Tourist here 🙂 this isn’t my first trip to the Emerald Isle (jealous of you locals, Ireland is one of my favorite countries)
Been seeing articles like this one:
13 Narrow (And Bendy) Roads In Ireland That Make Nervous Drivers ? Bricks
My friend will be the one driving. Do tourists typically do ok? Not sure what info I’m looking for- or if it’s just for locals to say “you’ll be fine.” I’m a mixture of nervous for the road-element and terribly excited for this trip.
6 comments
>Do tourists typically do ok?
If they can remember which side of the road to be on.
Bring clean underwear
They’ll do fine. The country roads are narrow so learn to keep to one side and if there’s an oncoming car look for a place where both cars can pass.
Don’t let the boy racers who know the local roads well intimidate you into driving faster than you’re comfortable with. Don’t overtake tractors if you can’t see what’s ahead. Watch a few YouTube videos that tourists have done on driving in the Irish countryside, definitely worth it.
Your friend should be fine. Just take it slow and remember not to drive at the edge of your visibility on the narrow roads, as you might encounter someone coming the other way in your lane and they’ll also need time to stop. If you get a queue of locals behind you, don’t panic; just pull off at the next safe place to allow them to overtake you.
Take your time, drive at what speed you are comfortable wirh. But if cars come behind you, pull in whenever possible and let them pass. It will take you 10s and is very much appreciated.
One thing to be aware of if you’re pulling into the side regularly is that some the country roads might have a grass verge with a gully/drain just beside the grass, so don’t pull in too far! It’s grand during the day as you’d have a sense of it but not so good at night!
A lot will depend on the road you’re driving on, just incase you’re not aware of the different:
M is the simple one = motorway, so mostly good road surface, 120 speed limit and, peak rush hour aside (esp M50) is an easy enough driving experience.
N = National road – typically (but not always!) a good surface and max speed is 80/100 but some locals may go faster, especially if it passes through small villages where it’s supposed to drop to 50/60. Some of the N roads might be dual carriageway too.
R road = regional road, as above but a bit more likely have potholes/sharper corners/ – usually max speed limit is 80 but will drop to 60/50 as above too. These are typically single carriageway but might have a bit of a hard shoulder too. Again, locals will overtake quickly on the spots they know they can
L road = local road-this is the typical windy narrow country road you & your friend may be thinking of-an issue at the moment is that there’s a lot of grass/hedge growth which makes it tricksy to see out of some junctions-just take your time and don’t be afraid to wind down the windows and listen out too. There’s usually places to pass on these roads, on the rare occasion there isn’t, you/the other person might have to reverse to somewhere you can pass!
Main thing is drive sensibly on the correct side of the road and take on board the advice above and ye’ll be grand.
Lastly, enjoy!!