GREAT DRIVE COOM TO BALLINGEARY, NORTH CORK: IN OUR previous exploration, we drove from Morley's Bridge (on the R569 road between Kilgarvan and the N22 ) via Coom and on to the N22. I mentioned an alternative route off that road that I had discovered and that is the road we'll take today.
To reach this route, drive from Morley’s Bridge as far as the Coom and find the road leaving at a slight angle to the right after the Coom public house, just as our original route began to go steeply downhill. It’s a narrow road but don’t worry about that as traffic is almost non-existent, and even if you do meet traffic, you’re never far from a spot you can pull into.
At first, the road climbs and is more and more lined with trees. But before long you’ll find yourself in a very different landscape to the one you left behind on the original route. To the right is Mweelin (485m), forming the western and southern end of a spectacular hidden valley that our chosen road winds around. The contrast with the earlier section of road up to the point where we turned off could hardly be greater, and one realises just why north Cork was so suited to guerilla warfare in the War of Independence. This is a landscape in which an army could hide.
Having dallied along the road, not wanting to leave the peace and beauty of this hidden valley, we eventually moved on around the edge of the valley to where the road swings around Foithrí and turns south, before eventually emerging from the heavily wooded hillside to reveal once more a changed landscape. Looking down across the mountainside towards the ribbon of water, that is Lough Allua in the distance. Again, the view is spectacular and very different to what has gone before.
A slow descent of the mountainside down to the village of Ballingeary provides us with views of particularly interesting mountainscapes to the west. In fact, we are looking towards the celebrated Gougane Barra Forest Park, itself well worth exploring.
Of course, this is a Gaeltacht area and the place names have a certain musicality about them not found elsewhere. Mweelin itself, Doire Fhinin, Cahernacaha, Lyrenageeha and Daoire Ghiolla Fhinn are all on our route, or near to it, and seem much more appropriate to the landscape than their English names.
The village of Ballingeary is an ideal spot from which to extend your drive, with fine routes along the edge of Lough Allua on the R584 and on its southern shore via Inchigeelagh, Colroe and Kealvaugh, and back to Ballingeary skirting Cooragreenane Wood. This whole area is packed with roads just waiting to be explored at leisure.
I have to admit that north Cork took me by surprise with its variety, its beauty and its solitary nature. If you want to get away from it all and drive traffic-free roads through landscapes that are constantly changing, then you would find it difficult to find a better location anywhere on this island. Add to that the fine roads and the numerous good eating-places, and you have the makings of some wonderful driving.