Bike Ride North of Dublin

So I finally got out for my second bike ride in Dublin today. I took one ride before this one, and had a pretty bad time! I was trying to find Phoenix Park just north of the Liffy to the West of City Center. The traffic patterns were awful, cars didn’t know there was a bike lane… it was a miserableride.

On today’s ride I tried to find the road on the north side of Dublin that ran along the water. One of our relocation people mentioned that it had a great bike path that was separated from the rest of the road. What a find! Look here how clear the separation is from the road. It’s not like this the whole way, but it’s far better than riding through the heart of Dublin.

I did have to ride carefully in some traffic to get north of the Liffy and out to the water. Once I got there the bike lanes were separated from traffic just as described and the ride was terrific. The weather was real cooperative too. The rain held off and it was only partly cloudy.

I found three golf courses on a small island that Karen mentioned one of was pretty affordable. I think the perfect day might start with a good breakfast, then a bike ride to the golf course, 18 holes of golf, then a ride home. I may try and make that happen sometime next week if the weather cooperates.

I got as far north as a town called Howth. I had lunch in a nice sandwich café right in front of a marina. Howth is really a quaint sea town with a quintessential marina sea-port feeling. The jetty that protects the marina was busy with tourists and offers great views of an island just off the coast. It was beautiful!

Here is a picture of my complete bike route today. I really got to see some great places north of Dublin.

I feel so amazingly lucky to be able to enjoy Ireland so much. This is such an incredible opportunity for us (especially incredible for me). Click here to see the full Ofoto album of today’s pictures (just click on view slideshow).