One of the options for travelling Irish countryside is to hire a caravan, complete with horse. It's an expensive, slow, and labor-intensive mode of travel, but it seems to be very popular, judging from the number of caravans that we passed on our travels. If you can afford it, if you know how to look after a horse, and if you enjoy long, slow walks over beautiful countryside, it might be worth the cost and effort to try this mode of transport.