GREAT ROADS:The constantly changing landscape of west Mayo is a place of great beauty but also one of emptiness and sadness, writes Bob Montgomery
TODAY'S JOURNEY will take us through some of the least visited part of this island - the wonderful, constantly changing landscape in western Mayo. As I noted in the last article of this series, the drive from Bangor Erris to Mulranny, Co Mayo contains vast areas which are virtually unpopulated, making for a landscape that is unspoilt and virtually unchanged through the past 100 years or so.
Taking the N59 out of Newport towards Mulranny a couple of kilometres outside Newport we take the turn signposted for the Western Way, leading due north. Ignore the numerous turn-offs from this road and continue with Lough Furnace on your left before the road starts to hug the shore of Lough Feeagh. By now the bulk of Slieve Buckoogh (588m) rises steeply to the east of the road, while to the west of Lough Feeagh rises Bengorm (582m). To the northwest, separated from Bengorm by a wooded valley, rise the steeply rising peaks marking the Nephin Beg Range which also continue to the east of our intended route.
After leaving the edge of Lough Feeagh, the road skirts the sharply rising Srahmore before passing through an area of forestry. It is hard to adequately describe the beauty of the constantly changing landscape through which this road passes, with the only signs of human habitation being the many ruined cottages bearing testament to the difficulty of eking out a living from this landscape of such harsh beauty.
The immigration from this area is poignantly recalled in an inscription on a huge rock in this forest area "commemorating Irish emigrants who contributed so significantly to the welfare of the United States of America in general and of New York in particular".
Eventually, the area of forestry is traversed and the road gently rises to a ridge as the landscape changes drastically to a more mountainous, bare terrain. It is cresting this ridge that one comes face-to-face with the reality of the Mayo Plain - a vast area that stretches from Castlebar in the south to the northern coastline of Mayo with, far in the distance, the village of Bellacorick, the only significant place of habitation in between. Scattered here and there are small islands of green- small homesteads like green jewels in the unremitting brown.
As the road makes its way down to a crossroads with the R312, it's hard to imagine the numbers who once inhabited this beautiful but unforgiving landscape in pre-famine times. Harder still to imagine how whole families eked out an existence here.
This is one of the most interesting drives we've included in this series, and if you have not visited this part of Mayo and the west of Ireland, it should be right at the top of your list of places to visit. Our two journeys into Mayo have given us fresh insights into this wonderful county. Having fallen under the spell of both its charm, and the human history and suffering which is still visible today upon its varied landscape, we plan to return as soon as we can.