There is so much amazing riding in Ireland – not to mention the awesome scenery, the great food and drink, the music, the people. Yeah, there's some weather too… but in summer it's simply glorious much of the time it's a fantastic destination.

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The thing is, it's a pretty big destination. So there are two versions of this tour: a week-long West Ireland tour, heading over from Dublin to the West Coast to cherry-pick the best bits of the Wild Atlantic Way; and a longer All-Ireland tour that includes the best bits of Northern Ireland – and can be expanded beyond the basic nine-day route with daytrips included in the tour pack.

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What’s included on the route? Each day’s route has recommended places to stop for coffee in the morning and afternoon, a suggested lunch stop and planned fuel stops. The tour also includes hotel recommendations at each overnight stop.

 

How long is each day’s ride? Each leg of the tour is planned to be a full day in the saddle: check-out and get on the road at 9am, getting to the next hotel at 5:30-6pm. That's with coffee stops and lunch - it's not a hardcore slog but a relaxed riding holiday. Saddle-time rating: five out of 10.

 

What are the highlights? The heart of the trip is the Wild Atlantic Way, but there's so much more. The longer All-Ireland trip packs in the Antrim Coast, the North-West 200 course, Ireland's most northerly point and the wilds of Donegal, before heading down the west coast. The shorter West Ireland tour makes more-directly for the west coast and both versions loop back to Dublin through the Tipperaray and Wicklow mountains.  

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How many days do I need? Whichever version of the tour you do, you need one more day… because the ferry from Dublin docks so late, you're best either stopping close to Holyhead and going home next day… or having a final night in Dublin and taking a ferry next morning. So to do the seven-day West Ireland tour, you really need to allow eight days. The All-Ireland tour can be done in ten days or expands upto 15 days (a full two week trip, with time to wash the bike at the end of it!)

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When to go: April showers can be pretty hearty on the west coast of Ireland – it's green for a reason... So for me, May to the end of September would be the best period in which to ride this trip.

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How is it supplied? Each download consists of an interactive eBook of notes plus a GPX file (suitable for sat navs or phone sat-nav apps). Each route inludes hotel recommendations, suggested lunch and coffee stops and planned fuel stop. The complete-tour downloads have individual GPX files for each day, the interactive eBook of notes, hardcopy tankbag notes and marked-up maps (sent separately).