Never been outside London and environs in winter. Been all over Ireland though, Glendalough in County Wicklow is a haunted, beautiful place, especially in winter.
Have you driven on the left much before? It’s not that bad with an automatic outside the cities, but in the cities it’s surprisingly confusing. Throw in a manual trans and it’s a struggle. Some behaviors are just so ingrained it’s hard to overcome them.
That is a good point that might not be obvious to someone who has not driven on the left. Shifting with your left hand is tougher to get used to than you might think. I was stationed in Japan.
Ditto to that. Practically all vehicles in the British Isles come with manual transmissions. The wife and I went to Ireland last year, and we wisely rented an automatic when we left Dublin. (You can get around Dublin quite nicely on the city buses.) You'll pay more, but it was worth it. Driving on the left side of the very narrow Irish roads was tricky enough without having to work a manual transmission. Strangely enough I enjoyed doing the roundabouts which I thought were going to give me a lot of trouble. Great trip though, Ireland was fantastic. I highly recommend driving yourself rather than going on a tour bus. You'll see a lot more.