NORTH CORK is an area little visited by this column, but it has some very attractive roads, and today we’re going to start to put right that omission, writes Bob Montgomery
We’re going to start on the Kilgarvan to the N22 road at Morley’s Bridge.
To be very precise, the road travelled today begins in Co Kerry and halfway along its route crosses into north Cork. However, in character it is more north Cork than Co Kerry, as we shall see.
Morley’s Bridge is distinguished by a number of things, but in particular on the Kilgarvan Road opposite the bridge is a fading and sadly neglected plaque that, upon closer examination, turns out to commemorate one Michael Lehane, described as “a member of the International Spanish Brigade who gave his young life at sea that the underprivileged of all nations would enjoy a happy and prosperous existence”.
It is an intriguing inscription that requires a fuller explanation that we do not have space for here. However, this young man, wounded several times in the Spanish Civil War, was lost at sea in the Norwegian merchant service during the second World War while continuing his fight against fascism.
Leaving Morley’s Bridge, the road runs alongside the River Roughty for several kilometres as it slowly climbs between Coomagearlahy (506m) and Garrigery (413m), the landscape alternating between a scrub-covered mountain terrain and forestry of relatively recent origin. To the south are many attractive views, particularly of the valley bounded by Garrigery, Lacabaun (473m), Coomataggart (540m), Bealick (516m) and Carran (604m).
All of the time the road is steadily rising; it reaches its highest point at the Coom, which has a pub that claims to be the highest in Ireland, at a height of 319m (1,045ft) above sea level.
From Coom the road shortly afterwards starts to go gently downhill. A short section where the road goes steeply downhill is preceded by magnificent views across the Cork landscape, quite different in character from the landscape on the earlier part of this road.
It’s a rolling landscape of gentle hills and green fields with patches of forestry as we look towards the Gaeltacht area of Baile Bhuirne (Ballyvourney).
This road provides a gateway to a much larger area that deserves a leisured exploration with several turn-offs both north and south of it. My intention is to explore one of the most spectacular of these roads in the next column in this series, in two weeks’ time.
From this spectacular viewing point, the road continues on to the N22 at Ballyvourney, from where one can head easily into Killarney, or southeast to Macroom.
All of the roads in this area see little traffic and, although narrow, you’re never far from a place to pull over should you meet another car.
In the whole day I spent exploring these roads I met just one car, so if you really want to get away from it all, the back roads of north Cork could be a good starting point.