From Kilkenny to ???

Irisheyes · Senior Member

From Kilkenny to ???

Michele Erdvig · Host

Irisheyes,

Which roads you take will depend entirely on what you want to see along the way. N roads are the main roads and generally tend to be wider, with motorways in spots. They are usually better signposted than the other roads. R roads are more rural routes and I actually like them because all the traffic tends to be on the N roads and many times you can have the R roads to yourself. It is easier to get lost on the R roads because of poor signposting (depending on the area), which is why I travel with a compass (what a help). My husband bought a fantastic digital compass on Ebay. You just point it in any direction, press a button and it tells you the exact direction. On your trip you will probably mostly stick to the N roads with a few R roads thrown in when you want to do off-the-beaten-path sightseeing.

Kilkenny to Killarney really depends on your route. Probably the quickest would be around 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Have you thought of a night in Kinsale?

Michele

P.S. There are also a few M roads which are motorways.

-- Edited by Michele Erdvig at 01:27, 2005-11-08

Irisheyes · Senior Member

I'm not sure about Kenmare - we are NOT considering the Ring, so would there be enough to do/see ? The Ring doesn't sound too thrilling for someone who gets car sick and hates winding roads .... did I mention two school aged kids in the back seat ? UGH! Rick Steves said to give Kenmare one night and a couple hours. Would you concur? We were hoping to do longer stays, but possibly a single night might be better. Dingle and Killareny N. Park are also on the agenda. We enjoy exploring the outdoors, perhaps a soccer game in Dublin, cultural /trad things, and will need memorable/fun things for the kids too. I'm getting worried about spending too much time in the car. I almost wonder if we should just rent a place and stay put instead of wandering so much.

Anyone know when the school in IRELAND let out for the summer?

Michele, I'm excited to see you're adding a "kid" section to the web site.

Irisheyes · Senior Member

Michele,
Oh, dear, perhaps I need glasses. I see you didn't mention Kenmare at all. I'll go back now and look/see where KINSALE is in relation to the other places on our list.

Thank you so much for the helpful road info and the digital compass sounds neat!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Irisheyes,

Kinsale is south of Cork City. From your added comments about getting car sick, you will probably want to stick to the M & N roads as much as possible.

Michele

Irisheyes · Senior Member

Thank you. M and N are easy to remember.

I think we would enjoy Kinsale. I do see that you mention in your book that it is less hectic there on the weedays... I'm sure we would appreciate the resturant choices too.
Can you tell me how far in driving time it is from Kilkenny ? I am interested in finding out more about the Vee drive. Is it long and curvy?

Michele Erdvig · Host

Irisheyes,

The Vee Drive is not too bad. It does get curvy in a few places (but what road in Ireland doesn't?). Take a look at your map. It is the R668 between Cahir and Lismore. If you decided to take that route from Kilkenny you will be on more rural roads so the drive times will be a bit longer than the N roads. About an hour to Cahir and another 2 1/2 hours down to Kinsale. Of course that is supposing that you don't get involved in Cork City traffic which can be very bad at rush hour...or lost, which is easy to do around Cork.

Weekends in Kinsale can be very busy, so weekdays are better if you can manage it.

Michele