GREAT ROADS: The drive from Bangor Erris to Mulranny shows a host of landscapes and historic interests for the adventurous driver
EVEN WITHIN the context of the wide variety of landscapes found in Irish counties, Mayo is an unusual county.
Vast tracts of Mayo - and it is a huge county - are virtually uninhabited with the wide swathe from Ballycastle on its northern coast, right down to Mulranny on the northern shore of Clew Bay being the best example of this feature of this underpopulated county.
The town of Bellacorrick on the road from Ballina to Belmullet sits alone in the middle of this landscape, most of which is a grassy, boggy plain while the Nephin Beg mountain range rises up in its lower half.
There are few roads through this landscape, but today we take one of the most interesting, the N59 from Bangor to Mulranny.
Bangor, or to give it its full name, Bangor Erris, is a well-known angling village with the river Owenduff flowing nearby. Here, the N59 turns southwest towards Mulranny while the R313 continues on towards Belmullet.
There are hardly any population enclaves from here to Mulranny save the tiny village of Ballycroy, and only isolated and rare patches of bright green pasture where the land has been drained and worked, each one representing long periods of toil in winning back and holding these islands of green from the all-pervasive bogland.
Ballycroy (Baile Chruaich - The Town of the Peak) is another village with an attraction for anglers who fish in the nearby Owenduff and Tersaghaunmore rivers.
Incidentally, Grace O'Malley the famous sea-pirate had her fortress, Duna Castle, nearby on the coast.
Today, little remains of this once powerful castle.
This is a landscape that weaves it's own magic as the N59 turns southwards. The scenery is magnificent. To the southwest rises the rugged coast of Achill Island with the peaks of Croaghaun (665m) and Slievemore (671m) towering dramatically.
To the east rises the ever varied Nephin Beg Range, with Slieve Alp (328m), Nephin Beg (627m) and Glennamong (627m) being most prominent, while ahead of our road to the south rise Claggan Mountain (380m) and Corraun Hill (540m).
All combine to create a drive that's unique in Ireland. The N59 itself is smooth and flows across the landscape providing an extraordinary range of views as we head south. Near Claggan the N59 runs alongside an inlet of the sea and continues to do so as far as Mulranny.
Mulranny, situated at the narrow isthmus which connects the mainland with the Curraun Peninsula to the west, has its own mild climate which is evidenced by the proliferation of fuchsia hedges and rhododendrons growing in abundance along the edge of the road as we draw closer.
The name itself, Mulranny or An Mhala Raithní means the Hillbrow of the Ferns. Mulranny, with its fine strand, overlooks the many islands of Clew Bay while the whole area around Mulranny has yielded many prehistoric finds from kitchen middens in the many sand dunes. This is a fine drive through a unique landscape and well-worth taking the trouble to travel along its length.
In the next article in this series in two weeks' time we'll continue our exploration of Mayo along the Nephin Drive through the Nephin Beg Range which also yielded a memorable run through another of Mayo's unique landscapes.