Dublin to Galway, the old road.

stoneill

On the trip to Galway I decided to take the old road, through all the towns, the slow road. I have to say, it was the most enjoyable driving experience I've had in years. Very little traffic, got to see and enjoy sights I haven't seen in years. Stopping off to explore forgotten little places.
That's it, from now on when I need to be somewhere and I'm not pushed for time, it the old old road for me.

That's one of the benefits of the motorways, the old routes can become something more they were

gammygils

stoneill wrote: »

On the trip to Galway I decided to take the old road, through all the towns, the slow road. I have to say, it was the most enjoyable driving experience I've had in years. Very little traffic, got to see and enjoy sights I haven't seen in years. Stopping off to explore forgotten little places.
That's it, from now on when I need to be somewhere and I'm not pushed for time, it the old old road for me.

Is this John Creedon? :pac:

NUTLEY BOY

I hope that you made the traditional pit stop at Kinnegad

veryangryman

My older relatives say they "like" the old road.

Maybe theres some nice things to see on them. Still not worth it for the speed, safety and fuel saving benefits from motorway use. Plenty of crap towns one still cant avoid like abbeyfeale where youd cry for a bypass.

magicbastarder

have driven athlone to dublin a couple of times recently on the old road. so much nicer - albeit a couple of weeks ago the amount of turf spilt on it was quite remarkable - between athlone and enfield, we'd have filled several bags if we'd been so inclined.

Del2005

Have the HGVs stopped avoiding the tolled motorways? No way stuck behind a HGV on the old road is more enjoyable than the motorway.

Also I don't think many people enjoy the motorway anyway, it's just the quickest and safest route but boring.

Isambard

gammygils wrote: »

Is this John Creedon? :pac:

I caught part of that show, I used to own that Cortina. Me and Jack Lynch.

gammygils

Was thinking about taking the old road Saturday evening after the Hurling match. But didn't regretfully. Motorway was like a carpark. I'll use the old road after the Final though

ohnonotgmail

NUTLEY BOY wrote: »

I hope that you made the traditional pit stop at Kinnegad

Is Harrys still open? I imagine business went to pot when it was bypassed.

bobbyss

gammygils wrote:

Was thinking about taking the old road Saturday evening after the Hurling match. But didn't regretfully. Motorway was like a carpark. I'll use the old road after the Final though

A little optimistic there I think.

veryangryman

This is just madness. The absolute state of the old roads (I sometimes get stuck with the slow bus to Dub), why anyone would put themselves through that is beyond me. Tractors, L drivers, grannys you name it. I like a good long drive but jaysus lads, goto Adare or something if sitting in traffic is your thing.

Try_harder

The limits on it are 80km in parts

uck51js9zml2yt

veryangryman wrote: »

My older relatives say they "like" the old road.

Maybe theres some nice things to see on them. Still not worth it for the speed, safety and fuel saving benefits from motorway use. Plenty of crap towns one still cant avoid like abbeyfeale where youd cry for a bypass.

Bypass abbeyfeale/adare/Newcastle west by taking the coast road through foynes/tarbert/listowel

veryangryman

veryangryman wrote: »

My older relatives say they "like" the old road.

Maybe theres some nice things to see on them. Still not worth it for the speed, safety and fuel saving benefits from motorway use. Plenty of crap towns one still cant avoid like abbeyfeale where youd cry for a bypass.

Would there be fuel savings long-distance? Surely going 80-90 will use a good bit less than about 120 most of the way? And in some cases the motorways are longer.

Grandeeod

A load of John Creedon bollix. Either an OP coincidence or directly influence by the diabolical TV muck. This particular series is 30 years too soon and even then it might not be too good. Our motorway network actually followed the "old roads" and has exits into these same old crappy little kips. Nearly all of them across the motorway network deserve to be bypassed. Good riddance.

Wishbone Ash

veryangryman wrote: »

This is just madness. The absolute state of the old roads (I sometimes get stuck with the slow bus to Dub), why anyone would put themselves through that is beyond me. Tractors, L drivers, grannys you name it. I like a good long drive but jaysus lads, goto Adare or something if sitting in traffic is your thing.

Because we don't all feel the need for speed all the time. Why do you need to get everywhere as quickly as possible?

thesandeman

Anders Grumpy Fig wrote: »

Bypass abbeyfeale/adare/Newcastle west by taking the coast road through foynes/tarbert/listowel

How long does it take you to to get from Dublin to Galway when you use that route? The auld satnav would be blowing smoke.

Patrick2010

Its a nice idea but what would be a concern is these roads are where speed traps are located now, mostly where you're coming quickly into a 50km zone from a wide open road with an 80km limit. So easy to be hitting 57 or so km heading into one, 35 mph in a 30 zone in old money. Speaking from experience here done for that heading OUT of some town seeing the road widen up ahead.

stoneill

Jasus lads, calm down will yis...
If you want to blast away on the motorway, by all means do so.
The original intent of the thread is to remind people there is an alternative, slower pace and a lot more to see and do.
So what if you get stuck behind a bus for a while, or there is a tractor in the way. That's the whole point, slow down, relax and trundle along.
Forget the sat-nav, just pick a road and see where it goes, one little road took us to moss covered Meehambee Dolmen after a short forest walk.
Well worth a visit.

magicbastarder

Grandeeod wrote: »

A load of John Creedon bollix. Either an OP coincidence or directly influence by the diabolical TV muck. This particular series is 30 years too soon and even then it might not be too good. Our motorway network actually followed the "old roads" and has exits into these same old crappy little kips. Nearly all of them across the motorway network deserve to be bypassed. Good riddance.

magicbastarder

Patrick2010 wrote: »

Its a nice idea but what would be a concern is these roads are where speed traps are located now, mostly where you're coming quickly into a 50km zone from a wide open road with an 80km limit. So easy to be hitting 57 or so km heading into one, 35 mph in a 30 zone in old money. Speaking from experience here done for that heading OUT of some town seeing the road widen up ahead.

my advice would be that people who cannot stick to these speed limits should limit themselves to motorways so; or let someone else drive, who can.

veryangryman

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

Because we don't all feel the need for speed all the time. Why do you need to get everywhere as quickly as possible?

Safety too. Have you seen the amount of head on collisions on those old roads back in the day? The RSA did close to nothing to drop them despite their claims. Its is a direct result of Motorways

Del2005

Try_harder wrote: »

The limits on it are 80km in parts

All parts. When the motorway replaced them they suddenly became really dangerous and had to be dropped to 80km/h.

L1011

Plenty have been returned to 100km/h by the local council.

Isambard

L1011 wrote: »

Plenty have been returned to 100km/h by the local council.

certainly true around Cork and also some N road sections are at 120

Del2005

L1011 wrote: »

Plenty have been returned to 100km/h by the local council.

Good to see that common sense exists somewhere in Ireland.

magentis

Grandeeod wrote: »

A load of John Creedon bollix. Either an OP coincidence or directly influence by the diabolical TV muck. This particular series is 30 years too soon and even then it might not be too good. Our motorway network actually followed the "old roads" and has exits into these same old crappy little kips. Nearly all of them across the motorway network deserve to be bypassed. Good riddance.

Jeysus.Have a cigarette or something.

magicbastarder

surely if you do want to drive at 100km/h, you'd use the bleeding motorway.

one road available - 100km/h.
two roads available - one 120km/h, the other drops to 80. people complain about the 80.

Del2005

magicbastarder wrote: »

surely if you do want to drive at 100km/h, you'd use the bleeding motorway.

one road available - 100km/h.
two roads available - one 120km/h, the other drops to 80. people complain about the 80.

What changed to make the road only 80 though. If it used to safe to drive a busy road at 100 what makes the quieter one need to be 80?

If you don't want to drive at 100 on a road you don't have to, just don't hog the middle of the road or speed up on straights.

magicbastarder

Del2005 wrote: »

If it used to safe to drive a busy road at 100 what makes the quieter one need to be 80?

because safety is not a binary operation.
it's not a case of either 'safe' or 'not safe'.
we all know that those older national routes are not as safe as motorways, partly due to people pulling out of side roads and having to cross or join 100km/h traffic with no slip road to allow them to build up to the speed.

anyway, as there is now a 120km/h limit available nearby, you can make the older road safer by reducing the limit. i don't see how this is a controversial topic?

veryangryman

magentis wrote: »

Jeysus.Have a cigarette or something.

Like the old road, its bad for ya.

TheRiverman

Haven't been on the old road in a long time.Is Mother Hubbard's still there ?

L1011

TheRiverman wrote: »

Haven't been on the old road in a long time.Is Mother Hubbard's still there ?

Moyvalley yes Oranmore no, although something else may be there instead

Doctors room ghost

L1011 wrote: »

Moyvalley yes Oranmore no, although something else may be there instead

No nothing else there.there was a pub in it and mother hubards but that's all empty now with a small crèche open in one part of it.has a fine car park.
The pub used to be called the green briar and changed to Sarah Harte.local rumour has it it's haunted

Grandeeod

magentis wrote: »

Jeysus.Have a cigarette or something.

It really wasn't that bad a post I made. It may come across as a rant, but I watched the John Creedon programme and thought it was dire and made way before the time it should've been made. You'd swear some of these towns have become forgotten wastelands because of the motorway, when they are still easily accessible if you want to stop off in them. We are only a very recent motorway nation (approx. 10 - 12 years). That is nothing. In terms of some towns on the "old" Galway road, most were places you wouldn't stop in anyway. From childhood to adulthood and the introduction of the M4/6 motorway my memories of stopping off along the way, were nowhere on the way to Galway and either Kinnegad or Clonard on the way back. Don't recall stopping off at Lockes distillery or a handball court either.:D

bobbyss

Grandeeod wrote:

It really wasn't that bad a post I made. It may come across as a rant, but I watched the John Creedon programme and thought it was dire and made way before the time it should've been made. You'd swear some of these towns have become forgotten wastelands because of the motorway, when they are still easily accessible if you want to stop off in them. We are only a very recent motorway nation (approx. 10 - 12 years). That is nothing. In terms of some towns on the "old" Galway road, most were places you wouldn't stop in anyway. From childhood to adulthood and the introduction of the M4/6 motorway my memories of stopping off along the way, were nowhere on the way to Galway and either Kinnegad or Clonard on the way back. Don't recall stopping off at Lockes distillery or a handball court either.

Harry's, Kinnegad, Lucan, Moate (Moate!), Loughrea. Burke's Bus, Ballinasloe, Rain, Tractors. Queues. Ah, the memories.

The M6 has changed lots of things. On a day trip to Athlone town recently I was interested to see what impact its bypass would have made. Hadn't been there in a long, long time. Walked around it for the first time really. They are putting down new paving on the main street. It felt like a ghost town I have to say. Very few people around. And this in high summer. The river is a great amenity but I thought something more could be done to have more eateries on the bank. It was a scorching day but few options to sit by the river.

Is that a fair depiction? How are Moate and Loughrea and other towns bypassed doing I wonder.

mfceiling

To be fair to the OP that Dublin to Galway motorway is the biggest boring bastard of a road to drive.

OldMrBrennan83

mfceiling wrote: »

To be fair to the OP that Dublin to Galway motorway is the biggest boring bastard of a road to drive.

Of all the jaunts in the country is the worst. So flat and barren.

Grandeeod

bobbyss wrote: »

Harry's, Kinnegad, Lucan, Moate (Moate!), Loughrea. Burke's Bus, Ballinasloe, Rain, Tractors. Queues. Ah, the memories.

The M6 has changed lots of things. On a day trip to Athlone town recently I was interested to see what impact its bypass would have made. Hadn't been there in a long, long time. Walked around it for the first time really. They are putting down new paving on the main street. It felt like a ghost town I have to say. Very few people around. And this in high summer. The river is a great amenity but I thought something more could be done to have more eateries on the bank. It was a scorching day but few options to sit by the river.

Is that a fair depiction? How are Moate and Loughrea and other towns bypassed doing I wonder.

Well Athlone has been bypassed for a long time now, before the motorway network was even planned. I was there in May and thought the place had improved a lot. Westside of the river, near the weir is like a mini Temple Bar. Bars, cafes etc, but your right, nothing in particular by the river itself.

As for Moate, holy ****! I remember stopping off there in the very early 80s because the place we went into in Athlone was too expensive. It was bad then and still bad now. Loughrea is an interesting one. It was always so drab. My memories of Loughrea as a child on the route, were a Dublin bound stop at a St Brigids shrine and a crappy crusty ham salad roll in a pub. Game of pool too. No idea what its like now as I used the the original bypass/ring road and now the M6. Craughwell was another dump on the journey.

veryangryman

bobbyss wrote: »

The M6 has changed lots of things. On a day trip to Athlone town recently I was interested to see what impact its bypass would have made. Hadn't been there in a long, long time. Walked around it for the first time really. They are putting down new paving on the main street. It felt like a ghost town I have to say. Very few people around. And this in high summer. The river is a great amenity but I thought something more could be done to have more eateries on the bank. It was a scorching day but few options to sit by the river..

Main street will be completed 1 way and wide footpaths by end of year. Probably a bad time to visit as people avoiding it during construction...currenly takes an age to get into town. Not related to the bypass anyway. Next summer the town will be hopping.

Big Dickhead

Great old spot a lot of Tullamore lads build M.H. Moyvalley they were hard workers from what I recall Keyes Builder ? Cobbe Plumber ? Walsh Electricial ? They done some business in the time. Sound Man

Ray Bloody Purchase

I hope the OP slowed down to a crawl three miles outside Loughrea, Ballinasloe and Moate just to get the full nostalgic effect of what it used to be like driving on the road in the good old days.

ohnonotgmail

Ray Bloody Purchase wrote: »

I hope the OP slowed down to a crawl three miles outside Loughrea, Ballinasloe and Moate just to get the full nostalgic effect of what it used to be like driving on the road in the good old days.

I've been in funeral processions that traveled faster.

BeardySi

Missed this thread 4 months ago.

Decided to do the "old road" run a year or so ago when I had a drive from Galway back up here with no time pressures.

Was overall a pleasant drive with a few interesting stops along the way - breakfast in Ballinasloe, whiskey tour in Kilbeggan, a nice cafe in Moate and the folk park just outside the town. Was interesting to see how things had changed from the last time I would have regularly been o n that road (late nineties).

Roads were often in poor order and the 80kmh speed limits were sometimes madenning, whether it's grand conspiracy to grab tolls, a speed trap cashcow or "computer says no" beaurocravy I don't know, but there's bugger all reason for that limit on some of those stretches.

roroliam

Who remembers when Mother Hubbards in Moyvalley was in the caravan run by Barry. I still dream of his cheese burgers and strong tea in a mug (don't drive off with that cup). The journeys were slower but sometimes I think better.

veryangryman

I hear people saying "Oh its great to stop in Kilbeggan".

That isn't a Galway to Dublin journey. Its a Galway to Kilbeggan journey.

No harm breaking up the journey but to do the whole thing on the old goat track is beyond madness. People who miss the "good old days" of feck all on the telly, crooked priests, celebrities who'd turn out to be rapists and in this case, terribly woefully inadequate roads need their head checked.

magicbastarder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FONN-0uoTHI

OldMrBrennan83

Apt username at least.

crushproof

I was reminded last summer of the hell that used to be Enfield, Kinnegad, Moate, Loughrea etc when coming back up to Dublin from Kerry on one of the Bank Holidays. The traffic through Abbeyfeale, Newcastle West and Adare was horrendous and took me back to the days of the old N4.

I remember we could get out of the car way outside of Kinnegad or Loughrea and walk along the tailback into town and go to the shops and then just wait on the main street for our parents to slowly come along in the car. And the tractors, holy jaysus the tractors. Also remember the folks attempting to find a way around the bottleneck at Loughrea and getting horrifically lost in a maze of boreens. Good times!

Motorway has been an absolute blessing, the time difference between driving from Dublin to Galway in 2000 and today is incredible. However if I did have some time I wouldn't mind taking the old route, especially for a pitstop at Kilbeggan - if the wife is driving!