That's another tour over and what a great mix of people we had along - American, Scottish, Welsh, English and Irish! The weather turned out mostly good with the waterproofs only needing to be donned on a couple of occasions and enough sunshine to keep everyone smiling. We crammed plenty in to the time available, even managing a brief foray underground at the Ailwee Cave and a visit to a bird of prey display... and not forgetting "Tony's Castle"!! Mileage from the GPS was a little under 650 from Dublin back to Dublin. I don't know which was the best evenings entertainment - the bloke singing on Sunday evening who was excellent, or the "Wannabe" that entertained us on Monday evening with his upside down singing and bikers song played on the bodhran...
This is a 5 day tour to the lovely counties of Clare and Galway on the west coast of Ireland, we will spend four nights in two different hotels allowing us to explore the best of the areas known as "The Burren" in County Clare and "Connemara" in County Galway.
The tour will depart from the Dublin area on Friday 28th May 2010. We will be able to meet anyone travelling on the breakfast time Stena Line ferry from Holyhead in Wales to the Port of Dublin..
From Dublin we will travel west to County Clare and our first nights hotel near the spectacular Cliffs of Moher. We will stop at the cliffs on the way as well as at the site of a ruined monastery with a still intact round tower and at one of the ancient dolmens found in the area.
On Saturday we'll explore the area known as The Burren, a landscape carved out of limestone that has a character of it's own and is unique in Ireland. There are some lovely roads along the coast, a high inland plateau with caves to visit, as well as some ancient structures if time permits.
On Sunday we will move north to the area known as Connemara in west Galway. This is a beautiful and rugged area in one of the remotest parts of Ireland. We will stay in the pretty village of Cong on the Mayo/Galway county border for two nights, the John Wayne film "The Quiet Man" was filmed in the locality.
Monday will see us doing a days ride round the Connemara coastline with stops in a some of the picturesque villages along the way. If it's a clear day we will ride along the "Sky Road" and enjoy the views across the islands and mountains of this lovely part of Ireland.
Tuesday will see us saying farewell to this lovely corner of Ireland as we make our way back to Dublin allowing those of you booked on the late afternoon ferry from The Port of Dublin plenty of time to check-in.
We will be staying in comfortable hotels for all four nights, the hotels have safe parking off the road for the bikes, good food and drink, and I believe there will be music in the hotel on the Sunday evening.
The cost of the tour includes four nights hotel accommodation with full Irish breakfast, parking at the hotels for the bikes, daily itinerary and route description, and the services of an experienced motorcyclist/tour leader.
£285 per person sharing twin/double room £325 per person single room
