Sligo

<map lat="54.27240765886425" lng="-8.471694946289675" zoom="13" view="0" float="right" />

Sligo is a town of about 19,000 inhabitants in the North West of Ireland, in the county of the same name. It is considered a "Gateway City", and provides relatively easy access to many destinations within both the Republic and Northern Ireland. Instead of a bypass, traffic is funnelled through a dual carriageway within the town, making hitching relatively hassle-free. The primary routes associated with the town are as follows:

N4: Sligo to Dublin, also passes through or near Carrick-On-Shannon, Longford and Mullingar.

N15: to Strabane, and A5 on to Derry after crossing the border, passing through or near Bundoran, Ballyshannon, Donegal and Ballybofey. At Ballybofey, the N13 branches off for Letterkenny.

N16: through north Co. Leitrim and crossing the border into Co. Fermanagh, where it becomes the A4, running all the way to Belfast (M1 after Dungannon). Passes Manorhamilton, Blacklion, Enniskillen, Ballygawley, Dungannon, Lurgan, Lisburn.

N17: this branches off the N4 at Collooney, 15km from Sligo, and leads to Galway via Tubbercurry, Charlestown, Claremorris and Tuam.

N59: from Ballysadare, which is 11km along the N4 from Sligo. Leads to Ballina which provides easy access to much of Co. Mayo. Subsequently runs in a big loop around coastal Co. Mayo and Connemara (Co. Galway) - Crossmolina, Bangor Erris, Mallaranny (next to Achill Island), Newport, Westport, Leenaun, Clifden, Maam Cross, ending at Galway.

Leaving Sligo:

N4: Go uphill along the dual carriageway (Ray MacSharry Road), and just after the roundabout outside Summerhill College there is a good stretch of hard shoulder. Alternatively, continue about 3km down the road to the village of Carrowroe, where a fair amount of traffic comes in off the slip road.

N15: Go northwards on the dual carriageway and it soon changes to the N15 within the town. Keep going as far as the garden centre and petrol station and there's a decent hard shoulder.

N16: A bit of a walk involved, but worth it. Go northwards out of the town (Manorhamilton Road, past Sligo Institute of Technology and the roundabout outside the Abbott factory) and continue for about 1.5km until you come to a row of houses with a wide hard shoulder outside them. Careful, this road is winding with little space for pedestrians on much of it.