Take a trip around Castlewellan, and you'll be surprised at the variety of landscapes, writes Bob Montgomery
THIS FINAL article in this year's explorations on Irish roads is not so much about a particular road, as about an area. I've often travelled the road from Newry to Strangford to catch the ferry across the turbulent mouth of Strangford Lough to Portaferry, promising myself to find the time to stop and explore the area signalled by the "brown" signs that occur halfway down Castlewellan's great hill. So, on this occasion, I headed to Castlewellan to fulfil a promise to myself, and to see what I could find.
What I found was an area of outstanding beauty which the road from Newry to Strangford gave little hint of, and which rewarded me with new and varied landscapes of rolling Ulster hills, green fields and leafy roads. Our starting point was Castlewellan, a picturesque town on the northern foothills of the Mourne Mountains and through which runs the A25. Castlewellan - Caisleán Uidhilin or Uidhilín's Castle - is unique within Ireland for its two main squares, each lined by chestnut trees. The unusually wide main street and its two squares were designed by a French architect for the Annesley family, who were the original owners of what is now Castlewellan Forest Park.
Halfway down the town's main street is the entrance to Castlewellan Forest Park, which covers some 1,100 acres and to which an entry fee is charged. The Park contains a Heritage Centre, Castle, Moorish Tower and a Maze surrounding the mile long Castlewellan Lake and is well worth taking the time to explore. The castle, built of Ballymagreehan granite in 1856 in the Scottish baronial style, overlooks the lake and was the home of the Annesley family.
The forest park is also the site of Northern Ireland's National Arboretum, the core of which is a 15-acre walled garden containing exotic and indigenous plants. Further along the A25, as one leaves Castlewellan down its hill is a turn to the northwest. Taking this road leads one into some of the most widely varied and beautiful countryside all packed into a relatively small area.
Once again, as so often in our explorations of this island, the greatly contrasting landscapes all within a short distance of each other, are startling. Travel anti-clockwise around the outer perimeter of Castlewellan Forest Park and Slievenaslat (272m) and you'll encounter dramatic views as well as leafy roads that twist and turn as they rise and fall over the rolling Ulster landscape.
The roads are excellent and the whole area a delight. To the north lie the mountains of Slieve Garran (391m), Cratlieve or Leganny Mountain (429m) and Slieve Croob (534m) - the source of the river Lagan, all of which we plan to return to and explore in detail in next season's Great Roads series.
There's an abundance of roads just waiting to be explored here, so take the time to meander and criss-cross the landscape. Around every corner, it seems, there's a surprise awaiting making this area, almost unknown, I suspect, to southern drivers, well worth taking the time to explore and enjoy. The landscape shows many signs of ancient habitation and there are numerous cairns, forts, raths, cashels and souterrains dotted all over the area while at Clarkill Woods is an interesting standing stone.
Our journeys have taken us over the length and breath of this island from its northern tip to its western shores, into remotest Kerry and Cork and around its most beautiful lakes. We look forward to continuing our exploration in a new series of Great Roads next spring.
Some Irish roads less well travelled
This year's Great Roads series marked the fourth season that we've brought you our pick of the best and most spectacular roads to drive in Ireland.
The roads we've travelled have surprised and delighted us with their variety, but most of all they've served to demonstrate yet again the amazing changes that the Irish landscape is capable of serving up in just a few short kilometres.
Favourite amongst this year's roads. . . well, the day we travelled Sheep's Head and the Beara Peninsula was one of the few glorious summer days we did actually have this year and made the journey unforgettable, while the Gap of Dunloe was a return to a spot that had many years ago stirred our imagination.
Today's featured roads around Castlewellan were to us a real discovery, while the Bangor to Mulranny road and the Nephin Drive in Mayo were reminders of the grandeur and loneliness - as well as the turbulent history - of that county.
Forced to pick a single favourite, I would eschew the better-known places and pick the road beginning at Loughcrew and ending in the Valley of Fore (pictured).
A wonderful landscape linking two place of very special historical importance. What more could you ask for?
For now, as the nights draw in its time to get out the Ordnance Survey Discovery Series maps and search for next year's Great Roads. We'll return around St Patrick's Day with a new selection of roads for 2009.