Ireland, Scotland & England Tour

[ianrauk]

Need some help good Cycle Chat Touring folk.

A cyclist friend of mine is coming over from the good ol' USofA.
He want's to do a 2 week tour taking in Ireland, Scotland and the North of Englandshire.
I suggested to him a trip that starts in Dublin, rides up to Belfast then ferry to Scotland, the Glasgow, on to Edinburgh and down to England.
Would this work?

I've never cycled Ireland or Scotland, so any helpful suggestions from ya'll I could pass on gratefully accepted.

Cheers
Ian.

 

[iluvmybike]

You could spend 2 weeks in just one of those countries/areas and just scratch the surface - to try and do all 3 surely detracts from the idea of touring as it becomes a whistle-stop thing?
Dublin up to Belfast is not the most interesting way to go.
Scotland is a big & beautiful country and taking your route you will see some of the lovely Dumfries & Galloway & the Borders regions but missing out the whole of the Highlands where the scenery is majestic - with right choice of roads then you can find pretty quiet routes. Coming down into Northumberland from Edinburgh - again you can find quiet roads. Where you go from there I guess depends on your ultimate destination - the Lakes District & Yorkshire Dales are fab but can be very busy in summer months. You need to perhaps sit down with some OS maps and have a really good look at what distances/elevation you wnat to cover each day and tie that in with the type of accommodation you want - it can be a bit spares in some places in southern Scotland & borders areas as can cafe stops

 

[Bored Man]

@Randyberlin may be able to help.

 

[iandg]

Doesn't see the best of Scotland heading from Stranraer to Edinburgh via Glasgow. Unless he's really keen to visit the cities?

 

[Milkfloat]

If he really wants to cover a lot of ground then I would suggest using the train to skip the less inspiring bits. Rather than head north from Dublin head south into Wicklow.

 

[ianrauk]

Cheers all. Keep them coming.
To make it clear, I won't be doing the journey, I'm just passing info on.

 

[iandg]

As mentioned above (@iluvmybike ), there's some lovely cycling in Dumfries and Galloway and the borders. It's not the Highlands but roads are generally less busy.

 

[Aravis]

It sounds like a good idea. I'm guessing he's looking for an appreciation of what these lands have to offer rather than an in-depth exploration. If he's starting in Dublin, has he thought of completing a circuit of the Irish Sea, making it a five nations tour?

It's something I wanted to do in my youth, and did actually start once. But when I reached Alston (having started in Chester) I decided I'd rather stay in the north of England and tour morphed into something completely different. The joys of touring!

A few months ago I sketched this in RwGPS, to see what it would look like:

That's the bare bones, not a route suggestion. In a couple of weeks he could divert into many of the best bits of all the countries, but he can't do everything. The mileage would soon start to mount up.

The east coast of Ireland shouldn't be completely dismissed. It's not all spectacular, though some of it, particularly the Mourne coast road east of Newry, certainly is. Then there's the isolated and rural Ards Peninsula, the most easterly part of Ireland, which I foolishly by-passed both times I cycled that way. Not a mistake I'd make again.

 

[Randyberlin]

Need some help good Cycle Chat Touring folk.

A cyclist friend of mine is coming over from the good ol' USofA.
He want's to do a 2 week tour taking in Ireland, Scotland and the North of Englandshire.
I suggested to him a trip that starts in Dublin, rides up to Belfast then ferry to Scotland, the Glasgow, on to Edinburgh and down to England.
Would this work?

I've never cycled Ireland or Scotland, so any helpful suggestions from ya'll I could pass on gratefully accepted.

Cheers
Ian.

I flew roundtrip to Cardiff on a very cheap ticket from Seattle and left my bike box at a hotel. Rode to Pembroke and took the ferry to Rosslare then rode up to Belfast along the coast. I did jump on a train around Dublin itself because I didn't want to ride through the city. Then ferry to Scotland and the ride to Edinburgh. Then I took a train back to Cardiff.
I used Komoot to plan the rides and can't begin to describe how great the trip was.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Need some help good Cycle Chat Touring folk.

A cyclist friend of mine is coming over from the good ol' USofA.
He want's to do a 2 week tour taking in Ireland, Scotland and the North of Englandshire.
I suggested to him a trip that starts in Dublin, rides up to Belfast then ferry to Scotland, the Glasgow, on to Edinburgh and down to England.
Would this work?

I've never cycled Ireland or Scotland, so any helpful suggestions from ya'll I could pass on gratefully accepted.

Cheers
Ian.

As others have said two weeks is a really short amount of time to cover so much ground, especially given the fluctuating weather.

I did a loop from Holland to Dublin, up to Belfast then into Scotland and back to Hull last year. Your friend might get some useful info here https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/the-5-country-3-week-tour-on-3-wheels.240838/

Obviously a lot depends on time if year, camping or no, weight carried etc.

Personally, it seems to me to be a shame to try to pile in so much in such a short time.

Wish your friend luck!

Edit: CrazyGuyOnABike will also have useful info

 

[mjr]

You could spend 2 weeks in just one of those countries/areas and just scratch the surface - to try and do all 3 surely detracts from the idea of touring as it becomes a whistle-stop thing?

Is there only one idea of touring now?

A taster tour is a fine idea IMO. Most people will have chances to return if they want to see more of bits. I don't know the areas being considered well enough on a bike.

 

[snorri]

Some good island hopping adventures would be possible if that would appeal.
Consider the Ballycastle - Campbelltown ferry, bikes go free but do check! Then the Tarbert (Loch Fyne) - Portavadie ferry and east to the Colintraive - Rhubodach ferry to Bute onwards to Rothesay for a Clyde ferry to the mainland near Greenock. Alternatively, from Campbelltown cycle to Claonaig for the ferry to Lochranza on the Isle of Arran. Then across Arran to Brodick for the ferry to mainland Scotland at Ardrossan.

 

[classic33]

The ferries to/from Ireland may be the stumbling block. Stena have limited the number of sailings that take bicycles.

 

[Broadside]

It sounds like a good idea. I'm guessing he's looking for an appreciation of what these lands have to offer rather than an in-depth exploration. If he's starting in Dublin, has he thought of completing a circuit of the Irish Sea, making it a five nations tour?

It's something I wanted to do in my youth, and did actually start once. But when I reached Alston (having started in Chester) I decided I'd rather stay in the north of England and tour morphed into something completely different. The joys of touring!

A few months ago I sketched this in RwGPS, to see what it would look like:

View attachment 496292

That's the bare bones, not a route suggestion. In a couple of weeks he could divert into many of the best bits of all the countries, but he can't do everything. The mileage would soon start to mount up.

The east coast of Ireland shouldn't be completely dismissed. It's not all spectacular, though some of it, particularly the Mourne coast road east of Newry, certainly is. Then there's the isolated and rural Ards Peninsula, the most easterly part of Ireland, which I foolishly by-passed both times I cycled that way. Not a mistake I'd make again.

That’s a great idea! How many cycling miles would a route like that likely be?

 

[Aravis]

That’s a great idea! How many cycling miles would a route like that likely be?

Thanks. There are other things higher on my bucket list now, but you never know.

I think the shortest it could be is about 460 miles, excluding ferries, but that's unlikely to be a route anyone would seriously consider unless the objective were purely speed.

Taking the highly desirable diversion around the Mourne coast and the Ards Peninsula, for example looks as though it would add about 50 miles. I'd guess that a really enjoyable route, with a bit of everything would need at least 550-600 miles.