Route help: Killarney-Dingle-Tralee

velotourist

Hello everyone, I'm planning our first trip to Ireland in just a few weeks and have a few questions that I hope you can answer.

We'll be riding from Killarney to Dingle? Google maps gives me a pretty straight forward route, following R 563, R561 and then N86. Is that the route that everybody takes and is popular with cyclists? Any dangerous spots, any good place for lunch along the way?
Depending on how much time it will take us to get to Dingle, we'd love to ride at least a part of Slea Head Drive, but not sure if we'll be able to fit it in. If we can only do part of it, is there a spot you'd recommend?

The next day we'll be riding from Dingle to Tralee and want to take the Spa Road and follow it to where it becomes R560. I see that there will be some climbing. We'll be riding fully loaded, how tough is the climb? Is it worth it or should we stick to the N86?

I will be getting Ordnance Survey maps for other areas, but thought maybe I don't need one for this part of the trip.

Thanks!

smacl

velotourist wrote: »

The next day we'll be riding from Dingle to Tralee and want to take the Spa Road and follow it to where it becomes R560. I see that there will be some climbing. We'll be riding fully loaded, how tough is the climb? Is it worth it or should we stick to the N86?

That's the Conor pass, I did it last year, albeit in the other direction, on a rented hybrid with a heavy enough pack on my shoulders (~16kg AFAIK). More long than particularly steep, but you need to make sure you're brakes are up to the job. So far as I know, the tour busses tend to go the other way, so you may well be facing them on the descent. For the first bit, this could involve a bit of pulling in, so I wouldn't got at it full tilt.

Definitely worth it, though I'd prefer doing it the other way around to have the descent into Dingle.

dquirke1

Killarney to Dingle is a great route and you'll surely meet a few more cyclists along the way

The R561 and N86 is definitely the way to go as well, stunning scenery from Castlemaine all the way to Dingle...

As for lunch, Its hard to beat Sammy's cafe in Inch. It's right on the beach and they're well used to cyclists calling in too.

The Connor pass is a tough enough climb, especially fully loaded, but the views from the top are well worth the effort.
As others have said though, be careful of traffic on the descent. It gets pretty narrow in places.

Good luck with the trip, and any other questions, just ask.

BTW, No need for OS maps around Dingle.
Everything is very well signposted and its impossible to get lost.

MrCreosote

Definitely make time for Slea head, especially if the weather is anyway half decent. Best scenery on the peninsula.

I'd go anticlockwise so Dingle-Ventry-Dunquin-Ballyferriter-Dingle. Would add about 30km onto the day, but you've a sweet downhill to finish back to Dingle.

ustazjoseph

The scenery is great. There's a nice little coffee shop in Miltown, If your veggie the phoenix after castlemaine is good. Foley s in inch is a great old time bar with good food. The castlemaine to dingle road is long and in some places narrow. The traffic can sometimes be fast and worrying.

velotourist

Uh oh... That might be a bit difficult for us with loaded bikes. Especially that early in the season and with lack of proper training. I guess we'll have to see how we feel and what the weather's like on that day. I did look up some photos of Connor Pass and it indeed looks stunning!

Thank you all for your suggestions, that's exactly the kind of info I was after

One more thing, if you don't mind. I'm trying to make a list of mechanics along the way, just in case. I found O'Sullivan Cycles in Killarney. Anybody you can recommend around Dingle, Tralee, Co Kerry in general, Co Clare and Connemara? I'll keep searching, but if you have somebody you like, it will help.

Still have to figure out where to do laundry along the way, buy some rain pants and we're pretty much set.

dquirke1

velotourist wrote: »

I'm trying to make a list of mechanics along the way, just in case. I found O'Sullivan Cycles in Killarney. Anybody you can recommend around Dingle, Tralee, Co Kerry in general, Co Clare and Connemara? I'll keep searching, but if you have somebody you like, it will help.

There are a couple of bike shops/hire places in Dingle that should be able to help you, Never had to use them myself though...
In Tralee, try O'Hallorans in Boherbue for repairs,
Failing that, TopPart on rock St. or Halfords in Manor West might get you out of a hold.

iBike in Listowel know their stuff too if you find yourself out that way...

velotourist

Hello again, we're back from Ireland. Had a fantastic trip, thought you may want to hear a bit about it. The weather was amazing for most of the trip, as you know, just a bit of rain at the end.

I want to make sure to mention that I did need help from a mechanic, and O'Sullivan's in Killarney came to the rescue. I broke my crank and they got my bike fixed and ready to go within an hour, even though they were busy. Really wonderful people, make sure to visit the shop and spend some money there. ;-)

The ride from Killarney to Dingle was easy up to Inch. Then it got hillier on the R road, which was still OK. But as soon as we hit the N road, the traffic was horrendous, the road was melting, the tires were sticking to the road, and we had a really hard time climbing the hills with fully loaded bikes. Bikes, bags and some of the clothing strapped on to the bags had tar all over it.
But we made it, and two pints later all was good with the world. ;-) Didn't end up doing Slea Head that day, planned it for the morning. Then we found out that roads were closed for adventure race that day, so taking advice from an older gentleman at the pub, we got up at 5 am and rode it with roads all to ourselves. It was fantastic!

We gave up on Connor Pass (the roads were closed anyway), I refused to ride on that N road, so we took a bus to Tralee. Really handy, the Bus Éireann, it goes everywhere!
Then we rode from Tralee to Kilkee, on to Doolin, through the Burren (gorgeous!) to Gort and took a bus to Clifden. Then we rode in pouring rain around the cycling loops from Clifden. On the last riding day we were due to take a bus from Clifden to Galway, but since the weather was good, we rode the loop #4 through Ballyconneely and Roundstone instead and caught the bus along the way.

Overall, a fantastic trip. Not everything worked out as planned, but that's OK. We'll definitely be back for more.
Thank you again for your help here.