Cycling holiday in UK or IE?

NoNotAgain

I was actually looking for an area either in the UK or Eire to spend two or three weeks with my roadbike in.
Good street conditions, a wide choice of tours around 150 miles, basically flat but I also need some hills from time to time.
A proper cycle store infrastructure would be nice as well, a beautiful bed and breakfast, some fine restaurants, not too far from the coast, an array of beautiful villages to cycle through but as well a larger town not too far for some nightlife.
Any ideas which region to further investigate?
Cheers.

Special K

Peaks? Dorset - Cornwall?

Always disappointed with the food and accommodation in Ireland.

rjh299

Cornwalls scenery is stunning so it be worth a trip down here. Although the road surfaces aren't great, not too bad just bit rough, and if you want hills this is the place!
There's a decent bike shop in most towns and plenty of b+b, campsites around this time of year.
Nightlife- Truro's normally pretty busy during the summer, holidaymakers and students back, and Newquay's mental every night of the week (i avoid like the plague in summer!)

alfablue

I toured Kerry and Dingle, beautiful countryside, accommodation was generally very good (B&B's), and there is an extensive network of independent hostels (these were sometimes very basic but fair for the price). There are few bike shops though, but part of the fun of touring is getting the right kit and spares together. The roads are good. You could easily do most of the west coast in 3 weeks, the Atlantic seascape is spectacular.

Another good tour is on Lon Las Cymru which runs the length of Wales North to South. Again, beautiful countryside, some very empty bits in the middle (the best bits), few bike shops, I camped on this tour. It is all on a Sustrans route, the majority of which are quiet lanes, some on un-paved paths.

You would find some great B&B's on either route but you would have to research first, for me this doesn't always work out as I don't like to pre-plan my evening stops. Food anywhere in the UK and Eire is often hit and miss, but there are always some gems, but again, research first.

NoNotAgain

Can't wait to get there, thanks for the input.

Of course I was thinking about Cornwall at first. What an incredible scenery there!
If the pavement is a bit bumpy from time to time it's OK. Living in Austria, I am used to the roads in Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia and willing to suffer a bit.
But please bear a small detail in mind - I would prefer not to change my bridgehead during those three weeks. For the love of God, I am 34 years old, so I am not willing to tour with a rucksack from one B&B to the next. I would love to have one proper one and stay there all the time while exploring the surroundings every day. Although... You never know.

Thanks for all the input so far - I am off, researching Flickr for photos.

alfablue

Ah, I understand now, you want to do day rides from a central B&B.

(by the way, touring with panniers is much better than a rucksack, and you are young!).

NoNotAgain

alfablue wrote:

Ah, I understand now, you want to do day rides from a central B&B.

(by the way, touring with panniers is much better than a rucksack, and you are young!).

Actually yes, yet I am somewhat uncertain actually.
I did some calculations today and found out that I could easily travel, using panniers, a second set of biking clothes and some stuff for leisure time, with approximately 12 kilos of extra weight which is not THAT bad.

By the way, me - young?
Mate, if our paths should ever cross the whole evening is on me!

NoNotAgain

rjh299 wrote:

Cornwalls scenery is stunning so it be worth a trip down here. Although the road surfaces aren't great, not too bad just bit rough, and if you want hills this is the place!
There's a decent bike shop in most towns and plenty of b+b, campsites around this time of year.
Nightlife- Truro's normally pretty busy during the summer, holidaymakers and students back, and Newquay's mental every night of the week (i avoid like the plague in summer!)

Holy shit, I honestly never heard of Truro before and just Flickrd for it and have absolutely fallen in love!!!
Now you may really call me an ignorant Kraut or Fritz or whatever you desire.

rjh299

NoNotAgain wrote:

Holy shoot, I honestly never heard of Truro before and just Flickrd for it and have absolutely fallen in love!!!
Now you may really call me an ignorant Kraut or Fritz or whatever you desire.

No worries, Cornwall's not the most renowned place in UK. There are far nicer places here though. Small villages and towns. St Ives, Sennon, Fowey, Looe, Mullion. Most of these small (former) fishing villages but beautiful places to cycle through.
Just looked at alfablue's suggestion of Lon Las Cymru. Ordered the map myself from sustrans. Great suggestion by looks of it.

FCE2007

Polperro