POlson

We will be driving our final leg from Clonmel (actually Glasha Farmhouse in Ballymacarby) to Dublin (actually north of Dublin in Skerries). We fly out around noon the next day. Any recommendations for stops along the way?

amyprib

When are you going?
Although there's no super easy way to get there, you could stop at Jerpoint Abbey if you like ruins, or Kilkenny for their castle tour (a furnished restore castle). Those two places are only about 20min from each other. There's something called Browneshill Dolmen (I believe that's it) in Carlow, which isn't too far from Kilkenny.
There's also Dunmore Cave just a few miles north of Kilkenny.
Other than that, I don't know what is there, since I didn't research those areas.
There's always the areas south of Dublin, like Powerscourt, Glendalough, etc, but not sure if you'll have the time for that, since there's no direct way of getting there from Clonmel. We drove from Waterford over to the east coast and up to Glendalough and Powerscourt with plenty of time for stops, and made it over to Greystones in one day. But that was June.
Hopefully others will have some good suggestions.
Are you visiting the Rock of Cashel while you're near Clonmel? What about Cahir Castle (which is very near Clonmel). Will you have spent any time in Dublin prior to leaving there? You could drive straight there and spend a little time.

POlson

We are going in early September. We will be near Clonmel for two days and planned to see Cahir and Cashel. Great ideas - they made me look at a map again. I had planned to take the N8 to Dublin but it looks like we can take the R697 allowing for stops at Ormand Castle, Ahenny (High Crosses), and at Kells Priory with a lunch stop in Kilkenny. Jerpoint Abbey will take some backtracking (but we could play it by ear), and then continue on the N10 to the N9 for the drive to Dublin. The N9 would take us through Carlow with a possible stop for the Dolmen. We thought we would reserve Dublin and points south for another trip.

Thank you for the good ideas.

peregryn

two things -- we stayed in Skerries in Feb, (also the night before homebound flight). Arrived just before dark and left early; and we ended up wishing we'd allowed a little more time here. (Of course we felt that way about every place we stopped -- that's why we're going back next week...) The harbor and strand were fine places to walk around & there's a Martello tower at the southern point. So don't necessarily look at Skerries as just a hotel-stop.

Also, the Browne's Hill Dolmen is amazing and definitely worth seeing -- it's near the main road but it IS NOT EASY to find -- in the middle of a field with a small car park on the side. A path is fenced off so that you don't walk through the field itself, but you can get right up next to, in, under the stupendous stone.

amyprib

I really liked Jerpoint, so if you like ruins, you might like a stop there. It's really not much backtracking, esp from Kells Priory, it's not too far... But yeah, see how it goes. We didn't get to stop at Kells Priory, so maybe that's similar to Jerpoint.

Be sure to ask for directions OUT of Kilkenny. I don't know why or how, but we couldn't get out of Kilkenny for like 15-20min, and we had a map of the town!.. It was ridiculous! Just keep driving til you hit a roundabout and hopefully you'll be on your way.

Yeah if you're thinking of a future trip back, definitely reserve Dublin and points south for then.
Have fun!