Great Irish Roads No 5: L116 - The CutTo paraphrase the well-known song, the first time ever I saw this road was one I shall never forget. It was on a blue-skied spring morning many years ago while driving my first car, a "bug-eyed" Austin Healey Sprite.
I climbed the snowy road to the spot known as The Cut and looked down for the first time on the forested mountains of Slieve Bloom. Icicles hung from the edges of the cutting through which the road passed.
I knew then I had discovered one of those lesser-known areas of beauty with which Ireland abounds. That scene has stayed with me ever since and to travel this road again for this series was a particular pleasure.
The Slieve Bloom Mountains are in the north-west corner of Laois where they form the border with Offaly. Starting from Mountrath we take the R440 road to Kinnitty. After about five, we turn on to the L116 at Burke's Bridge, identified by its millennium plaque.
At first, as befits a road officially designated as a link road, the L116 is unspectacular as it begins the slow climb up into the heart of the Slieve Blooms. (Incidentally, such roads are no longer identified on the Ordnance Survey Discovery map series, which seems a pity given their ability to show great detail).
As the landscape climbs and becomes more and more wooded, I notice how much the trees have grown since I was last here. So much so, in fact, that they block a large amount of the view on the ascent towards The Cut itself. But then, we're not here to admire the view, but to drive the road.
Along the way parking and picnic areas dot the landscape and have in common the undeniable fact that they've all seen better days. One of the attractions of the Slieve Blooms is that one is never likely to find it packed with tourists. Even so, the neglect of these facilities is striking in a region trying to attract tourists.
As we near the summit of our journey, we enter the narrow cutting through the rock which gives this road it's name. The Cut is a dark stretch perhaps 100 metres long, its slightly eerie effect heightened by the fact that it vertical sides form a gateway to an altogether different landscape to the one just passed.
As you emerge from The Cut the effect is startling - the landscape opens out to a panorama of mountain valleys and there's a fine view unrestricted by trees over the flat midlands towards Tullamore, Mullingar and beyond.
The Slieve Blooms are not particularly high - Arderin at 526m is the highest point - but they seem much higher because they rise from an almost flat surrounding landscape.
On our left is the valley of Glenaineeoregan, while the right hand side is dominated by the Ridge of Capard rising to 483m. As we descend now towards the pretty 18th century village of Clonaslee, the view remains for all but the last few kilometres when high ditches and gorse banks begin to hide the landscape on both sides.
Finally, the L116 comes out onto the R422 just a half kilometre from Clonaslee along the road to Mountmellick.
There are other good drives to explore here as well. Some are signposted from Clonaslee and reward the driver with mountain roads carrying very little traffic, even at the height of the summer. The Slieve Bloom mountains and their roads remain, truly, one of Ireland's best-kept tourist secrets.
This series runs fortnightly