Motorcycle in Ireland – enjoying the roads of County Mayo

This is the second part of this short series of blog posts ‘Motorcycle in Ireland’. If you missed Part 1 you can click back for it at this link. In that first part I had mentioned this was a fairly short trip due to other commitments, which was all the more reason for making the most of my time and the most of the roads.

I had booked a couple of nights at Mary’s of Mulrranny in County Mayo and you can read about that accommodation in Part 1 or head back to one of my trips in 2022 for more information about this very decent stopover.

County Mayo

Located on the west coast of Ireland County Mayo is a worthwhile place to visit and is certainly worth travelling to on a motorbike.

It’s a county I expect to head back to at some time (maybe later this year). The towns of Newport and Westport look decent enough for a visit and a wander and I really must go to Achill Island again.

Westport itself  is a bigger town than Newport and looked to be one of those pretty, classic and colourful Irish towns that draw you in.  The town is located on the edge of an Atlantic inlet on the west coast of Ireland and with fine looking buildings and a tree lined promenade and doubtless plenty of places to stop and rest awhile..

It’s a place I really am keen to return to and explore a little.

I had decided that after breakfast I would head off for Achil Island and pretty much take the coastal road down to Derreem, Ailt, Cloughmore and onto Dooega.

After that I sort of turned inland to head for Bunacurry then down towards the ‘end’ of Achill Island to Keem and it’s lovely beach.

Backtracking

After Keem beach I had to turn back (it really is the end of the road) and I made my way to Dugort, then Belmullet then to the Blowhole at Downpatrick Head before finishing my day by heading back to Mulranny via the pretty town of Newport. And just in case you’re wondering what a blowhole is – it’s basically (and simplistically) a sort of marine geyser.

What a difference a day makes

Overall my route had taken in about 170 miles and without doubt was full of so many visual highlights it was hard to take in.

As a ‘motorcycle day’ it was right up there with some of the best and I’d have to say that I would probably rank it in somewhere in my top 20 motorbiking days in Europe.

It sort of seemed to have everything really and a great example of what a difference a day makes. When I was down this way last year dreadful weather had prevented me from heading this way – but this time out the weather was glorious and with temperatures averaging around 23c or so for the day it was just ideal.

A good mix of roads, outstanding scenery, plenty of space and peace and quiet coupled with good accommodation to start and end the day made for a wonderful day and one I’ll remember for a long time.

To be honest it’s also a day that I would be happy to repeat (on a bike or in a car) and I wouldn’t bet against me doing that again sometime soon!

Terrific national park

Part of my route saw me head through the Ballycroy National Park and I cant really tell you just how much I enjoyed it. For the most part excellent empty roads and splendid isolation made it a real joy to be on my bike. You can read much more about the national park at this link. But suffice it to say there’s also a visitor centre there that I;m sure would help get the most out of learning about and visiting the area.

Coming soon

Part 3 of motorcycle Ireland coming soon – I head down to Killarney in County Kerry for my next overnight stop.

Picture gallery

Clicking on any of the images below will open a picture gallery that can be clicked or scrolled through. There’s a quite a few pictures in this gallery and hopefully they give a decent flavour of what there is to see on a loop of Achill Island and beyond.

Set 1

Set 2