The Long Way RoundNotebook No 110May 2025
The Knockmealdown mountains, in a one-hour drive.
Collected by Deborah. Read her editorial perspective
We often steer our car onto The Vee, that dramatic hairpin road carving its way through the Knockmealdown mountains, connecting Clogheen to Lismore. The lay-by at the summit is where every passenger pauses, taking in the expanse of patchwork fields from above.
Slea Head
For a shift in perspective, pull over at Bay Lough. A short ninety-meter walk down the path offers a surprising change in sound and sight, a quiet interlude on this mountain crossing you will not forget.
Completed end to end, the drive takes under an hour.
The Ireland Edit Way
Cut the itinerary in half, then cut it again. The letter we send before every first visit.
Every hotel change costs you half a day. Luxury, in Ireland, is staying put.
Six questions we apply before booking any room in Ireland. The November test, the dinner-twice test, the landscape-over-room test.
To understand Ireland, stop looking at the castles and start looking at the kitchen table.
From the notebook
Collected notes. A few times each season.