First run of the season

From Beara, Mizen Head · The Private Peninsula Explorer

Posted in February, when the maps come back out: "First trip of the season next weekend — Kenmare, Lauragh, Healy Pass, Glengarriff, Bantry, Rooska, Ahakista, Durrus, Schull, Ballydehob, Baltimore."

That one loop is most of what makes the south-west special: the Healy Pass switchbacks before the crowds arrive, the quiet back of Bantry Bay, the Sheep's Head road through Ahakista, and the run down through Schull and Ballydehob to Baltimore for the night.

A local rider replied with his own favourite line within the hour — from Bantry turn at the West Lodge and head out the Sheep's Head, over the Goat's Path into Kilcrohane. That's the thing about these roads: everyone who rides them has a version, and they're all right.