Ireland Gaps and Passes

[belfastguzzi]

Ireland Gaps and Passes

 

Roads through the mountains, through gaps and passes, make for a great biking experience. In ireland our mountain landscapes are often close to the coast, so the height of these narrow and winding roads can give long views to seascape and to islands, as well as providing the special experience of the actual rugged landscape itself, which forms, guides and constrains the road that you're on.

 

Size is relative, so these aren't grandiose Alpine roads: however Ireland does have scenic roads that rank highly in European and world listings (particularly the west coast). Anyhows – it's where I am, so I want to compile a list of passes and gaps and add routes to and around them. Please contribute, to fill-in omissions and add photos, video, route descriptions… I did have photos on the web from the visit that some of us had to the Conor and Healy Pass, but like the Spring photos, they have gone from the now defunct site. I'll add photo links from other sites and get more of my own added some time later.

 

 

Ireland Gaps and Passes

The start of a list, by County

Areas/roads marked with * are likely contenders

 

 

Antrim

* Torr Head

* Glendun

 

Cavan

Bellavalley Gap

 

Derry/Londonderry

Glenshane Pass

 

Donegal

Barnesmore Gap

Glengesh Pass

Muckish Gap, Gweedore

Knockalla, Fanad Peninsula

* R254, Glenveagh

 

Down

Spelga Pass, Mournes

 

Kerry

Gap of Dunloe, Killarney

Molls Gap

Conor Pass, Dingle

Healy Pass

Coomakista Pass

 

Tyrone

* Glenelly, Sperrins

 

Waterford/Tipperary Knockmealdown mountains

The Vee Gap, R688 Clogheen to Lismore Road

 

Wicklow

Sally Gap

Wicklow Gap

[belfastguzzi]

Ireland Gaps and Passes Pics and descriptive text pinched from the web

uniqueirishexperiences.com

freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com

donegaldirect.com

askaboutireland.ie

speedhunters

and others that I've forgotten to list

 

Donegal

 

Barnesmore Gap

over 100 years ago

 

Glengesh Pass

 

Muckish Gap, Gweedore,

 

Kerry

Gap of Dunloe, Killarney

Molls Gap

 

Conor Pass, Dingle

 

Healy Pass

 

Coomakista Pass

Ring of Kerry at Coomakista Pass

Ring of Kerry - View of N70 at Coomakista Pass

 

_______________________

 

Number of images is limited, so more photos posted in another post...

[belfastguzzi]

Photos continued

_______________________

 

Wicklow

Sally Gap

 

Wicklow Gap

 

 

Waterford/Tipperary

 

The Vee Gap

[belfastguzzi]

The Conor Pass

is a steep (456 meters) and windy road that is located on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry. It is northeast of the town of Dingle and it connects Dingle Town to the other side of the coast near Brandon Bay. It offers spectacular views of the mountains, lakes, and Dingle Harbor.

The Conor Pass is the highest mountain pass in Ireland. It is situated on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, on the road that crosses the peninsula between Dingle Town and the coast the other side. The Mountains the Pass crosses are the Brandon Mountains and contain Ireland's second highest peak Brandon Mountain at 3127 ft. From Dingle Town the road runs some 4½ miles rising to 1500 ft as it winds its way to the pass. There are wonderful views of the coast. At the Pass there is a carpark where you are confronted with this magnificent sight. The road then carries on down towards Brandon Bay past cliffs, a waterfall and lakes.

 

 

 

The Healy Pass

is a winding mountain road between Adrigole in Co. Cork and Lauragh in Co. Kerr. Cutting through the high Caha Mountains, the Healy Pass rises 334 metres above sea level and passes between two of the highest peaks of the Caha range. This is one of the finest mountain roads in Ireland and is named after Tim Healy, the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State, who was born in nearby Bantry.

 

 

 

The Glengesh Pass

is a windy section of the road that connects Glencolmcille to Ardara. The distance between the two towns is approximately 15 miles. During the drive, motorists can enjoy the farmland, desolate moorland, and tranquil setting.

Glengesh (Glen of the Swans) Pass (900 feet above sea level) meanders through the Glengesh and Mulmosog Mountains. There are a

few hairpin turns but since the road does not have a great deal of traffic, they are easy to negotiate.

 

From Glencolmbcille to Ardara is fifteen miles and for the first few miles, the road is lined on each side with fuschia hedges. Then there follows mile after mile of a lonely moorland drive (apart from many free ranging black-faced sheep, that is), until a few miles from Ardara you come to the Pass, one of the most beautiful and remarkable of Alpine Passes in the county. This pass through The Glen of Swans is 900 feet above sea-level, while on either side are high mountains (Glengesh and Mulmosog) with heights ranging from 1,400 to 1,700 feet.

 

On the descent from the top of the Glen, you have to negotiate two wild hairpin bends that necessitate a complete turn of the wheel....and of course, the road is only just wide enough to let two cars pass! Then the road straightens out until it joins the main Ardara to Inver Road. The journey down the pass shows no sign of human habitation, and this is probably the longest drive you will take in the county without seeing a solitary cottage.

 

 

 

Barnesmore Gap

is a mountain pass between Croaghconnelagh (Connall's mountain) and Croaghonagh (Owen's mountain).

For centuries the Gap has been a strategic gateway between northern and southern parts of County Donegal. Because of this, up to a hundred years before this picture was taken, this pass, contrary to its calm and peaceful look, was a dangerous place, notorious for robberies or even murders.

 

The road northwards from Donegal Town through Barnesmore Gap in the Bluestack mountains is one of the great scenic routes in Ireland. Bearnas Mor, the "Big Gap" was created by a glacier, which carved a wide, deep valley in the mountain range. This highway has always been of strategic importance as a geographic link between the north and south of the county.

 

"The Gap", as it is known locally, has associations with St Patrick, who travelled across it on his first missionary journey through Connaught and Ulster. He had gone as far as Convoy, when, according to tradition, the wheel of his chariot broke twice. This event led the saint to conclude that it was a sign that his ministrations were unnecessary, predicting that the illustrious St. Colmcille would be born from the lineage of the ruling family, the Conall Gulban.

Photo –*Barnesmore Gap 1899 William Lawrence, photographic publisher, Dublin 1899

The first train through Barnesmore Gap ran on April 25th, 1882. Interestingly, this event, too, has a connection to St Colmcille. Apparently, he prophesied that shortly before the end of the world, Barnesmore Gap would become part of the trail of the Muc Dubh (the infamous black pig of Irish mythology, the sighting of which was a sure sign of imminent disaster). To the older people gathered on the surrounding hillsides watching the first locomotive rumble through "The Gap" it did indeed bear a likeness to a black pig, and the belief was that the end of the world was not far off. However, a glass or two in the nearby hostelry, Biddy O'Barnes, would have helped disperse any unquiet in the superstitious. Even today, this famous old-style pub is as much a part of Barnesmore as are the surrounding Bluestacks and is a regularly visited and much photographed tourist attraction.

_______

 

Barnesmore Gap is that big opening between Croaghconnelagh (Connall's mountain) and Croaghonagh (Owen's mountain). Here in this very fine mountain pass the traveller is absolutely shut in between these two great hills as he wends his way along a really excellent road that traverses the gap.

 

These are rugged and gaunt grey mountains which, from a distance, give off a hue of blue, and for three miles on either side the traveller is between massive cliffs and yawning rents cut by streams racing down the mountain and falling into the noisy Lowerymore river. This river keeps company with the main road as far as Lough Eske where it joins the River Eske.

 

From this description by Patrick Campbell one would think Barnesmore Gap was a wonderful place for travellers. For centuries the Gap has been a strategic gateway between northern and southern parts of County Donegal. But Barnesmore was also, in other days, a place of sinister repute. For several hundred years up to about 1800, it was the notorious haunt of brigands, highwaymen and raparees who waylaid, robbed and murdered travellers.

 

Pat Kelly of Cashelnavean tells us that all the way down into the Gap was covered with trees and shrub wood and there was nothing but a bridle-path going through the place. This foliage was cut down as the robbers used to pounce out of the undergrowth and have the travellers robbed before they knew what had happened to them. It became so perilous that from the mid 1700's a garrison of Red Coats was stationed at the Ballybofey end of the Gap to ensure the safety of travellers.

 

In 1780, Prionnsias Dubh Mac Aodh was the Captain of a gang of twelve who robbed the rich to feed the poor and his favourite haunt was the Gap of Barnesmore. Two of the gang, named Cassidy, were hanged in Barnesmore and Prionnsias Dubh was made to stand trial in Lifford and was also sentenced to be hanged.

 

Executions took place at the gap for a number of years before a more permanent gallows was built. Pat Kelly of Cashelnavean tells us the story of three sheep stealers…

 

In an account given by Caesar Ottaway, when passing through the Gap in 1839, he mentions the ruin of a barracks at the Northern end of the Gap. It is believed that the military outpost or redoubt was set up here about 1750. The company of Red Coats stationed here were used to patrol the Gap to keep the robbers and raparees away.

 

Pat Kelly of Cashelnavean tells us that one night two women rushed into the barracks and said that a big gang of robbers had just held up some travellers down in the Gap. All the soldiers ran for their horses and galloped off like blazes down the brae and into the Gap and while they were away the two women held up the guard and robbed the barracks. The two women in question were really raparees dressed in women's clothes.

 

The area above Barnes Bridge, around the site of Elvin's house, became known as Barrack Hill. It is probable that this hill may have got its name from the red Coat Barracks which was abandoned circa 1800 when a more substantial Red Coat Barracks was set up in Stranorlar.

 

In recent years, the remains of the 18th Century Gallows was still to be seen as one goes down into the Gap from Ballybofey. It was situated on Elvin's land on the left hand side and about 150 yards in from the road at Barnes Bridge.

 

 

The Vee Gap

The Vee Gap in the Knockmealdown mountains. Waterford/Tipperary R688 Clogheen to Lismore Road.

Leaving Lismore, heading east on N72 for 6½ km (4 mi) toward Cappoquin, a well-known angling center, you can pick up R669 north into the Knockmealdown Mountains. Your route is signposted as the Vee Gap road, the Vee Gap being its summit, from where you'll have superb views of the Tipperary plain, the Galtee Mountains in the northwest, and a peak called Slievenamon in the northeast. If the day is clear, you should be able to see the Rock of Cashel, ancient seat of the Kings of Munster, some 32 km (20 mi) away. Just before you enter the Vee Gap, look for a 6-foot-high mound of stones on the left side of the road. It marks the grave of Colonel Grubb, a local landowner who liked the view so much that he arranged to be buried here standing up so that he could look out over the scene for all eternity.

[belfastguzzi]

Coomakista Pass, N70 Kerry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5U5JezyGk2w

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Scfr-lAe_EI&feature=related

"Our stop at the vista point in Coomakista Pass provided one of the most breath-taking views on the Ring of Kerry. From here we could see the headlands of the Iveragh Peninsula, pushing into Kenmare Bay, Hogshead, Ballinskelligs Bay, and the remains of a stone ringfort.

Looking somewhat out of place is the sand near Derryname Bay and Caherdaniel. It is a white-golden color which washes in from the Gulf of Mexico!"

[belfastguzzi]

Spelga Pass, Mournes, Co Down

 

Don't do it like this on a bike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laltmrGr6hg

[Baldini]

Hi BFG, lovely country, some great roads there. I remember the Healy Pass. I've had in my mind one day I'd put together all the great stretches of road I know & ride them as a route. But life intrudes on dreams. Those passes look a great excuse for a ride. Take it easy.

KB