Travel options for Dublin

To Britain

Transport options from continental Europe to different parts of Britain:

East coast:

• Rotterdam to Hull (P&O ferry)
• Zeebrugge to Hull (P&O ferry)

South-east:

• Eurostar to London St Pancras (train - €30 each way bike supplement)
• Calais to Dover (P&O ferry)

South:

• Le Havre, Caen, St Malo, Cherbourg, Bilbao to Portsmouth (Brittany ferry)
• Cherbourg to Poole (Brittany ferry)
• St Malo, Roscoff, Santander to Plymouth (Brittany ferry)

Companies: P&O Ferries, Brittany Ferries

Within the UK

Cycling provision in the UK is variable: some cities are good, and some out-of-city provision is quite good, but it's not completely joined up.

Sustrans are trying to join up routes, but the quality isn't always consistent (some routes use e.g. compacted hardcore surfaces, and so aren't very suited to touring bicycles for long journeys.)

Routes:

• http://cycle.travel/ is a useful resource. For example, here is a route from Portsmouth to Fishguard (the M48 cycle route into Wales does seem to exist.) You'd probably want to stop overnight, on that trip, though!
• https://www.cyclestreets.net is also useful: it's a bit older and less whizzier but it seems to give more options on e.g. ease of cycling.
• It might be useful to think about train stations along each route, so people can join in when they want. A map of major GB rail might be useful: note that it's a "tramline" map e.g. it tells you that, to get from Birmingham to Nottingham, you have to change at Derby.

Possible route 1: North Wales

North Wales is known to be good cycling (National Cycling Route 5) and there's a reasonably flat route along the coast.

Rail stops: Crewe? Chester, Bangor.

Possible route 2: North-west England

Rather than going all the way along the north coast of Wales, we could take a ferry from Birkenhead (see below) which for non-UKers is roughly in the "corner" where Wales joins England. This would take us over to Northern Ireland (part of the UK) and we could cycle down into Dublin: see ferries below.

Possible route 3: South Wales

South Wales is slightly more convenient if you're coming into London or the south-east coast, and really want to cycle all the way! But it does then involve even more cycling in Ireland (see below.) And we think it'll be much hillier.

Rail stops: Bristol, Cardiff, Swansea.

Britain to Ireland

Between GB and Ireland, there are a few main ferry routes:

http://seat61.com/Ireland.htm#route%20map

From north to south:
* Birkenhead (Liverpool) to Belfast
* Bootle/Liverpool to Dublin (not shown, but P&O Ferries run it?)
* Holyhead (on the island of Anglesey) to Dublin
* Fishguard to Rosslare (arriving in the south-east of Ireland)

There are other routes (e.g. Craigryan in Scotland to Belfast) but they're much less convenient if you're coming from the south/east originally.

In Ireland

From the north

If coming from Belfast, there is a quieter road (now that the motorway has taken most of the traffic) and only a couple of smallish hills to climb. It's hillier coming in from south of Dublin.

From Dublin ferry

It is a short (though, we are told, not peaceful or easy) ride from Dublin Port to the conference venue.

From the south

More details if we decide on this route.

Possible arrival times

Sunday?