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Getting to Ireland:
To come to Ireland by air is simple, with Aer
Lingus (www.aerlingus.com),
Ryanair (www.ryanair.com)
and Aer Arann (www.aerarann.com)
among the airlines offering very cheap flights to Ireland.
Sometimes special promotional flights are even available free!
The principal airports in Ireland are Dublin (www.dublin-airport.com),
Cork (www.cork-airport.com)
and Shannon (www.shannonairport.com), and although I do
not like Dublin airport because it is a bit chaotic and
impersonal, it does offer the greatest frequency of flights.
Details of other airlines flying to Ireland are available on the
airport websites.
To travel to Ireland by boat, the principal ports in Southern
Ireland are Dublin, Rosslare and Cork. Due to traffic congestion
problems in the Dublin area, Rosslare and Cork are the more
suitable ports for access to the south of Ireland. Among the
ferry companies serving routes from France and the UK to Ireland
are:
Celtic Link Ferries operating between Cherbourg and Rosslare (www.celticlinkferries.com)
Irish Ferries (www.irishferries.com)
Brittany Ferries (www.brittany-ferries.fr)
Stenaline (www.stenaline.ie)
P&0 (www.poirishsea.com)
Steam-packet (www.steam-packet.com)
Travelling within Ireland:
Travel within Ireland should not pose
difficulties. Car hire is popular, with the airlines and ferry
companies promoting various hire companies that can be accessed
via their websites. Public transport is by bus, train or taxi.
The largest bus company is Bus Eireann (www.buseireann.ie),
and it has scheduled services running throughout the country.
There are private bus companies also operating scheduled
services, but not typically in a co-ordinated manner. Details of
many of their websites are available at www.bushq.com .
The other form of public transport is by rail (www.irishrail.ie)
, although not all parts of the country are served by train, and
it is generally more expensive than bus travel.
Getting to The Apple:
For people travelling to The Apple by public
transport, the nearest railway and bus stations are in Cahir,
Co. Tipperary (6 km) and Clonmel, Co. Tipperary (9km). Both of
these towns are well serviced by bus, but rail services are
infrequent, with the nearest well-served railway stations being
Limerick-Junction and Thurles, both of which are over 30km from
us.
There are a number of local taxi firms in Clonmel and Cahir,
should you wish to travel the last few km to our farm in this
way. The Apple Farm is located on the main Limerick/Waterford
road (N24) between Cahir (6km) and Clonmel (9km), and is well
signposted from this road. (See
map).
If You are using GPS navigation our location is: N52.3766840°
and W 7.8434000°.
Impressions of Tourists driving in Ireland:
Fáilte Ireland recently published the
findings of a survey of 900 holiday-makers who toured Ireland by
car in 2003. The average distance travelled be each driver
surveyed was 1200km, so with a total distance of over 1 million
km covered, it represents an important profile of Irish roads.
In all, two thirds of visitors rated their overall driving
experience as good, while one in ten rated the experience as
poor.
The aspects of driving in Ireland which came in for most
criticism were the condition of secondary roads and directional
signposting. Over half of visitors stated that the condition of
secondary roads was poor, with over a third stating that
directional signposting was poor. The condition of main roads
was viewed more favourably, with half stating that they were
good, however, a significant one in five considered them poor.
The level of traffic in urban areas was greater than expected
for 48% of visitors. Outside of urban areas visitors were less
surprised by volumes, with 21% finding levels greater than
expected, but 22% finding levels less than expected. The aspect
found most stressful by overseas drivers was small narrow roads.
However, this was not a feature for British drivers, being
mentioned by just 8% of drivers, probably because they are used
to driving on the left.
When asked to compare the experience of driving in Ireland
compared with their home countries, 52% considered it worse,
while 20% considered it better, and 28% said that it was the
same. In this case
it again appeared that being used to driving on the left was a
factor, as the British were least critical.
Overall, 56% of visitors said that their experience of driving
in Ireland would encourage them to return for a car-touring
holiday; a good result overall.
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