Ireland advice

General Discussion
1

Seeing the posts from irish surfers got me thinking - I’m considering a couple of weeks in Ireland next year, either May/June. My wife wants to go to Dublin and I want to go somewhere accesible to either Bundoran or Easkey. I don’t like real tourist places & my wife will want some comforts. I’ve heard Ballyshannon is a nicer place than Bundoran.

I am interested in where would be a good base or place to stay?  I had also considered Sligo which I gather is 35 kms from Bundoran - this would be about a 25 minute drive in Oz but I’m not sure about the Irish roads. I’m open to other ideas. If you prefer to pm that is fine.

 

regards

 

Bob

2

In my experience, you would better luck really waiting untill september onwards. We don;t get very good swell here in the british isles in May - August

3

Balsa has also recommended September. It’s more that I am going to a conference and am working some surfing around it.  know Scotland can get pretty flat in July.

Bob 

4

Bob, 

 

Having said that, I surf in Cornwall, England from July - August which is supposed to be our flattest months and there is still some good swell that rolls in. We get all sorts of sizes, although not too much barreling surf - and not too many reef breaks. We did get a 3 or 4 double over head days last August however. What I am trying to say really is it is really inconsistant and based on luck, you could score some really good surf, but it could be crap!

 

Jonny

5

If you were thinking about Cornwall, PM me and I can hook you up.

 

Jonny

6

Jonny,

I doubt whther I will get to England but thanks for the offer.  I have now been to Europe twice (each time has been July) and I have had really fun waves. I know it is a gamble, but west coast Ireland looks like a place the low pressure systems visit with some frequency.

 

regards

 

Bob

 

 

7

No worries

 

Jonny

8

bgreen

 

I live down south, in cork. Have been up north once for a surf but that was a while ago.

35km on the back country roads can be anything between 40 mins to an hour (all depends on traffic of tractors etc). The worst time to drive in the country in Ireland is Sunday (you come up behind a 1998 toyota corolla, driven by a cap wearing farmer....add 20 mins to your journey). They are all out as a horde that day for the Mass! But i think bundoran is connected by a regional road to sligo, so should move fast enough.

With regards to surf, up north is more consistent during the summer month. The worst is august...but like jonny said....last august was the exception that proves the rule. Magicseaweed has a good average monthly swell hights charts for various spots, so you might have a better idea if you have a look at those.

 

9

Retrothis,

 

Thanks for the Sunday driving tip. I wondered about the country road times. I recall driving around this series of S & hairpin bends in Scotland that was just wide enough for 1 car - very slow going.

 

Besides Dublin my wife wants to go to Cork,  so we’ll split our 2 weeks. The nearest reliable surf to Cork at that time of year seemed to be in the Dingle area. Ages ago I had asked around when I was planning another trip and was told “the coastline is very convoluted which will drive you mad trying to find spots” - seemed like a lot of local knowledge was needed, Is Dingle the closest summer surf to you & is it much less consistent than up north?

 

Bob

 

 

10

Hi Bob,

Sorry but there is no surf in Ireland, England blocks all our swell ;o)

 

 

If you are going to be in Ireland anyway why not make the most of it.

 

But as has been said you could get skunked and get nothing or you could get lucky.

 

Also board rental here is crap to non existent you if possible bring a board.

 

Not very PC of me to say it but avoid July in the NW it’s Protestant marching season in the North and all the Catholics get out on holiday so Bundoran will be backed – not a nice place.

 

The first weekend in May and in June are public holidays so accommodation could be booked up other than that you should be able to book at short-ish notice.

 

Keep your plans flexible as to where you say maybe day trip or do shot hops out of Dublin and spend a few says in Sligo, Clare, Kerry, Cork….

 

Drive time from Dublin to Strandhill in Sligo is 2 1/2 to 3 hours after major improvements in roads, Dublin to Lahinch is about 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Galway is abut 3 hours Cork is 3 Castle Gregory in Kerry (Brandon Bay) is 4  or more. Like I said roads here have gotten much better.  

 

If you were to go to the NW then you could go to Sligo then depending on wind and swell you can surf Strandhill, or go to Easkey or Bundoran….

 

If you want a funky hotel Markree Castle is nice http://www.markreecastle.ie/  it’s just outside Sligo or get a B&B in Strandhill and you can walk to the beach to surf.

 

In Clare you could say in Lahinch, Liscranor, Doolin 

 

If Kerry is working Castelgregory is a small village but good options for surf as it’s got lots of wind angels covered and you can go over to Inch beach and reef…Dingle is bigger on thing some “Irish” language planks changed the name of the town and all the road signs to “**An Daingean”** this has confused no end of tourists – it’s the Irish for Dingle.

 

 

Cork does get surf you need local knowledge to pick the right beach, I’m not from there so can’t help.

 

www.wannasurf.com and http://www.beachwizard.com all have covered Ireland pretty well.

 

 

11

Space H,

 

Many thanks. I can see I need to look into Irish public holidays. At this stage I have to be in Barcelona by June 29 - probably via SW France. I’ll have a bisectable paipo - perfect for travel so board travel shouldn’t be a big problem.  Working out a surf base and places that my wife will like that are proximate to surf is the challenge now. Thanks for info on some other spots to look into (I have a few guide books but have largely restricted my attention on a couple of areas so far).  I’ll bear in mind that there is no surf in Ireland.I’ll check the links - in the past I have had a dew concerns about wannasurf info.

regards

 

Bob

12

To whet your interest in an Ireland trip check out this…http://www.hollowsurfboards.com/Ireland2008.htm

13

Maybe you should come in winter, one of Irelands best doing what he does best

 

14

hmmm… why not post it on surfermagforum as well spacehopper.

15

Thanks all. perhaps the cover should have in bigger bold letters - the COLDEST but the best winter in 30 years.What are the chances this was a tow-in?

 

Paul I’ll check out your story - I have read a few of them in th epast and oddly enough have at some stage criss crossed your tracks.

regards

Bob

16

Bgreen it could be perfect, or it could be flat. Summer is awful inconsistant over here.

 Pack the travel board and hope for the best, you could score it brilliant.

Theres good breaks all along the west coast, Magicseaweed and them have all the main ones covered. Easky is a sweet wave. Bundoran as a village is a kip, its only saving grace is the wave in front of it...

Avoiding the North around marching season is a good tip too, even though its calmed down a lot in the last few years.

 

Hi Paul, I saw that photo log a long while ago and loved it, it really does show off the best of the country. Cheers.

17

Hamnsalad,

 

Thanks. This trip combines a worl/pleasure angle so they are not hardcore surf trips. I’m not expecting epic - just getting wet in a different country is a stoke, especially amongst raw beauty.

Anything away fromcrowds is a bonus.

 

regards

 

Bob

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18

hey bob

ireland is cool! just takes a while to get anywhere :o)

if you get down to cork give me a shout

 

paul

19

Paul,

 

Thanks.  I have a list of places Burnsie suggested (not necessarily surf spots). Over easter my wife is going to take a guide book and see where she would like to go. Once we work out a plan i’ll let you know.

 

regards

 

Bob