The Ring of Kerry drive is full of places to stop and investigate. Photo / Getty Images
The Ring of Kerry drive is full of places to stop and investigate. Photo / Getty Images
A journey through the Emerald Isles is a must for any road trip-loving Kiwi, but what really awaits you on an Irish road trip? Nicola Lamb finds out.
Anyone thinking of having a wander around Ireland will soon be mulling over two mundane words - “pass” and “gap”.
The island of Ireland seems perfectly suited to satisfying the lure of the old-fashioned road trip, one that promises adventure and the chance of veering on to less travelled paths.
It’s geographically compact enough to encourage dreams of traversing south to north, east to west, city to town, village to village, within a manageable holiday timeframe.
It can be done with the environment in mind: rental car companies offer hybrid options. Some combination of trains, (regular and tourist) buses, motorbikes, cycles, and boats would get you to and around the main areas of interest.
You know before you go there’ll be a winning combination of scenery, city drawcards, small-town charms, historic sites, and good times - wherever you go.
There’s enough cultural familiarity and similarity - including the fact that if you’re driving you’re on the left - to feel confident this is all very doable.
The Causeway Coast in Northern Ireland at the Mageracross viewpoint. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Pitstops and pitfalls
But it’s not all straightforward.
Accommodation can be really expensive and other costs while travelling can quickly pile up. The weather is a lottery, although mid to late September was pretty good.
Some of the driving leaves a bit to chance and the regular problem of wandering sheep became more real when I saw one out of its paddock next to a 100km/h road.
Places of interest sometimes aren’t well signposted so good route planning, some physical maps, and occasional guidance from Google or SatNav are needed.
The Doolough Valley in the Connemara western region of Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Navigating country roads like a local
Like New Zealand, Ireland’s appeal is a lot about getting out in the outdoors, seeing different kinds of sights, and the people you meet. It’s the country drive I’ve focused on here, rather than the cities.
Alongside the beaches and sea-sprayed harbours, the glistening loughs and dark rivers; there are a lot of scenic mountain ranges and valleys to get amongst, with their ‘passes’ and ‘gaps’.
Ireland has a network of major motorways with 120km/h speed limits and some tolled sections.
Then there are webs of national and regional roads with speeds of 100 and 80, although those limits can at times seem generous when you’re navigating unfamiliar bends and bumps, while holding up local drivers who probably know every turn.
You’ll inevitably find yourself getting lost on some of the many local link roads, which are an experience in themselves.
A road at Freshford near Kilkenny in Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
They’re one-horse tracks, sometimes with a bit of grass down the middle, brambles on either side, with slight curves on the fringes or an occasional gateway to allow you to edge past a fellow nervous traveller with a fleeting wave and camaraderie at surviving the close shave.
You doubt there’s enough room but somehow there is.
The best way to enjoy these trips is to take them slowly, carefully, in a small vehicle. Gaps, passes, coastal headland loops and small link roads aren’t suited to vans and bulky cars.
It’s best to let vehicles travelling faster pass by when you can and be patient. If you can pull into a wider spot as a car is coming towards you, do so and wait until it’s gone.
Accept that getting from A to B is going to take longer if you’re mainly using smaller roads.
An old mill at Freshford near Kilkenny in Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Trust the adventure
These country roads can indent memories.
A wrong turn at Freshford near Kilkenny turned into a really scenic but narrow loop.
Driving under an archway of linking trees. The screech of tyres ahead as a car and tractor try to avoid each other. An old mill with twin creepers trailing down its stone wall like green sideburns.
At one point on a Sunday morning, I found myself driving up a hill where people were out walking and running, and sheep were on the road, when a cloak of milky fog dropped and reduced visibility to near nil.
But I soon got to one of the most beautiful spots in the entire trip - Lismore on the Blackwater River - a haven of untamed trees encircling a castle.
Lismore Castle on the Blackwater River in Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
A road sign in Donegal sent me down a truly tiny lane and it was lucky no one was coming the other way. In such cases, a reversing manoeuvre to find somewhere slightly wider may be necessary.
A lot of these country roads of all types are both ordinary and spectacular.
They are full of people rushing by with normal life bustle.
But to the holidaymaker, freed from daily routines, there are glorious avenues of trees lining the roadsides to look at, sometimes forming natural tunnels, and shimmering in the light.
The Kerry Cliffs in Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
There is so much beauty around, it becomes frustrating when you can’t find places to stop, stare, and snap it.
It makes you think about how much we might be oblivious to at home when back into our routines.
Then there are those drives that are extraordinary, breathtaking, sometimes scary and challenging, that take you from somewhere with people, shops and vehicles to what feels like the middle of nowhere in a short space of time.
Steep peaks can crowd narrow roads and the vegetation ranges from green pasture to brown moors, with boulders and rocks, and the roving sheep.
Heather in Wicklow, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Like the Wicklow Gap and Sally Gap south of Dublin. Or the Healy Pass snaking over the Beara Peninsula, and the Ballaghbeama Gap that weaves through the Iveragh Peninsula in Kerry.
Moll’s Gap, the Black Valley, and the Gap of Dunloe are tourist draws in popular County Kerry that are gentle drives (or options for cycle rides and walks).
The Connor Pass in Dingle is equally famous but there’s nothing comfortable about a few of those blind bends around fearsome slabs of rock or the raging wind that can greet you at the top.
The Glengesh Pass shows Donegal’s wilds in a lovely light after you’ve been wowed by the Slieve League cliffs.
Moll's Gap on the Ring of Kerry, in Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Memorable landscapes
There are other drives which aren’t passes or gaps but are just as striking.
The Sky Rd at Clifden, giving sea views from up high, and the Doolough drive, where the lough is cradled by three hills, are highlights in the Connemara area.
It’s an area that has it all with a national park, beaches, loughs and mountain ranges, sea views, Kylemore Abbey.
Some coastal routes - such as parts of the Slea Head in Dingle, or Muckross Head in Donegal - can have you feeling too close to the edge.
The coastal drive at Muckross Head, Donegal, in Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Torr Head in the north, near the towns of Ballycastle, Cushendun and Cushendall, tests the nerves with a steep climb and power line-bending wind gusts by the cliffs.
The Burren coast drive between Doolin and Ballyvaughan launches you into a rock-blasted landscape that seems out of this world.
Sligo has a gem of a road called the Gleniff Horseshoe that’s a mission to find but runs through breathtaking scenery on (private) land.
Some of the most memorable moments are those plunges into the unknown down roads you have little expectations for. Roundstone in Galway is a lovely seaside town that’s ideal for a lunch stop but it’s also a nice side trip from the N59 to get there.
Scenery driving the Gleniff Horseshoe loop road at Sligo, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
The overall sense you get is of the wildness of the landscape, where tree groves are left to flourish, hedges to spill over, and creepers slowly devour stone ruins.
On the coasts, green turf falls away to sand and rocks clashing with the sea below. Inland, mountains and forests are reflected in still, silvery loughs.
Cattle graze next to the moody ruins of castles and abbeys as black crows and their kin cry while circling above.
Graveyards with ancient round towers, slabs and Celtic crosses become even more extraordinary with bright flowers, trees and fallen leaves.
And on a clear day, the skies provide the most stunning backdrop to all of it.
Cahir Castle in Cahir, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Looking around Ireland and Northern Ireland
A Wicklow wander
Just 30 minutes from Dublin the landscape is dominated by a sprawling region of reddish-brown land with heather, gorse and rocks. But you can first drive south further to the west and then across via Blessington through an area of towns, trees, wildflowers, and stone-walled pastures. By the Wicklow Gap, heading towards the ancient Glendalough site, all around is grass, tussock and purple heather, as sheep lounge on the roadside.
Lough Tay in Wicklow, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Heading north, the Wicklow military road passes through the Glenmacnass Valley, past hills and rocky fernland. It then smooths out to brown terrain with an isolated vibe. The Sally Gap gives access to the sun-shaped Lough Tay. Driving can get tricky. One couple stopped their car on three-quarters of the road width. Others manoeuvre vehicles to double back. There are pullover places.
A medieval town and cute villages
Irish towns make a point of brightening their grey stones and sometimes gloomy skies with flowers. There’s great use of hanging baskets on bridge lampposts, home walls and window sills, pots by shops, flowers creatively living in old boats, displays in public squares and parks. They help make Kilkenny a standout as you walk from the castle to St Canice’s Cathedral, have a flat white by the river and look into the pubs and shops. It’s a great base for visiting nearby villages.
A river scene at Thomastown in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
There’s Thomastown and Inistioge, good for river walks; Borris with its gorgeous cottages; Leighlinbridge, home to the brooding Black Castle.
Elsewhere, one of the loveliest villages, and an ideal stop when travelling from Dingle to Doolin, is Adare. Dungarvan and Ardmore on the southern coast are characterful stops. Malahide and Howth near Dublin are two nice seaside villages.
Between Kilkenny and Cork, the magnificent Rock of Cashel fortress is a tourist draw, but it’s still a large, peaceful site. A paddock of cattle away is Hore Abbey. Fairytale-like Cahir Castle with its white geese is also a pretty spot. The hulking ruins of 12th-century Dunamase Castle are very atmospheric with holes in the outer walls.
Rock of Cashel fortress at Cashel, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
North of Dublin are Bru na Boinne, Monasterboice, Old Mellifont Abbey, and Trim Castle. The mounds of Knowth and its rock drawings are fascinating and going into Newgrange at Bru na Boinne is a unique experience. Visiting the church ruins of Monasterboice was special. Rain had refreshed the autumn colours of the trees and flowers in the cemetery. Its round tower was a watch area and refuge in response to Norse raids. Elsewhere, Clonmacnoise near Athlone has superb Celtic crosses. Like Glendalough it was an ancient study centre.
A part of the ruins of Mellifont Abbey, north of Dublin, Ireland. Photo / Nicola Lamb
Two neighbours: Beara and Kerry
The Beara Peninsula can get overlooked. There’s a coastal drive through colourful Allihies and Eyeries. The Healy Pass was built in 1847 to enable movement of people during the famine. Under overcast skies the view from the pass shows the road rippling below like a giant grey python. The Ring of Kerry drive is full of places to stop and investigate. The area after Portmagee has the spectacular Kerry Cliffs.
At Clogher Beach in Dingle on the Slea Head drive there’s a 3km loop walk. Along the west coast there’s the Cliffs of Moher path, but also less crowded options to stretch the legs at the Kilkee Cliffs, Loop Head, and the Bridges of Ross. There’s a nice walk to the Giant’s Causeway - rock formations resembling a forest of stone felled at the stumps.
