32 counties road trip

intheclouds

Thinking of doing a leisurely version of this and over the course of a year visiting every county, seeing something interesting and taking a pic at each county roadsign.

But I dont think the NI counties have county roadsigns do they? So maybe I need to make it 26 counties trip - or find some other signs to photograph myself at.

Are there any routes available for such a trip?

Pat Dunne

Towns in NI have signs on their boundaries, so perhaps you could photo each major county town?

Antrim, Belfast.
Armagh, Armagh City.
Down, Downpatrick.
Fermanagh, Enniskillen.
Derry, Derry City.
Tyrone, Omagh.

Based on what you find "interesting" it is will entirely up to yourself how you go about planning your journey.

intheclouds

Pat Dunne wrote: »

Based on what you find "interesting" it is will entirely up to yourself how you go about planning your journey.

This is true - I guess I was hoping to get a basic route then modify it to suit myself.

As Ill be doing it in stages though Ill be taking the shortest route to my start point each time.

So yes, youre probably right, I do need to plot my own route.

Are the county roadsigns on all roads in/out of a county or just primary roads?

Carawaystick

intheclouds wrote: »

Are the county roadsigns on all roads in/out of a county or just primary roads?

Well there's no signs entering Fingal/Dublin or Meath on a lot of roads near me. Also none on a lot of roads on the Wickla Wexford border.
I presume there's even less in the 6 counties, where local govt has moved away from counties to 11 districts.

BeardySi

Generally only major roads I think.

munchkin_utd

intheclouds wrote: »

Thinking of doing a leisurely version of this and over the course of a year visiting every county, seeing something interesting and taking a pic at each county roadsign.

But I dont think the NI counties have county roadsigns do they? So maybe I need to make it 26 counties trip - or find some other signs to photograph myself at.

Are there any routes available for such a trip?

Fermanagh was the only county which remained a county but seemingly that ended last year.
There were welcome to Fermanagh signs until last year, possibly still are.

a lot of the districts have the county name in them, so they are still meaningful enough areas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_government_in_Northern_Ireland

Atlantic Dawn

Be careful not to get yourself killed taking photos with your car parked up on the hard shoulder.

intheclouds

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Be careful not to get yourself killed taking photos with your car parked up on the hard shoulder.

Yes, Ill be looking for safe ways to do this obviously!!

Isambard

you could just use google maps/ streetview and save a lot of petrol.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Professey Chin

I did one a few years ago but same as yourself I wasnt sure on county roadsigns. Instead I went for a town boundry sign or a landmark in every county. Was much easier and allowed much more flexibility in terms of route planning

intheclouds

Professey Chin wrote: »

I did one a few years ago but same as yourself I wasnt sure on county roadsigns. Instead I went for a town boundry sign or a landmark in every county. Was much easier and allowed much more flexibility in terms of route planning

Yeah that might be the way forward alright.

I was thinking I could use google maps to check boundary roads for signs when route planning.

Should be fun anyway and a good way to see the country.

SudhirM

Planning to do this over the coming weekend. Despite the not-so-great weather outlook. I printed off a plan in 2018 using OptiMpas to plan the optimal route, leaving Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, and aiming to drive to every county town (capital town). Again, not sure what to do as "proof of a visit", but as other members have commented, maybe a photo at the town boundary sign will be good. My initial idea was stop at a shop like Centra/Supervalu as close as possible to the town centre, buy something small like a bottle of water, and keep the till receipt with the name of the shop and time/date stamp. I have my map, and aiming to complete this between Friday morning (July 21st 2023) and Monday night (July 24th 2023). Round trip of about 1909 kms (will probably be a little more), and we will obviously be stopping by 8pm/9pm each night to sleep. I will be accompanied by my 21 year old son who will share the driving.

Citrus_8

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871580#Comment_120871580

Till receipts tend to fade fairly quickly. A photo of some sign would be better. Or a photo of the receipt then to keep it.

SudhirM

Good point, thanks. My son suggested buying a Lotto ticket in each county town would also be a nice idea! I found the lads from "I Dare Ya" on YouTube who undertook a 32 counties challenge some time back, and did it much faster. But it seems their task included driving through any bit of the county marks it as done. So, for example, where you get 3 or 4 counties coming together at a single common point on a boundary, that's where you aim for and then by driving about 5kms and passing through all those borders means you've done 3 or 4 counties very quickly. I think their total distance was about 807 miles. Ours would be closer to 2000kms.

Mam1996

We did this back in 2013. We took it as a 2 week holiday but granted we had 4 kids in tow ranging from 2yrs to 16yrs! Living in the south east so did Waterford and Kilkenny as we set off. We took photos at as many county signs as possible but then did various activities in other counties which were synonymous with that area, for example Rock of Cashel, Battle of the Boyne, Giants Causeway, Clonmacnoise etc. It was great fun and keep saying we must fo it again. We booked a house in Monaghan for the first week and Kerry for the second week. Every day was a day trip apart from the second week when we had a few rest days.

Interested to see how you go with a whistle stop tour but various landmarks might be safer than road signs at this stage with traffic etc. Also one idea we had was post offices as they all have the town names on them, could be an option. Enjoy!

SudhirM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873312#Comment_120873312

Yes, if my wife was going with, it would become a sightseeing tour! :) But she's away on holiday at the moment, so it's just my son and I. We love driving, did a few European driving tours last year (Stelvio Pass twice, Grossglockner High Alpine Pass in Austria, over 4,000kms done in 2 trips last year), so our goal was hit the main county towns in a 4 day weekend. Time to stop for lunch, bathroom breaks, and then get some rest overnight. I did think of the Post Offices too - might do that. We've done a lot of touring around Ireland in the 23 years I've been here - seen Rock of Cashel about 5 times, Cliffs of Moher many times, Giants Causeway, Glenveigh National Park, Largy Waterfall, Malin Head, etc. So, this trip is not so much about landmarks, it's just keep the foot down and clock in at all the county towns as fast as possible.

One thing which also gives cause for debate is: which is the official list of county towns? Apart from Wikipedia articles, can't find anything more official on this. Some articles say Londonderry is the county town of Derry, while some say it's Coleraine. Some say Dungarvan is the county town of Waterford, some say Waterford City. Some say Clonmel is the county town of Tipp, some say Nenagh - I'm going with Nenagh for this one, cos it's 5 mins from me and marks 1 place off the list. I'm also going with Coleraine and Waterford City.

Mam1996

Your trips sound fantastic! Definitely something we must do, especially Stelvio.

We considered splitting into two cars and doing a Top Gear type challenge to see who could do the 32 counties with clear evidence first. Might be a bit of fun.

I see what you mean about conflicting County towns but the thing is once you have a town you have proof of entering the county. Best of luck with it, sounds like a blast!

9935452

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871580#Comment_120871580

Your phone would automatically map it or track the trip through google maps. Mine gives me the review of my trips done every month. The busiest days , amount of driving done , places stopped

fineso.mom

Sounds like great fun. I'd love to do something like that. There's a few counties up the country that I haven't visited yet.

I know someone who has a rock/stone from every county, they made a little feature in the garden with it. Have a great time and safe driving.

SudhirM

Hope my maths is correct :) I used your advice, and turned on Google Maps for the journey. Here's a rough summary of how we got on. Bottom line - completed all 32 counties in 4 days driving between 7h02mins and 9h20mins, and ranging from 447kms on the shortest day to 602kms on the longest day. All done. Times quoted are from my Google timeline - so it may include some stoppages for lunch etc. I can share more information when I get a chance to upload some photos etc. We stopped in every county town to take a photo of something identifiable. Not all Post Offices have their names displayed anymore unfortunately, so we resorted to a meaningful landmark or attraction in some cases.