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Post Info TOPIC: Driving in Ireland: Use AA Roadwatch web-site or Just Bring a Map and Wing it?
Melissa5


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Driving in Ireland: Use AA Roadwatch web-site or Just Bring a Map and Wing it?
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Michele and those of you who have survived driving in Ireland: do you pre-plan your driving routes before you leave for Ireland? Or do you just bring a good map and worry about it when you get there? Maybe ask directions from your b&b host/hostess?

I have a Complete Road Atlas of Ireland from the OSI (Ordnance Survey Ireland) which does include place names in Gaelic. It's spiral-bound and has an index.

I also have 3 typical tourist-type maps.

I have our basic itinerary. But I don't necessarily know what we will want to stop and see when enroute from one destination to another.

Do I need to pre-plan the whole driving route and print out detailed directions from mapquest? But how will I do this if I'm not sure where we want to stop enroute?

Our basic itinerary is this:
Fly into Shannon.
Rent car.
1 night: Bunratty Lodge
3 nights: Heatons' guesthouse, Dingle
3 nights: Drumcreehy House, Ballyvaughan
3 nights: Westport (The Boulevard Guesthouse; right in town)
2 nights: Craig Park guesthouse, near Bushmills
(take Antrim coast drive when we leave Bushmills)
2 nights: Hillsborough (Fortwilliam Country House)
(include visit to Belfast and to Ulster Folk and Transport Museum)
1 night: Malahide (Beechwood b&b)

I'm not sure which is the most interesting route to take between these places and what not to miss along the way:
Bunratty to Dingle
Dingle to Ballyvaughan
Ballyvaughan to Westport
Westport to Bushmills

From Bushmills to Hillsborough, we will take the Antrim coast drive.

From Hillsborough, we will day-trip to Belfast and the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra. (2 nights in Hillsborough). When we leave Hillsborough, we don't plan to arrive in Mahalide for our last night until the evening.

So, how would you experts plan the drives? Just pick a few target spots to stop along the way and use the road atlas to navigate? Plan everything in greater detail and print out mapquest directions?

I'd sure appreciate any advice on the most pleasurable way to get lost in Ireland.




-- Edited by Melissa5 at 14:33, 2006-06-24

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CCJPO


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RE: Driving in Ireland: Use Mapquest or Just Bring a Map and Wing it?
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Melissa5


The best way to drive in Ireland is to just do it. Driving in Ireland is not as difficult as it seems you think it will be. One shouldn't worry about surviving driving in Ireland, one should embelish and embrace it for what it is. It is not a contest, it is an adventure and should be treated as such.


As many have said, driving in Ireland is a slow process, oft times taking two hours to go 50 or 60 miles. But what is even better, is that even in July, high season. many of the secondary and the thirdary roads are are pretty much yours for the taking. Not much traffic, if any at all. And you can drive 10 miles an hour if you want to. And if anyone comes up behind you, just pull off to the side of the road when you find a safe spot to do so and let them pass you. Then go about your merry way.


Certainly take a good map with you, and a compass, and have some one be designated as the primary navigator, but remember the best part of going to Ireland is getting lost. In our 120 days in Ireland over the past 4 years our best adventures have been when we were lost. Nothing finer then ending up on a single track dirt road that dead ends at the ocean. Ireland is so small that as long as one knows how to figure out which way is north, then all the other directions are a cake walk. And you will never be to far from where your next planned stop will be.


I recognize that you may be much more anal about planning your trips then we are, however, you need to stop worrying about each little detail, or you won't experiece that slow pace and taste of Ireland. Your clothes will be fine, your rooms will be quiet enough for you to sleep in, you will find pubs that have sessions, the food will be fine, after all one cannot go wrong with having  soup and bread in a pub. And remember you don't have to eat all your potatoes. I recall one restaurant in Galway where I had lamb shanks, and it ended up coming with chips (fries), colcannon, and boiled potatoes in a butter, and parsley sauce. Talk about carb overload.


My advice is to slow down, stop worrrying about every detail, stop worrying about planning so much in order to make sure that everyone has fun. Let Ireland come to you, rather then you  trying  to go to Ireland. You will have a much better time. Ireland is a magical place as long as you don't rush it. Stop and let it engulf and embrace you. Let the fog, mist, soft weather touch your soul, and you will truly experience the magnificence and  the majesty and the magicalness of Ireland.


 


And as the song goes" slow down you move to fast, you gotta make the morning last'


 


Enjoy your trip



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Melissa5


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RE: Driving in Ireland: Use AA Roadwatch web-site or Just Bring a Map and Wing it?
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CCJPO, is CC3PO a cousin of yours?

Your reply is full of good information, and a powerful sensory impression of Ireland. You have gathered a lot of travel experience in Ireland in your 120 days and I appreciate you sharing it with me.

You gotta remember, though, we are all different. I cannot stop being a super-planner just as you cannot resist letting an insult or 2 slip into your replies! We're all unique, let's enjoy the differences. That's the beauty of IrelandYes.com

My family has been enjoying richly satisfying trips ever since I started using on-line forums to plan. My daughters have already asked me to plan their future honeymoons (no they aren't engaged yet!) They are already asking where are we going next summer. Some people on-line who don't know me think that since I am planning so many details, I haven't got a spontaneous bone in my body, and I'm gonna ruin the trip. Not so!

Actually, I enjoy planning the trips, and because we are a family of individuals with very different personalities and needs, our desires will clash, producing disagreements and stress, which isn't fun on vacation. Therefore in order to be spontaneous and fun and relaxing, our trips need to be carefully planned. Just to give you one example, my hubby is very driven; his idea of relaxing is to go on a 5-mile hike at dawn. His idea of pacing is to go go go from the moment he wakes up until we all drop our heads on the pillow, skipping lunch. Then he says, "If only we hadn't wasted so much time, we could have fit more in!! Doing vacations "spontaneously", we all used to end up being driven at his pace, and mostly doing his activities as well. There were a lot of grumblers and I always lost weight on those vacations!

So I decided to take over the trip planning and everyone has been happy, even hubby.

Now, my older daughter, who is now 20, is as slow-paced as a turtle. She has an artistic eye, and must stop every 2 feet to pause and examine the patterns of life. She is slow to start, and likes to stop frequently. When engaged in an interesting activity, you can't pry her off of it. My personality is similar to hers, only not as stubborn. I am more flexible and can adjust my pace to someone else's.

I won't describe my younger daughter and son but that gives you some idea of the challenges of our vacations.

I discovered the best way for everyone to be happy was to carefully select very interesting places to stop for at least 3 nights in one place, and make sure the transportation situation allowed us the option of splitting up for part of the day. This takes care of hubby's need to drive himself and our need to relax more.

Anyway back to Ireland. I am delighted to hear from you that many of the secondary and third roads have light traffic even in July. Sounds good to me. I gotta laugh about driving in Ireland being a slow process...2 hours to go 50 miles, you say. We might not get anywhere, because hubby is a biologist and frequently pulls over to examine what looks to the world like a weed. I love stopping in little villages and poking around.

So I am totally ready to take a trip that goes nowhere in Ireland, and enjoy every rainy misty magical moment! Love your descriptions, CCJPO.

What is colcannon? I'm curious now. As for potatoes, my older daughter loves potatoes and is eager to try Irish potatoes in every variety. I'm on a healthy diet, low-glycemic, full of only healthy fats like olive oil. But that goes out the window in Ireland, where I fully expect to enjoy butter, potatoes, sausage, whatever I find on my plate! (Back to lowering my cholesterol when we return home...)

As for your advice to stop worrying so much, my own kids have fondly dubbed me the "family worrier". They said it is my job! Believe me, if I didn't worry about which raincoat to buy and whether the b&b will be quiet, I would be worrying about far worse things like terrorist attacks and the end of the world, so I actually enjoy "worrying" about that list of restaurants I didn't compile yet!

I find all the planning soothing. It sounds like for you this much planning would be aggravating. Hubby likes me to do the planning, so he doesn't have to stop and waste time thinking about it!

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oopsy


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Hi Melissa,


We did a combo of atlas--aa roadwatch and via michelin printed directions--getting lost. I pre-printed directions from either via michelin or aa roadwatch for main routes...base to base drives. Then I highlighted those drives on the atlas. The detail of the pre-printed was great when we were going through some towns. The atlas was great for identifying spots where we wanted to get off the pre-planned route. I could look at my highlighted route and see a possible ruin of some sort marked on the atlas, and away we woud go. That worked for us, but as you point out, we're all different. Consider what has worked for you on your other big trips as well. We didn't think finding our way in Ireland was any tougher than finding our way in Spain.


Oh--if you do print out detailed directions, print them in kilometers!! I foolishly printed them in miles. I'd see we were to drive 4 miles before turning, and then have to calculate kilometers so we could use the car's odometer. Also, contrary to many other posters, we found driving times to be pretty accurate if we subtracted our stopping for photos and exploring time.


Have fun! --oopsy


 



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Melissa5


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OOpsy, what is the via michelin site for printing directions? I know about the AA Roadwatch site.

And of course I have the Atlas... Oh, cool, I didn't notice til you mentioned it that the Atlas does have little symbols indicating things like viewpoints, nature reserves, and of course the mysterious "Other Place of Interest" noted by a red square. I can see I will have to pack a magnifying glass to read the "named antiquities", printed in tiny red writing on the map! This could be a very useful item, this OSI Atlas, unless I drop it in a big mud puddle...

Good idea to print out any directions in kilometers.

You asked what has worked for us on other trips...well in Costa Rica we relied on directions from the hotels and got lost. In Italy we took the train and public buses which was great. On islands you just sort of drive round and round. In New Zealand there's one main highway going all around.

So Ireland will be a unique driving vacation for us! I am mist-ified already and I'm not even on Irish soil yet. I sure hope the b&b hosts/hosteses in Ireland are better at directions than the folks working in Costa Rica were. (I honestly don't think the employees in Costa Rica could understand our maps...)

But how did you decide what your main route was, the one you highlighted on the Atlas? It seems like there is more than one way to get from Dingle to Ballyvaughan, for example.

Thanks for your thoughts, OOpsy.





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Michele Erdvig


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Melissa,


Well....most of the time I don't need a map! Dare I say I know Ireland better than Atlanta? Mostly I have trouble finding B&Bs because their addresses are not really addresses as we know them with house numbers and street addresses. One good thing about my book is maps and directions on how to find the B&Bs. One in particular on your list -- Craig Park in Bushmills -- you will need those directions for.


You will be fine with the maps you have. Also asking directions in Ireland is quite an experience. I will never forget the instructions I received once: "Turn right at the white cow." Thing is it worked!


One thing that will help is when you arrive in each town, go to the tourist office and get a map of that town. They are usually free. The people at the tourist office will also mark places of interest on it, if you ask.


I agree with CCJPO not to worry about it. At the start of each day sit down with your map and familiarize yourself with your route and towns along the way. Ask your hosts at each stop for especially scenic routes they would recommend. This is the Michelin site: http://www.viamichelin.co.uk/viamichelin/gbr/tpl/hme/MaHomePage.htm


Michele



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Melissa5


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Michele, I would be lost without your book. In fact I am now actually reading it cover to cover, whereas before I was skimming happily about, skipping here and there. It's going on my packing list.

By now you must know Ireland better than the locals, as they don't go around checking on all those b&bs like you do. Have you caught yourself speaking Gaelic in Atlanta?!

Turn right at the white cow! Only in Ireland!

I am almost utterly insane at this point and I really need a vacation! Things are stressful around here. Before one person is done with his/her problem, another person starts having a problem, without even waiting for his/her turn! Completely unfair!

I am looking forward to slowing down in Ireland and enjoying 2 weeks where our only job is to have a good time together.

Everybody has given me good advice. Print out some directions from AA and Michelin but don't stress about it. Ask the b&b hosts for scenic routes. Bring my road atlas, and turn right at the white cow!

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