Welcome aboard, Chris! I visited SW Ireland in May and loved every minute of it. The scenery, the friendliness of people and the live music in the pubs all made it a memorable trip that I fully intend to repeat. Due to the distance from home and the fact that my mate rides a Blackbird, I rode my BMW but if I lived there, the Tenere would definitely be on my list of best bikes for exploring the back roads which I love to do. At times, I was wishing I was on my XTR! Good luck with your bike hunt.