Northern Ireland Itinerary

KRenner · Newbie

Northern Ireland Itinerary

wojazz3 · Guru

Hi Kelsi:

I'm in Colorado also. My 1st piece of advice is that you are doing way too much driving on the 1st day. Despite viamichelin calling it a 3 hour drive to Donegal town. It's probably at least 5. Slieve League is a slow drive from there and the road to the top of Slieve League is one of the most treacherous in Ireland. Most consider Dublin to Galway a 4 hour drive and Donegal is much further. You catch a plane to Donegal and have a much shorter trip. I can't imaging getting to Slieve League in less than 6 hours and you will be pretty jet lagged. Please reconsider that day.

With that, you may need to do some juggling to get the Cliffs and Glenbeigh park in since they are both must see. The Donegal airport is very close to Glenbeigh so maybe you could see that the first day and the Cliffs the next. Sort of has you going the wrong way the second day, but the N15 through Donegal moves pretty quickly. Think about this.

I don't know anything about the Mornington sand dunes, but I would think you could get that in on the ride from Newcastle. The M1 is in now and driving is very fast from the north. Be prepared for tolls. If for some reason you are spending a great deal of time at the dunes and you can't do it on the 23rd, I would not spend the 24th in Dublin. It's much too much work driving in Dublin and much more expensive. We drove from Carlingford to Dublin, stopped at Newgrange, dropped off the cars and made it to Dublin my late afternoon. That was with getting lost in Swords accidentally and 1 of our crew crusing past the turnoff for Newgrange.

You could spend your last night in Malahide as an option to Dublin.

Bill

KRenner · Newbie

Thanks Bill! I think your concern about going to Donegal is valid. We are thinking we may drive about half way to Derry and call it a day. I seem to have forgotten the jet lag. Must be selective memory

. I think we are going to cut out Slieve League and Glenveagh National Park. I don't want to rush through these. We will have to see them on our next visit. Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate it!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Kelsi,

I'm glad you are going to take Bill's advice and not try to make it to Donegal in one day. Driving about two hours is about right with jet-lag. More than that is pushing it.

I think you may want to consolidate some of your days on the Antrim coast. You mentioned you may stay 3 or 4 days but in different areas -- Portrush, Bushmills & Cushendall. They are all pretty close and you would be better off staying in the same place instead of packing up and moving on. Bushmills or Ballycastle would be central. You can most likely see Dunluce Castle, Giant's Causeway and Carrick-a-Rede in one long day unless you are planning on extensive hiking or something.

I think a trip back to the drawing board is in order to get your itinerary into shape.

Michele

P.S. I agree with Bill on spending your last night in Malahide.