Successful Beer and Biking Tour of Ireland thanks to you
Aug 19th, 2003, 07:00 AM
#1
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Successful Beer and Biking Tour of Ireland thanks to you
Well, we did it! We biked on the left for two weeks without mishap. Thank you Owen, Derrinran, and Maadimom for assuring me it could be done. Thank you, too, to Ned and Budman and many others, who gave me all the other hints that made the trip work. It was delightful.
What I'd like to do in this post is follow-up on the very questions that I had asked before going:
Would dogs be a problem? Yes and No. For the most part, they were territorial, especially on the West Coast. On the South Coast, we had some problems. No mishaps--just had to be a bit speedy. It?s sort of scary when one keeps on passing dogs with muzzles on. I know, I know?should actually make one feel safer, but it doesn?t.
How hard was biking on the left? Well, as a couple of the posters implied, it really only took a day to get oriented. Making right turns was the hardest part.
Was it safe? I'd say it was comparable to biking in my area, a pre-trip assumption I made after reading all of your replies to my question. My area roads are in bad shape with hidden curves, hills, etc. and people drive way too fast on them. Same there. Yes, the roads are tiny on the West Coast, but the drivers exercise in general more caution there as a result. The week in the West we rode with Bike Vermont who quite wisely use those yellow flags on the back. As a biker, I hated them (who needs extra wind resistance in a head wind on a hill?), but as a mom I was so grateful to be able to see my daughter's flags waving above the high gray walls on curves. In the south, our biking covered either rather unused roads or wide major roads, so the lack of a bike flag wasn't a huge problem.
What are Irish phone cards like? I had posed this question because I used them all the time in France. In France I preferred the "plug into the phone" type--found them to be reliable and extremely inexpensive. In Ireland, I prefer the call card, "call the special number, enter your pin" type. Ended up using "Swiftcall" but could have used other brands just fine. Reason for this preference? Eircomm phones were not always available for the plug-in type and they were more costly minutes. No matter what, it was easy to purchase these cards everywhere.
Is there beer besides Guinness? Thanks to Budman, I had a Smithwicks in hand my very first night and would find myself searching desperately for bars that had it on tap. I tried the Guinness first, but I liked it no better in Ireland than in the States (hey, not everyone likes broccali or blue cheese or even pizza!). Thank you again, Budman--I'm sure my biking was all the better for your help with my beverage selection.
What should I eat in Ireland? Again, thanks to all of you, I became an ?all-salmon, all the time? eater. Seriously, you all gave good hints. We stopped at SPARS, ordered toasties, had great chowders and soups, and grazed on brown bread. We felt we were extremely well fed with a quite delightful national cuisine. I think one warning that wasn?t given to my food question was the inconsistent quality of meat preparation. By the end of the two weeks, we certainly became aware that ordering any meat ?medium? or ?medium rare? probably would still result in an overcooked lump. When in doubt, we always ordered the fish or shellfish (mussels in Cliftden were as good if not better than in Dinan or Cancale?and that?s really saying something.
Which activity to choose in Bunratty? What would be the timing if we were trying to do the Folk Park before a two o?clock flight? We ended up doing the Ceili in the barn instead of the banquet, and it was a lovely end to the trip. Banquet would have been similar. I?d compare it to that Disney World dinner thing that?s the Country Music theme (senility here, folks). Same kind of limited food, plenty of it, decently done. Rather stereotypical music and dancing, but done by quite professional people, so it?s very entertaining. One of you gave me the all-time best hint?hit Mac?s afterward. As the poster said, Mac?s, the ?fake? Folk Park pub, was filled with locals who were shocked (and not immediately pleased) that tourists had ?found? them.. Three extremely young local musicians who had just done well at a trad fest in Galway were performing, and their parents were just so very proud. They deserved to be! Listening to them was blissful.
Had plenty of time to do Folk Park and Castle before airport next morning. Entered park by 9, left at 11:15, checked out at 11:30, took 11:50 bus to Shannon, and had time for a beer, as Budman had assured all, before our 2:00 flight. Not bad.
How hard is it to travel by bus? Easy, convenient and cheap. Felt the bus website was quite helpful, and an easy way to get the latest schedule was to go to any town tourist info office. Very helpful people.
I think that?s it. I can list at a later time the accommodations?have a strong opinion (it?s not going to be pretty) on Adare to express that can wait. Again, thank you for the little hints that make a good trip work! (PS--I've given up trying to edit this so that my quotes and dashes aren't question marks so just forgive how this finally appears on the page!)
What I'd like to do in this post is follow-up on the very questions that I had asked before going:
Would dogs be a problem? Yes and No. For the most part, they were territorial, especially on the West Coast. On the South Coast, we had some problems. No mishaps--just had to be a bit speedy. It?s sort of scary when one keeps on passing dogs with muzzles on. I know, I know?should actually make one feel safer, but it doesn?t.
How hard was biking on the left? Well, as a couple of the posters implied, it really only took a day to get oriented. Making right turns was the hardest part.
Was it safe? I'd say it was comparable to biking in my area, a pre-trip assumption I made after reading all of your replies to my question. My area roads are in bad shape with hidden curves, hills, etc. and people drive way too fast on them. Same there. Yes, the roads are tiny on the West Coast, but the drivers exercise in general more caution there as a result. The week in the West we rode with Bike Vermont who quite wisely use those yellow flags on the back. As a biker, I hated them (who needs extra wind resistance in a head wind on a hill?), but as a mom I was so grateful to be able to see my daughter's flags waving above the high gray walls on curves. In the south, our biking covered either rather unused roads or wide major roads, so the lack of a bike flag wasn't a huge problem.
What are Irish phone cards like? I had posed this question because I used them all the time in France. In France I preferred the "plug into the phone" type--found them to be reliable and extremely inexpensive. In Ireland, I prefer the call card, "call the special number, enter your pin" type. Ended up using "Swiftcall" but could have used other brands just fine. Reason for this preference? Eircomm phones were not always available for the plug-in type and they were more costly minutes. No matter what, it was easy to purchase these cards everywhere.
Is there beer besides Guinness? Thanks to Budman, I had a Smithwicks in hand my very first night and would find myself searching desperately for bars that had it on tap. I tried the Guinness first, but I liked it no better in Ireland than in the States (hey, not everyone likes broccali or blue cheese or even pizza!). Thank you again, Budman--I'm sure my biking was all the better for your help with my beverage selection.
What should I eat in Ireland? Again, thanks to all of you, I became an ?all-salmon, all the time? eater. Seriously, you all gave good hints. We stopped at SPARS, ordered toasties, had great chowders and soups, and grazed on brown bread. We felt we were extremely well fed with a quite delightful national cuisine. I think one warning that wasn?t given to my food question was the inconsistent quality of meat preparation. By the end of the two weeks, we certainly became aware that ordering any meat ?medium? or ?medium rare? probably would still result in an overcooked lump. When in doubt, we always ordered the fish or shellfish (mussels in Cliftden were as good if not better than in Dinan or Cancale?and that?s really saying something.
Which activity to choose in Bunratty? What would be the timing if we were trying to do the Folk Park before a two o?clock flight? We ended up doing the Ceili in the barn instead of the banquet, and it was a lovely end to the trip. Banquet would have been similar. I?d compare it to that Disney World dinner thing that?s the Country Music theme (senility here, folks). Same kind of limited food, plenty of it, decently done. Rather stereotypical music and dancing, but done by quite professional people, so it?s very entertaining. One of you gave me the all-time best hint?hit Mac?s afterward. As the poster said, Mac?s, the ?fake? Folk Park pub, was filled with locals who were shocked (and not immediately pleased) that tourists had ?found? them.. Three extremely young local musicians who had just done well at a trad fest in Galway were performing, and their parents were just so very proud. They deserved to be! Listening to them was blissful.
Had plenty of time to do Folk Park and Castle before airport next morning. Entered park by 9, left at 11:15, checked out at 11:30, took 11:50 bus to Shannon, and had time for a beer, as Budman had assured all, before our 2:00 flight. Not bad.
How hard is it to travel by bus? Easy, convenient and cheap. Felt the bus website was quite helpful, and an easy way to get the latest schedule was to go to any town tourist info office. Very helpful people.
I think that?s it. I can list at a later time the accommodations?have a strong opinion (it?s not going to be pretty) on Adare to express that can wait. Again, thank you for the little hints that make a good trip work! (PS--I've given up trying to edit this so that my quotes and dashes aren't question marks so just forgive how this finally appears on the page!)
Aug 19th, 2003, 09:35 AM
#3
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Hey, Budman, there's an entire biking group that owes you bigtime for the Smithwick's tip. As one biker told me, "Heck, I'd probably still be sipping those darn Harps while a perfectly decent tap of Smithwicks was standing right beside me."
Aug 19th, 2003, 07:12 PM
#4
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glad you had a great time. Altho many seem to be scared of biking in a foreign country, I have always found it to be less hassle than in the US.
ALtho you refer to Guinness as 'beer', we found that the pubs we went to recognized it as a separate beverage and so when we were told they were out of beer, we were surprised that they had Guinness
ALtho you refer to Guinness as 'beer', we found that the pubs we went to recognized it as a separate beverage and so when we were told they were out of beer, we were surprised that they had Guinness
Aug 20th, 2003, 03:34 AM
#5
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Just related your Guinness story to my husband, and he said to tell you of another strange custom--hearing Irishmen ordering "a pint of Budweiser." Since he regarded visiting Ireland for Guinness as something akin to returning to the Mothership, he'd just shake his head mournfully each time he heard it.
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