The Sunny Side of Ireland: How to see it by the Great Southern and Western RailwayO'Mahony, John
History
The Sunny Side of Ireland: How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway
O'Mahony, John
Ireland -- Guidebooks
east of the lake, and see in the distance the fishing hamlet of Glencar,
with the Glencar Hotel high up on pasture ground, surrounded by a cordon
of green fir trees. Except in the Swiss valleys and parts of Norway,
there is no scenery in Europe to compare with an inland route from
Caragh to Parknasilla. It lies across the mountains
"Where the wandering water gushes
In the hills above Glencar;
In pools among the rushes,
That scarce could bathe a star,"
through wild scenery between the gorges of the mountains, and into
Ballaghbeama Pass. Beneath, in a winding valley, lies Lough Brin,
turning from which we come into the valley of the Eskdhu, or Blackwater,
and follow it amid the beeches until it falls into the sea.
[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ Pass of Ballaghbeama.]
Leaving Caragh Lake, the railway line follows the flow of the river, the
next station being ~Glenbeigh~, where there is a growing watering-place.
The strand is particularly fine, extending over two miles. There is a
good hotel, with golf links, beside plenty of fishing and boating.
~Coomasaharn~--the wonderful lake in the vicinity--it has been correctly
said is surrounded by precipices more awful than anything to be found
nearer home than the Alps or Pyrenees--clinging to the mountain side, at
a height of several hundred feet above the sea, with here a cutting or
embankment, and there a mountain gorge, in which a lovely waterfall is
almost lost to sight in a labyrinth of foliage.
~Mountain Stage~ and ~Kells~ are passed, and the train glides down an
incline to Cahirciveen and Valentia Harbour. ~Cahirciveen~, the
birthplace of Daniel O'Connell, is the most westerly town in the three
kingdoms. It lies with its back up against the Iveragh Mountains, and
facing the blue waters of Dingle Bay. Only since the road was cut across
the hills to Valentia in later years has it come to be of importance. In
1803 there were only fifteen houses here, and the beginning of its
uprise in the world was when O'Connell got it made a market town. But in
legends of the past it is a place of fame, and received its name from
Sive, one of the beautiful daughters of the great monarch, Owen More.
~Carhan House~, where the Liberator spent his childhood (but was not
actually born, as alleged), the ruins of which now only remain, may be
seen a short distance outside the town.
[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ On the Coast near Glenbeigh.]
Two charming fishing harbours under Knocktubber Mountain are worth
seeing, Councroum, "the Haven's Bend," and Coonana, which is called
after the woman who bore the great Finn. Here, the mighty fighter of the
old days, "Conn of the Hundred Battles," fought no less than thirteen of
his fields, and three pre-historic forts remain to bear testimony to the
past--Cahir-na-cahal, Cahirgal, and Castlequinn.
[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ At Glenbeigh.]
[Illustration: _Photo, Lawrence, Dublin._ Lake Coomasaharn.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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