FREAT ROADS:The rugged road around the Beara peninsula is among the most scenic in the country, and it's marked by history along the way, writes Bob Montgomery.
THE NORTHERN coastline of Bantry Bay is formed by the peninsula known bas Beara, dominated by the Slieve Miskish Mountains and capped by Dursey Island at its most westerly point.
Along the peninsula's southern shore is Bere Island, which forms a natural anchorage at the town of Castletown Berehaven, more commonly known as Castletownbere.
It's a rugged landscape, as evidenced by the relatively few roads that penetrate its interior and has always conveyed to me the impression, rightly or wrongly, as the least-travelled of the Cork and Kerry peninsulas.
We set out from the small town of Eyeries on its northern coast along Coulagh Bay to travel anti-clockwise around the wildest part of the peninsula, taking the R575.
With Miskish Mountain (386m) at first to the south, the road winds its way parallel to the coastline. For those with an interest in such things, there is ample evidence of ancient habitation of this area with numerous standing stones, cairns and boulder burial sites close by our route.
At Caherkeen the road rises quickly to cross a ridge providing the first of many fine views back towards Kenmare and onward towards Cod's Head. The R575 soon turns south - Cod's Head being all but inaccessible to road traffic - and from here to the town of Allihies twists and turns in spectacular fashion around Knocknagallaun (376m) through some of the most wonderful scenery along this route. This whole area was once noted for its copper mines, and here and there evidence of this long-ceased activity is still visible.
The R575 runs southwest out of Allihies before turning south over the Bealbarnish Gap.
Shortly after crossing the Gap we meet the R572, which runs along the rest of our route to Castletown Berehaven and also west the short distance to Ballaghboy from where one can cross by cable car to Dursey Island. Once again, as on this entire route, the number of early archeological sites is striking. Our road (the R572) runs south until it reaches the southern coastline of the Beara Peninsula before turning first east and then northeast and on to our destination, Castletown Berehaven.
Along the way it once again provides spectacular views of Bantry Bay and south towards the Sheep's Head Peninsula. On a beautiful summer's day there can be few places more beautiful than the Cork and Kerry peninsulas. Such thoughts are in our minds as we travel the remaining kilometres into the town along the O'Sullivan Beara Way.
Castletownbere - literally "The Town of the Castle of Bere" is a pretty town with a varied history. The nearby ruins of Dunboy Castle attest to the part it played after the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, when the followers of O'Sullivan Bere held the fortress against a vastly superior force of some 4,000 men until all its walls had been shattered and the surviving defenders slaughtered.
Before this, O'Sullivan Bere himself had already taken the majority of his followers north to another of his castles, Ardea, on the northern coast of the Beara Peninsula.
It was following the fall of Dunboy Castle that O'Sullivan, faced with overwhelming odds, set out on his epic march to join his northern allies. Of the more than 1,000 who set out on the march, just 35 remained when they gained refuge at the O'Rourke Castle in Leitrim.
It is this blend of history and the natural beauty of the place that makes the Beara Peninsula so special and worthy of exploration.