Back Roads: Ireland,
DK Eyewitness Travel,£14.99
For many, driving on Irish country roads might seem like a slow form of torture, but there is something charming about trundling along back roads, with hedgerows whizzing past and unexpected dips and hills revealing sudden viewpoints. This is not a guide for petrol heads – the suggested drives are spectacular, but the emphasis is on leisurely trips with frequent stops, rather than pulse- racing pursuits along deserted coastal roads, and the suggested times are long – two days to go from Youghal to Cork anyone?
Each drive gets a clear map (with a fold-out one in the back of the book though most drivers will want more detail) with distances, main market days en route, festival listings, and, of course, directions and parking information. There are several activities and day-trip options for each itinerary and brief suggestions for hotels and restaurants. The visuals are particularly strong, and the sun-suffused Irish countryside has rarely looked more appealing, though the designers can’t resist those animal pictures – flicking through the book you would think Irish country roads were infested with random flocks of sheep and recalcitrant cows.
Many of the drives are along the coast, understandably, though a respectable portion veer inland, and it is perhaps these that will prove more surprising. The beauty of the Ring of Kerry is well publicised (though the book fails to elaborate on the pleasure of doing said itinerary sandwiched between lumbering tour buses), but a road trip through Ireland’s valley of the kings in counties Louth and Meath sounds fairly special, though the authors seem to have missed a trick in not venturing further north into the Cooley Peninsula. This book also continues a welcoming trend of including north and south of the Border. Plenty here, then, to get you packing a weekend bag and filling the tank, and getting a taste of the open road.