Dublin is a city on a river and a bay, with a mountain range that starts within a short ride of the quays. The Liffey divides it into north and south, spanned by a string of bridges, and the Georgian squares, the cobbles of Temple Bar and the great Guinness brewery at St James's Gate give the place its character. Brick houses with fanlights and colored doors line the streets, and the pubs, bookshops and literary landmarks are a tribute to writers such as Joyce, Yeats and Wilde.
For a rider, the interest is what lies south. Within half an hour of the center, the Dublin Mountains rise, and beyond them the Wicklow Mountains, a huge upland of heather, bog and granite that stretches down the coast. The Military Road, built by the British after the 1798 rebellion to hunt rebels in the hills, climbs over Sally Gap, at about 500 meters, through a bleak, beautiful high moor, passing the dark lake of Lough Tay, nicknamed the Guinness Lake for its pint-black water and creamy sand beach. Farther south, the Wicklow Gap road crosses another pass, past the monastic ruins of Glendalough, founded in the sixth century by St Kevin.
The riding is excellent: wide, empty moorland, long views, gentle curves and a surface that is mostly good, though sheep wander the roads and the weather can change quickly. Weekends are busy, with cyclists, walkers and day-trippers from the city, so weekday mornings are best. Fog and low cloud can cover the high roads in minutes, and the wind across the bog is cold even in summer.
Dublin has every service, though traffic and parking in the center are difficult, and a ride south needs to avoid the rush hour on the M50 ring road. Fuel stations are everywhere, and Rathmines and Ringsend are inner suburbs with plenty of shops. The best months are May to September, with long evenings, though Irish rain can come at any time. Winter brings ice on the high roads, which can close them. Watch the speed limits, which are lower in Ireland than many riders expect and are enforced with cameras.