One of my favorite rides — looking forward to doing this again when my broken wrist is healed. There’s a lot of great parks that line the Bay, and it is fun to see the whole SF Bay area in a day. I often stay closer to the East Bay shore, going through Oyster Bay and Hayward Regional Shorelines. I also tend to think it works better in reverse, since either way you are going into the wind in the afternoon and the winds seem to be lighter on the East Bay side. I recommend bringing a lot of water and food (you’re in the Bay Area, but there are 10-20 mile stretches where there are no drinking fountains or convenience stores) and either a good map or a GPS-enabled phone (perhaps both).

View Berkeley – San Francisco bike ride in a larger map

I asked this on Quora, and no one answered, so I went ahead and answered my own question after having ridden between the two towns. There’s:

1. the ruin of Kells Priory  (“one of the largest and most impressive medieval monuments in Ireland”);
2. the Rock of Cashel if you take the northerly route, or some nice seaside towns (Dungarvan, Youghal) if you go by the coast;
3. The Irish Steam Preservation Society museum with lots of old steam-powered cars and tractors and such.