Our drive brought us along the lovely Bantry bay and we began to rise above it. There was a minute or two of discussion as to wether or not the word signage was a real word. I said there was good signage on the road. Maureen did not think it was a word.We saw two men laying beside the road. it would be a risky job, road maintenance that is.
I thought those men were having a break as they seemed to be happy and chatting.
The road was bringing us higher and there were
sheep with blue dots painted on them. The road got to be quite bumpy and then we saw more sheep but they had green dots. Maureen says they mark their sheep so that everyone in the area knows who's sheep they are. It makes sense.
Glengarriff was very picturesque. I could easily have stopped there for a few days to explore the area. Next time I'm in Ireland I will. It would take years, I think, to see Ireland properly. We continue on our way over the Caha Pass.
The sign said 80 KM. We decided that these people were insane which is too bad. They were such nice people too. There were big trees and the road became like a snake going over leggo, lots of curves and bumps.
We saw more blue sheep, well sheep with blue dots. I did not think it possible after the last bit of road but the road got even bumpier!
We past a sign for a tunnel. Tunnels could be fun, I like tunnels. Turners Rock Tunnel.
We drove up higher and higher, no trees there. The road felt way too narrow for the speed we were going and how close the oncoming cars came to us. It felt like inches apart as they passed us.
I saw a hawk a eye level which told me that we were way to high. There was little or no barrier on the edge of the road which was on my side of the car!! The part of the car that, at the beginning of our trip, Maureen had said was not in her frame of reference when driving, as in Canada her car ended at her left side. Caha pass was terrifying!! With its high straight cliffs down I was having a heart attack. the views were spectacular and I just wish I could have enjoyed them more.
I was positive that everyone was driving way too fast. We reached the top and passed through an actual break in the rock ridge. With that we were going down the other side. There was a lookout that I am sure many people stop and take advantage of but we did not see it in time and just wanted to get out off of this high place and down to the normal bad roads. I unclenched my toes.
We went through the tunnel which I missed getting pictures of as it was dark in there and my camera was not 'at the ready'. I did get photos of the next tunnels. We did the obligatory narrow road with lots of curves coming down the other side. It was like the reverse mirror image of the other side but with trees. Going down was still scary. It was still a narrow road with people driving way too fast for our comfort, but it did not feel as bad. Maybe we had become desensitized. Another road side stop at Molly Gallivans. We did not stop.
At what could have been the bottom was a bridge over a ......might have been a river. We didn't actually see it, what ever it was. Passed the Gortnabinny sign on a rather straight, nice piece of road. We were going 80! Maureen was getting braver by the mile.
Came to a village so had to slow down and it was, of course, lovely. By the time we got to Garrymore we were laughing to relieve the stress. Then there was a bus on the road coming toward us. This always put us in a panic as the road is not wide enough, but, it was a miracle with inches to spare.
The stress level was pretty high in that little car so when we saw the sign for Bonane Heritage Park, next right ,we took it. The turn off of the National Road brought us onto what we would call a lane-way and they set the speed at 80!!! We managed to get to the little park intact for our well deserved break. Our plan was to stay long enough to settle our frazzled nerves.
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