GREAT IRISH DRIVES: The first of this year's series finds routes near Mount Leinster offering lovely views and good roads
VIEWED FROM afar during the course of previous articles in this series, Mount Leinster has always seemed to me a lonely sentinel marking a gateway to Ireland’s southeast.
Our journey towards this highest peak (796m) in the Blackstairs range was long overdue.
Starting from the busy town of Bunclody, which takes its name from the River Clody which here joins the River Slaney, we travelled just to the outskirts of the town on the N80 to Carlow.
At this point we turn southwest on a narrow road which quickly descends through an attractive wooded area for its first few kilometres.
And as the trees give way they in turn reveal the heights of John’s Hill (365m) to the north and a gently sloping valley stretching across to Black Rock Mountain (599m) to the south.
This is like a hidden valley, and the view is very attractive as our road hugs the slopes and winds on towards Corrbutt Gap.
From the gap the views are magnificent if somewhat curtailed on the day of our exploration by low cloud which clung to the summit of Mount Leinster and leaked down into the surrounding valleys and peaks.
To the west is a horseshoe-shaped valley formed by Slievebawn and the slopes which link Mount Leinster to Croaghaun.
In the distance the flat lands of Carlow are visible, stretching as far as the eye can see, while the valley we’ve just skirted stretches back towards the east.
The River Clody flows from these slopes towards its confluence with the River Slaney at Bunclody.
At Corrbutt Gap we have a choice.
We could have taken the road which leads down and then around the lower slopes of this horseshoe valley before skirting the lower slopes of Slievebawn but instead, worthy as this short diversion might be, we swung left and southwest along the road signposted for the south Leinster Way.
This road continues to climb and opens up more magnificent views as it rises to the highest point between Mount Leinster to the south and Slievebawn to the west.
Here there is a car park and there’s a road up to the RTÉ Mount Leinster transmitter mast – Mount Leinster is 796m high and the mast a further 122m on top of that. The views are breathtaking even on this day when they are limited by cloud and poor visibility.
The state of the road has been excellent throughout our journey so far, something which is unusual for a road so exposed to the harshest elements of a winter.
From here we start to descend from the car park and for the next few kilometres the view to the south towards Knockroe (540m) and Blackstairs Mountain (735m) is obscured by forest.
The slopes of Slievebawn lie to the north as we descend and by the time we reach the crossroads at the foot of Tomduff Hill on the northwestern extremity of the Blackstairs Mountains the mountainous scenery has given way to a rural landscape once again. From here the best choice is to turn southeast towards Kiltealy, passing through the Scullogue Gap.
There are few roads that penetrate the remainder of the Blackstairs Mountains, so try heading northeast from Kiltealy along the R746, skirting the eastern side of Mount Leinster and returning to where we began our exploration at Bunclody.