Great Irish Roads: A series by motoring historian Bob Montgomery
Coastal roads have provided some of the world's great driving roads and one thinks immediately of the legendary 'Big Sur', Highway 1, from Leggett, California to Los Angeles, or The Corniche along France's Rivera coast.
Coastal roads, it seems, have an additional indefinable "something" not apparent on inland roads. Perhaps it's the combination of man's age-old fascination with the sea, together with the freedom of the road which combines to give them a special attraction: whatever it may be, every country with a coastline seems to have a special coastal road.
In Ireland, there are several candidates but for me the 35 kms of the Antrim Coast Road from Larne to Cushendall come closest to providing the perfect coastal drive. I chose to begin my drive just north of the ferry-port of Larne, at the first of two limestone arches through which this road passes.
This road tunnel is a reminder of the origins of this road which was designed by Sir Charles Lanyon in 1834 as a work of famine relief. This tunnel, and its larger sister tunnel near Cushendun, reflect also the fact that for almost the entire distance of this road, lofty cliffs extend almost to the water's edge, leaving scant room for the road.
In winter, the road is liable to flooding and also to subsidence, again reflecting its exposure to the harsh sea elements.
The coastal road first winds through the small village of Ballygalley, and then around the headlands into Carnlough, situated at the head of a crescent bay, while nearby is the famous Glencloy, one of the nine Antrim Glens, with its beautiful waterfall.
From Carnlough the A2 winds around Garron Point, before passing through Glenariff and into the pretty village of Cushendall. Here, as in several other places, the builders of this road took as its foundations a raised beach of mesolithic times where many flints and other artifacts have been found.
Near here also, at Red Bay, is the second of the road Tunnels along this coastal drive. This tunnel, called "The Red Arch" from the old red sandstone rock from which it is carved, is the more impressive of the two and has been a landmark for touring motorists for more than a century, as evidenced by the accompanying photograph.
But it is the next village we meet which is the jewel of this road.
Cushendun nestles in a hollow at the mouth of the Glendun river and was designed by the architect Clough Williams-Ellis, who also designed the village of Portmeirion in Wales. Williams-Ellis was asked to design the village by Lord Cushendun and his Cornish -born wife, Maud Bolitho, in 1912. The result is quite unlike any other village in Ireland.
As with every other section of this road, it's this constantly changing aspect revealed at every turn which is its greatest attraction.
Here at Cushendun this road offers two choices - inland through the state-owned Ballypatrick forest to Ballycastle, or further along the coast to Ballycasle via Torr Head. This is another fascinating road, quite different in character to the one we have just traversed and one to which we'll return on a future occasion.
For now it's sufficient to pause and consider the fine road gifted to us by Sir Charles Lanyon and his famine-relief workers in the 1830s. Quite what they would of thought of the modern traffic "their" road carries we can only imagine.
What we can be sure of is that they too must have paused and admired the many faceted beauties this road unveils to those who travel its length.
The previous article in this series was the 6th, not the 7th as stated
This series runs fortnightly