N81 Dub to Wexford tips

giddyup

Hi folks,

I took a look through some older threads. Just wondering if there are any last minute tips for a Dub to Wexford cycle following N81/N80 route. Arriving in from Seattle on Thursday and cycling that route on Saturday. We are spoiled with trails here and I only took up cycling since I got to the U.S. so not too familiar with cycling on Irish roads. Anything to watch out for on that route? Any nasty hills, tight sections, heavy traffic areas? Will probably do our lunch pit-stop in Tullow and aiming to leave Dublin 6ish.

Thanks for any pointers.

Wishbone Ash

The N81 is not particularly pleasant to cycle on - fast moving traffic, above average number of trucks especially tipper trucks, and a hard shoulder which appears and disappears. Reasonable surface and no climbing as such - just a few drags.

smacl

N81 is a pretty boring road to cycle with a fair bit of traffic, some discussion and alternate routes here. Where in Wexford are you trying to get to, and are you travelling loaded? On a road bike, not loaded, if you're leaving at 6am, you should have lunch in Wexford. Google reckons on ~7 hours on the coast road for 132k, but coming from Rathfarnham and taking a quieter inland route I'd normally be slightly under 6 hours, and I'm pretty slow on the bike. Heading that way on Sunday myself, though only as far as Mt Leinster.

HivemindXX

I don't like cycling on that road due to the heavy traffic and I avoid it when I can. If I was you I'd look in to using the more or less parallel network of minor roads between the N81 and the coast where that is easy.

The further from Dublin you get the less unpleasant the main road is I think.

secman

It's not a nice road to drive by car let alone cycle it, as previously advised pick an alternative route.

giddyup

Thanks folks. This is very helpful. When I say Lunch I mean halfway calorie intake rather than in the traditional sense. It's going to be the middle of the night for my body anyway. I like my pit-stops so will probably do quick ones at ~25 and ~75 and a longer one at ~50.

Is the coast road (E01?) a better choice? How are the hills on that side? I'm very much in the 'middle-aged men in lycra' mould of cyclist - flat tracks and coffee shops. Judge me at your leisure.

smacl

giddyup wrote: »

Is the coast road (E01?) a better choice? How are the hills on that side? I'm very much in the 'middle-aged men in lycra' mould of cyclist - flat tracks and coffee shops. Judge me at your leisure.

E01 is a motorway and not suitable for cycling at all, you'd need to use minor roads. Personally, I prefer the hills and small villages over the coast route, as it is very scenic and involves very little traffic. If you're taking the coast, you stay on the coast side of the E01, something like Dublin - Bray - Greystones - Wicklow - Brittas - Arklow - Gorey - Blackwater - Wexford. Nice enough, but busy this time of year with beach goers.

irishrover99

ill be giving this ago on friday to mount leinster. ill be going from rathfarnham- rathdrum-aughrim-carnew-bunclody which was advised to me smacl. was going to come back the n81 but the more i read about it the more unappealing it sounds.

ill see how i feel after mt leinster and if ok ill come back the same way

giddyup

Sorry - I was referring to the link you (smacl) provided. On closer inspection it looks like a bunch of R roads that run roughly parallel with E01. Would you mind giving me a few landmarks on your inland route so I can figure out what that might look like. Thanks again for the advice.

smacl

giddyup wrote: »

Sorry - I was referring to the link you (smacl) provided. On closer inspection it looks like a bunch of R roads that run roughly parallel with E01. Would you mind giving me a few landmarks on your inland route so I can figure out what that might look like. Thanks again for the advice.

I've put a coastal route together here. Note sure where you're starting from, so I've started you in Shankill for the sake of simplicity. Inland route I take is here, though I'm normally heading a good bit further south.

diomed

E01 is ok but I would prefer to go on the minor roads to the east of E01. I've cycled Dublin-Arklow-Dublin on a training spin and it was ok but not interesting.

I would go N11, R837, R119, R761 (a steep climb to Windgates), stay on the R761 to Rathnew, then coast roads (a choice) to Brittas Bay, R750 to Arklow, from there you can go inland on the R772 to Gorey (or stay on minor coast roads), and probably R741 or the R742 coast road to Wexford.

I might be posting this too late. Others with more knowledge might have better suggestions.

Edit: I wouldn't disagree with the smacl route.

giddyup

Thanks everyone. Good food for thought here.