Ireland’s a haven for bikers. While the Wild Atlantic Way and the Ring of Kerry get the headlines, there’s an abundance of mega riding that’s easy to access and away from the crowds.
To show off some of the lesser-known good stuff, we swiped a trio of Yamaha’s – the big-mile ready Tracer 9 GT, sporty MT-09 and retro-ish racer inspired XSR 900 – fitted some Bridgestone tyres and headed for Holyhead to jump on the ferry and spend a couple of brilliant days blasting around on the Emerald Isle.
Four hours later and we were bypassing the Dublin traffic with the sat nav for the Wicklow Mountains – and within half an hour were out in the wild and windswept landscape, bouncing our way across some stunning but deceptively bumpy Tarmac to our digs for the night in Laragh. The following morning we set off for the South Coast, and the stunning Copper Coast Road which carves its way along the shore from Tranmore to Dungarvan – before cutting back inland to Lismore and being treated to a properly special bit of riding along the Vee Pass. A stop in Clonmel before winding our way cross-country back to Dublin, in time for a Guiness or two ahead of our early morning ferry back to British shores.
An excellent trip all round; the roads were mega, the bikes never missed a beat, and the people we met were beyond welcoming. Ireland. What a place.
Big thanks to Yamaha for the bikes, Bridgestone for the rubber, our pals over at Bikerheadz for kitting us out in some top-notch adventure gear and the good folks at Stena for hooking us up with some ferry crossings.
Thanks for watching! And if you want to know more about the route, the bikes and the tyres, be sure to keep your eyes out for a proper in-depth write up in an upcoming issue of Motorcycle Sport and Leisure magazine.
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