Feature: Connor Pass

At 456m, Connor (or Conor) Pass is Ireland’s highest motor road. On a foggy day you’ll see nothing but the road just in front of you, but in fine weather it offers phenomenal views of Dingle Harbour to the south and Mt Brandon to the north. The road is in good shape, despite being very narrow and very steep on the north side (large signs portend doom for buses and trucks).

The car park at the pass yields views down to a scatter of lakes in the rock-strewn valley below, plus the remains of walls and huts where people once lived impossibly hard lives. When visibility is good, the 10-minute climb west to the summit of An Bhinn Dubh (478m) is well worthwhile for the kind of vistas that inspire mountain climbers.