Riding the Ring of Beara

Copy reprinted by kind permission of the BMW Club Leinster Section

One of the beauties of the Ring of Beara (Rugged, high mountains, wild countryside, approx 160 km round trip from Bantry) is that it is primarily coast road and therefore, from a biking perspective is almost heaven sent with its mile after mile of bends. Short straights leading into big sweeping bends, left, right, left combination bends, double apex bends, combination lefts and combination rights that if taken correctly can be treated as one bend, off camber, bad camber, no camber bends. It doesn't matter, though, they all just added to the enjoyment of a days sun soaked riding.

So that's what we did. I, astride my R1150 RT accompanied by Antoinette, John Keyes and Anna from Dublin, on their K1200 LT and John Donegan, Kilkenny on his K100 RS turned left out of the campsite and headed into Glengarriff for the start of the days adventure. From Glengarriff you sweep down through Trafask and Adrigole on a good, wide coast road and through Curryglass into Castletownbere. This is a lovely little fishing town sheltered from the Atlantic by Bere Island. With its nice little harbour and colourful shops it is an ideal place for a refreshment stop especially if you have an interest in commercial fishing, with a number of expensive looking trawlers tied up along the harbour wall. We decide however to press on. There are more bends whispering to us.

As we continue along the Ring, the roads become progressively more narrow and challenging and the LT is starting to complain a bit. John is a bit worried about the occasional sound of metal meeting tarmac. Given the cost of the bike, I don't blame him.

We stop at a viewing point about two miles from and a couple of hundred feet above Allihies and admire the beauty of the town nestled above a curving stretch of golden sand. It's one of those situations where it would be almost a crime not to stop in the town with its echoes of a rural Ireland long gone so, rather than risk a conviction by the aesthetics police, we stop and feast on freshly made scones and jam. There was almost a set-to at the table over who was going to get what jam. It was all very childish, but I just refused to hand over the raspberry jam, so there.

Refreshed, we decided to backtrack a bit and visit the Durris cable car. Upon arrival, we managed to convince ourselves that, judging by the condition of the "Rubbish skip attached to a couple of bits of dodgy looking wire", it was no longer operating. Oh how wrong can you be. Apparently it carries up to six people or one cow over and back to the island a number of times a day. We arrived during the operators lunch break. We slipped away quietly while no one was looking for fear that we might end up taking the trip. Give me bungie-jumping any time.

(It is an interesting detour of about 5 miles (8 km) to the end of the peninsula. The Dursey Island cable car runs at about 50m above sea level, and the 250m trip takes about 6 minutes. The "skip" can take up to six people at a time or one large animal. No cars allowed and you may have to share the ride with smaller animals. Nearby is also a memorial to the crew of a crashed World War II German weather reconnaissance aircraft.)

Back into Allihies and on into Eyeries and Ardgroom. These roads were made by a motorcycling God with a sense of humour. The bushes on either side of the road are brushing your mirrors and you still need to get past the occasional tractor or foreign registered Audi who thinks it must be one-way, i.e. his way. You are driving down one section of road towards a whitewashed wall with no clue of where, or indeed if the road goes on. It is as if you are driving into some farmers farmyard, but no, the road dives right, along the wall and pitches you up onto the top of a cliff. The vista opens up in front of your eyes and you are left spellbound by the turquoise bay two hundred feet below you, lined with apparently meticulous ranks of mussel lines suspended on buoys beneath an azure blue sky. You need to be careful that the spell wears off quickly however, or you could find yourself sailing over the two hundred foot drop, as the road tries to dive away from underneath you on its never ending rodeo.

From Ardgroom we head towards Kenmare, until just short of Lauragh, we turn right and shortly left down the side of the Síbín for the highlight of the run, the Healy Pass. The first time I encountered the Healy Pass I was riding an R65 and was amazed in equal parts by the road itself, the handling of the little bike and the fact that I was still in one piece when I reached the bottom. I have taken every bike I have owned since down this Pass and the 1150 RT didn't let me down. It handled all the switchbacks with a consummate ease and demonstrated to all the bewildered looking Moto-Guzzi owners parked at the viewing point at the top, just how a properly made European bike can handle.

Back to the campsite through Glengarriff and via Bantry for a quick refreshment stop, a glass of Guinness for the adults and a Coke and an ice cream for the child ( er, me ). A most enjoyable day. And I must say to all these chaps trumpeting about their Boreen Runs while GS mounted, try some of these roads on autobahn stormers and then talk to me about challenging rides.

Notes from "Life on the Hard Shoulder"

Enjoy. Joe Heffernan

Points of Interest
Glengarriff - (Bamboo Park & Coffee Shop www.bamboo-park.com)
Adrigole - (West Cork Sailing & Powerboating Centre www.westcorksailing.com)
Castletownbere - Ferry to Bere Island www.murphysferry.com/
West Cork Local Food - Influenced by a temperate climate, proud farming traditions and an abundant supply of fresh raw material, West Cork is long renowned at home and abroad for its excellent produce www.fuchsiabrands.com/index.asp