok, but what do you *like* (or as the case may be, *not like*)? Museums? Music? Food? Pubs? Small towns? Big cities? Mountains? Seashores? Ruins? Twisty roads? Meeting locals? Trekking? Architecture? History? Quaint and rural? Glitzy and modern?

Pretend this list goes on and on for several pages (which it easily could). The more input, the more likely you get useful responses.

Hope that’s helpful.

Mark

Scotland, Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands

Love:
Big cities, Twisty Roads, History, Beautiful Views, Good food

Like:
Meeting locals, Everything else in life

Was mainly looking for "must visit" things. But I guess I can google that on my own.

My suggestions, some slightly left field.
Cities - Manchester and Galway
History - Lincoln city and Edinburgh
Twisties - Northumberland, Scotland, Wales but watch your speed.
Views - anywhere in Scotland, North Yorkshire moors and dales, Wales and Ireland.
Finally, if your doing the south section of the WAW ride along the Copper Coast (Waterford) as well.
bier

For such a small area the British Isles are incredibly diverse.

I would recommend you visited Scotland and in particular the north west coast. The Isle of Skye is magical but can be a bit overrun with tourists in places, I love The Cuillins and always spend a day there when on Skye. Applecross on the mainland is worth a visit and the Walled Garden restaurant is a must visit. There is a route around the entire north of Scotland called the NC500 but I think the highlights worth visiting are all the west coast side. Maybe do some island hopping over to the Outer Hebrides, Calmac ferries provide the service. The sea food on the west coast is amazing, a particular favourite of mine is fish & chips in Mallaig, so so fresh as they land the fish there.

Southern England is great and I'd recommend heading to the Isle of Purbeck and heading southwest as far as you can get. Devon & Cornwall are incredibly popular in the warmer months so you may want to avoid.

London is utterly fabulous IMO but isn't everyones ideal location and can be truly expensive. Some great eating experiences, shows, music, museums.... it has it all really.

The rest of England has a lot to offer too, the national parks are all worth a visit - The Lake District, Peak District etc.

Wales is splendid, in the north is Snowdonia and its rugged hills/mountains. South Wales is interesting especially its industrial past. Great roads.

Ireland is worth a month or 2 on its own! I lived there for 4 years and didn't see it all. I loved the west & south west coasts, these areas felt different to the rest of Ireland.

If you are passing the south of England, I'd highly recommended riding the A272 which runs east to west and passes some of the best countryside in the south of England. Pretty towns such as Billingshurst, Petworth, Midhurst, a famous biker cafe Loomies where it crosses the A32, and finishes in Winchester.

Winchester is a delightful historic city of Roman origin, and a former capital of England, and well worth a stopover. There is a famous Cathedral, and King Arthur's round table in the Great Hall of the former castle.

From here you could continue west to Salisbury, another historic town, and also visit nearby Stonehenge.

Stonehenge is not worth while. It's a big pile of rocks. Historic, sure, but really not worth paying to visit. If you take the A303 road from London to the Southwest, you'll spend time sitting in a traffic jam past it, so you'll see it for free anyway. Avebury, with isn't far away, is free and more interesting IMO.

A couple of must-do's (though now getting quite popular/touristy/busy) are the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, and the North Coast 500 in Scotland.

The IoM is nice, and has a well developed tourist industry despite its small size. It still has stretches of road (mainly over the Mountain) that have no speed limits, and a combination of fast sweeping and slow nadgery roads. I'm sure you know about the bike racing side of it, which is like nothing else on earth, but realistically unless you've booked well ahead it's very hard to get ferry crossings and accommodation for the races. Still plenty to do and see though, start by looking at www.visitisleofman.com

In the rest of the country I'd recommend the Southwest. North Wales and the Lake District for great roads and scenery. You'll clock up plenty of miles doing all those. If you want particular historic sites or cities that's a whole nother other ;)