Where to Go and Stay in Ireland.
 

Two UK-based CB500X riders heading to Ireland for a three to four day winter trip this year. We will be keeping to minor roads mainly and plan on camping for most nights. Looking for suggested routes (we are arriving and departing from Rosslare), destinations and accommodation options. The plan is to do a big loop from Rosslare, out to the Atlantic coast, over to Dublin and south to Rosslare.

Thanks in advance.

I presume you've heard of the Wild Atlantic Way? I just came back from a trip round (literally round) Ireland taking in the WAW and its little brother in the North, the Causeway Coastal Route. It was an enjoyable couple of weeks, though marred somewhat by appalling wet and windy weather. I seriously wouldn't recommend camping, unless you like going to bed soaked wet through, staying wet all night and getting up wet in the morning for the next day's ride. Also note all land in Ireland is owned by somebody or other, so wild camping is technically illegal.

If you're staying fairly well south just head over to Kinsale to start the WAW, follow the "WAW North" signs round. You can decide yourself how far to ride each day and whether you want to cut out particular peninsulas. Coming back if you are heading for Dublin head south through the Wicklow Mountains and Sally Gap. Beautiful but can get a bit wild in winter. The WAW is quite well signposted but IME can be confusing and it's not hard to miss a sign. You don't need to plot a route on GPS but if you do have GPS that makes it easier to get back onto the WAW should you leave it.

Read about my experiences on www.facebook.com/motosunburn (not much danger of sunburn on this trip though).

There are any number of little family run roadside B&B places as you tour round. I couldn't find a website that listed them all so it would be a case of calling in as you pass. They are probably cheaper than the ones I found on booking.com which start around 90 Euros. It's not a cheap country to stay but riding in bad weather most of the time, I wanted to be sure I had somewhere dry to stay overnight. Check out hostels as well, one good place I stayed was Finn McCool's by the Giants Causeway. Big plus, electric radiator in room to dry gloves!

I did a similar trip a few months ago at the beginning of June and like @Tomkat above I was solo on a KTM 790 Adventure. My biking friends were off to France but I was saving my 90 in 180 days for right now, so I needed to be somewhere not in the Schengen zone.

I decided to concentrate on a relatively small area of the Wild Atlantic Way in the south west of the country. Ireland is not cheap for accommodation and I chose to stop overnight in hostels. I would encourage you to do the same as (a) it's a long time dark in winter to be sitting in a tent, and (b) you waste an awful lot of time each morning breaking camp, especially if wet.

Day 1: I woke in London at 4:30am, started out at 6am, and took the 1pm ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare, arriving 4:30pm. I slept in a day cabin during crossing and overnighted in Sheila's Hostel in Cork (fine hostel).

Day 2: The next day I rode the Ring of Beara (green route), then overnighted in the Railway Hostel Killarney. The Railway was a major disappointment, so I can't recommend that one.

Day 3: Rode the Ring of Kerry (blue route).

Day 4: Rode the Dingle Peninsula (red route and my favourite of the three) and overnighted in the Grapevine Hostel in Dingle (lovely hostel).

Day 5: Rode to Dublin, overnighting in Jacobs Inn Hostel (real upmarket)

Day 6: day in Dublin

Day 7: Ferry to Holyhead, rode home.

My trip was close to midsummer, so long daylight hours and great weather. In the depths of winter you might struggle with just four days, five would be better if you can manage it, and even then you would need to knock out one of the 'rings' and the day in Dublin. In fact if you are leaving from Rosslare, it doesn't make sense to go north first to Dublin.

GPX file is attached with routes and 40+ waypoints (I had to remove the tracks to and from the UK ports to comply with file size restrictions).

The Irish Road Trip Guide is a useful planning site. I booked hostels through HostelWorld. Happy to answer any questions.

Hostels have changed an awful lot since I first did Youth Hostelling nearly 60 years ago!

This is the reception area in Jacobs Inn in Dublin. And a photo of the 'pod' sleeping system where you have privacy curtains and electric sockets in each pod.

Ireland was lovely, and the Dingle peninsula is every bit as impressive as Scotland's west coast. Locals were consistently welcoming, creating a very positive and happy atmosphere.

I have every intention to return next year to tackle more of the Wild Atlantic Way.

Dublin is eye-wateringly expensive. I couldn't find anything under 150 EUR for the night, and that's out of season :o I wanted to spend a day there but the cost of that, the weather coming in and the fact that I've visited the city several times before meant I gave it a miss.

Jacobs Inn was less than €30.

But two other negatives about Dublin. The traffic is AWFUL coming down the streets either side of the River Liffy.

And you can only park motorbikes on the street in three specific places, none of them anywhere near my accommodation, and two of them in areas I wouldn't choose to leave a bike. I asked a nice policeman who said the wardens were children of unmarried mothers. The solution, he told me, was to park on the pavement where the wardens apparently can't touch you.