1. Atlantic Coast drive on Achill Island - beautiful drive, winding road, occasional sheep, minimal traffic, low probability of Garda encounter, amazing scenery, challenging at sections. Advice: take 319 from Keel and drive to the very end of it to Keem Bay to find one of the most picturesque beaches I visited.
2. Castlebar to Bangor - Start from Castlebar, take R 311 turn into R312 after couple of miles (3) and enjoy nice moderately winding road, lots of straights, the traffic is minimal, sections with bumpy road surface, low probability of Garda encounter, nice scenery, watch out for farms scattered along the road and be prepared for ocassional farming machine on the road, but they are easy to overtake, locals have mentality like..., well, locals, they may assume that nobody ever drives on their roads so they do not pay attention just pull into the road, I am working on changing their habits
, Advice: from Bangor take road to Portacloy to find some great scenery.3. Castlebar to Ballina road via Pontoon - R310 from Castlebar, turn into R315 1 km after Pontoon - great road through bogs, with winding sections and some nice straights, enjoyable drive, challenging section app. 10 k from Castlebar, there is series of up and down right and left turns, drive carefully through Pontoon, lot of people walking on the road, moderate traffic, moderate chance of Garda encounter, nice scenery. Go salmon fishing in Moy river in Ballina, if you can (I am ready to kill after 15 min of fishing or I am snoring).
4. Clifden to Leenane road - N 59, really, the part between Clifden and Kylemore is the best, nice winding section, watch out for blind corners and expect some tight bends, expect moderate to heavy traffic, considerable chance of Garda encounter, spectacular scenery. You can visit Kylemore Abbey on the way, or climb Diamond peak in Connemara national park, gardens of the abbey are great during spring/summertime. Leenan to Westport drive is not bad either, and Westport is quite nice little town.
These are my favourite drives in my area, share yours
