I just spent 2 weeks riding (and busing) in Ireland. Mostly, on the Wild Atlantic Way, the west coast. I sent out 3 updates during this trip.
The
first one described my train, bike, ferry, bike, bus, bike trip from near Heathrow to Kinsale, where the real biking portion of the tour started.
The
second one described the 5 days riding from Kinsale to Killarney, the bus from Killarney to Galway and the riding from Galway to Leenane.
The
third one described the last day's ride to Clifden, an off day hiking in Clifden, and the bus, train rides to Belfast, a day exploring Belfast.
I am a US citizen and I only had to show a passport when arriving at LIverpool from Northern Ireland!
A few random observations:
Ireland is very hilly. One day, I did over 3400 feet of climbing but never got higher than 400 of elevation.
Ireland's driver's are very patient. I wasn't honked at once nor felt particularly unsafe, even on National roads.
While Ireland's coast are interesting, they are not dramatic.
The Irish are very friendly.
I'll write up a detailed journal with hundreds of photos soon and post a link here when I have.