Ireland appears in a lot of daydreams. You see ivy-covered castles peeking through low clouds, cliffs that roar at the sea, and snug lanes lined with bright-door pubs that promise a pint and a story. It's a postcard mood, the kind you fold up and keep in your pocket. The minute you hit the real roads, the picture scrambles. A lane so narrow it almost tiptoes under the tyres gives you a head-on…