The road winds past tiny fishing harbors guarded by eroded rock. Beyond Ardgroom and Kilmakilloge Bay it tunnels through the luxuriant forest of Derreen, fragrant with the scent of moss and dripping ferns. At Lauragh the road shrinks to a track as it doubles back across the peninsula's spine, rising south into barren hills greened by a scattering of fertile fields. The terrain is wild and melancholy. To left and right soar the crags of Knockowen, Coomacleghane, Lackabane.
Cataracts plunge from the heights.
Below, a horseshoe valley drops to a lakeside plateau speckled with sheep. The road scales the 1,100foot saddle of Healy Pass, then turns down in corkscrew bends through a waste of bog and rock to Beara's south coast on Bantry Bay. Night in Castletownbere. At the Ford Ri hotel, on a spit overlooking the fish piers, the dining room tables had been pushed to the walls. An accordionist tapped out hornpipes and country airs.