Ireland 2026 - Day 1: The Ferry
In June 2026 4 of us took our bikes to Ireland to ride the southerly part of the Wild Atlantic Way
After planning this trip for a long while it was finally the day! Our ferry was booked from Fishguard to Rosslare for 14:00, arriving in Rosslare at 17:30. One of our group was riding a 125 so headed off the day before, spending Sunday evening nearby, but the rest of us headed off early doors in the morning. Meeting around 04:30 and getting on the road by 05:00, we headed off along the M4, bound for south Wales for the ferry. We had plenty of time to stop and check our luggage on the way which turned out to be a good plan as the weather closed in on us and started dumping cold rain as we drove through Bristol and into Wales.
By the time we got to Fishguard the weather had improved a lot and was bright sunshine. We met the rider who headed up the day before, checked in for our ferry, and got through security (I was stopped for a random check which seems to happen often, for some reason! :D ). But soon we were loading up into the ferry, strapping the bikes down, then heading up to the restraurant deck to relax after an early start. All of us ended up sleeping in various spots; on the seating, on the floor under tables, etc. But it was nice to catch up with some sleep even though we didn’t have so far to ride when we landed in Ireland as it would be late by that point.
We chose to camp at Fortview Camping as it was so close to the ferry although the wind was pretty high by this point and we were worried it might be a little bit exposed. This wouldn’t be the only wind we’d experience during the week and not even the strongest! But the site has a good earth bank as shelter and in the lee of the bank it was fine really.
As we rode to the campsite we passed by a Chinese takeout and so I realised I might get the chance to get something I really wanted to experience during this trip; the famous, Irish/Chinese spice bag! So we rode down, picked up a takeout, and rode back to the campsite to eat.
The spice bag was really nice although I realised that a portion of curry sauce is a really important part of the experience. It wasn’t too long before we were all ready for bed and wanted to get an early start in the morning to head down to County Kerry so we headed off to bed and slept really well, listening to the wind and sea.
Stage Distance: 386km
Overall Distance: 386km
Next: Ireland 2026 - Day 2