Dublin to Nenagh / Limerick

Cyclist101

Looking for a quiet route to cycle from Dublin to Nenagh/ Limerick (i.e. avoiding dual carriageways and other heavy traffic roads if possible). Would be really grateful for any suggestions.

The old N7?

cletus

The website below is great for planning trips on quiet roads. You can use it to factor in stops at cafes, pubs (when they're open) etc.


https://cycle.travel/map?from=Dublin&to=Nenagh&fromLL=53.3497645,-6.2602732&toLL=52.861944,-8.196667

magicbastarder

you'll want to watch the weather - the normal prevailing SW wind would be a headwind all the way for you.

benneca1

Rathcoole - Kilteel - Punchestown - Two mile house - The Curragh - Kildangan - Vicarstown - Stradbally - Borris in Ossary - Roscrea then old N7 Have done this a few times nicer than old N7 and better surfaces. Old N7 to Roscrea is not much fun

paddydriver

magicbastarder wrote: »

you'll want to watch the weather - the normal prevailing SW wind would be a headwind all the way for you.

I was reading this thread thinking in my head how its downhill all the way..:P but think yes would be best to attempt it on a less windy day.

fryup

you mean to tell me you want to cycle from Dublin all the way down to Nenagh??

sure that's half a week's cycle, are you planning on airbnb'ing?

NamelessPhil

fryup wrote: »

you mean to tell me you want to cycle from Dublin all the way down to Nenagh??

sure that's half a week's cycle, are you planning on airbnb'ing?

163km can be done in eight hours or far less by a reasonably fit cyclist. It's a day's cycle at most.

fryup

not for your average joe, well not for me anyway

NamelessPhil

I did it with three other cyclists at Easter one year, one of whom hadn't gone further than 100km at the time. We even took the long way down via Portlaoise! We left Dublin at 10:00am and got to Nenagh about 8pm. Three of us then cycled back up to Dublin through the night to finish before 10am the next morning.

https://strava.app.link/TbRI3elq1fb

Large bottle small glass

End to end cycles are the best type in my experience.

With that in mind I'd be inclined to make route as enjoyable and varied as possible.

In spite of all the recent advances (GPS, plotting websites, phone apps etc) a lot of people remain pretty terrible and route planning.

Effectively you are going from major town on mouth of Liffey to major town on mouth of Shannon.

To go from any point to point you have to figure out how you are going to deal with river valleys/crossings and upland areas. My instinct here would be get to Shannon catchment using the canals if possible and once there backroads as much as possible to either bike lane (Nenagh to Limerick) or cross river in Ballina and take back roads most of way to Limerick on west of Shannon.

That would take you north of Slieve Blooms and take crossing Barrow and Nore out of equation while adding some off road on route (using canal).

There is an endless number of routes, go pick a good one and fcuk old N7 road or similar; that's not cycling imo

Seaswimmer

fryup wrote: »

not for your average joe, well not for me anyway

Maybe it would be easier with a new username:):)