Irish Border Tour - What Do You Think?

[Farky]

Been a while since ive been on here....

When you ask about sights to see, well, tourism kind of misses out the middle lands a fair bit but there are sights to see..
Start in Newcastle on a Sunday morning to catch the crowds of bikers gather on weekly pilgrimage and then head over the Mournes, via Spelga to Hilltown for breathtaking scenery.
From here, Slieve Gullion mountain road outside Newry, then to Crossmaglen offers some craicing biker roads and a 'must do, cuz its been in the papers' town you can tell everyone you survived. Onto Cootehill and Cavan for a stay in the south.
From Cavan, alongside Lough Erne to Enniskillen with lake roads to left and mountain roads to right.
Not much specifically touristy to see along those roads but plenty of roads and scenery, a joy on any type of two wheels.
From Enniskillen, to Sligo via Florence Court park, Marble Arch Caves and a road that youll do well to keep to the limits on.
Ride around Lough Gill and upto Benbo for more sightseeing the next day before heading either North towards Donegal or South towards Carrick-on-Shannon depending on which boat you want to take home again ie Belfast or Dublin.
Belfast would see you do then ride the Atlantic Coast road to Derry and even Antrim if you had time.
Dublin could see you going through Longford-Kells and some historic sites like Tara and Newgrange.
You could spend weeks in the area if you arent looking for tourism specific sites, yet plenty to see and roads to ride.

On a bad day - youd get a poor welcome for being from the neighbouring county or town letalone having a british accent - majorty by far wouldnt give a damn....including Crossmaglen!
Biggest issue you will have is which currency to use and the cost of a pint in Euros....theyll all take Euros or Pounds, you need to know which buys you the most depending on currency rates. Theyre no mugs along the border.

[92kk k100lt 193214]

Start in Newcastle on a Sunday morning to catch the crowds of bikers gather on weekly pilgrimage and then head over the Mournes, via Spelga to Hilltown for breathtaking scenery.
From here, Slieve Gullion mountain road outside Newry, then to Crossmaglen offers some craicing biker roads and a 'must do, cuz its been in the papers' town you can tell everyone you survived.

When you have done that lot you might not feel like going home. Just add the Antrim Coast and tell everyone you are staying.

[Monster]

Did a (road) trip all around the whole Island in 2013 which took in the Irish Bike Fest - great raods, great scenery and never smelt an ounce of trouble at all

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[Monster]

The Gap of Dunloe Road

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[Flintlock]

Snap

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[Mac 60]

Still not without it's dangers....

Iam not going to slate you for this as I agree with you to a point. Last year on a visit with some mates around the border areas we woke in the morning to find one of our bikes had IRA scrapped into the tank. The fact that it was the only Triumph in the group said it all. Also when two English mates of mine came over for the North West 200 a local prick in my home town started mouthing off about the English. As my late wife was English and these were my friends he insulted it diddent end well for him at all. And this in North Antrim. I guess my point is not everyone has moved on and there are still plenty of political dinosaurs roaming around this beautiful island.

[Super Ten]

So are there any dirt roads on this type of route that one could follow, or is it all tarmac?

[TomBoyNI]

We don't have green lanes, or byways and the like. All the routes that you should be using are roads. Although for some of them the term road is slack to say the least, but they are roads nonetheless and are all marked on the map.

[Super Ten]

We don't have green lanes, or byways and the like. All the routes that you should be using are roads. Although for some of them the term road is slack to say the least, but they are roads nonetheless and are all marked on the map.

Thanks TomBoyNI. Was hoping the answer would be different.