Sally Gap - question

Zascar

Can anyone tell me, which part of the sally gap has the really bad road surface? I've been up a good few times but cant remember the route I took. Loads of it has really good roads with good surface, but one part in particular has loads of potholes and bumps - on a motorbike its horrible. I want to take a friend up there but need to plan my route and want to avoid this. Does anyone know?

Alun

It's the top part from the gap itself down towards Laragh. It's better lower down, but the top half is diabolical. The section from just before Roundwood up to the gap is OK though.

Zascar

Thanks. So the one marked "A" below is bad? Is the route from B to D ok? And C to D?

Alun

Yes, that's right, the other routes are fine, relatively speaking. I've never done any of them on a motorbike, but we do have a Mazda MX-5 sports car and we try and avoid the part marked 'A' if at all possible. It's OK in my 'normal' car, but still not pleasant.

dogmatix

The part marked C is not great either. I travelled along it a few days ago and about 2 miles past the bray loughs until you reach the cross roads has a lot of potholes requiring some swerving.

BarryD

If you read accounts of these roads from the early 1900s, they were little better than gravel tracks. I think Wicklow Co Co went on a tarmacing spree around the 1950s In other words, they put down a layer of tarmac on what was there underneath - as constructed mostly in the early 1800s.

It's the heavy vehicles that probably do most of the damage - touring buses, film companies with their lorries, timber trucks etc.

dogmatix

And boy racers in their aging honda civic hatchbacks and toyota glanza's doing doughnuts probably do not help the road surface either!

Macy0161

BarryD wrote: »

If you read accounts of these roads from the early 1900s, they were little better than gravel tracks. I think Wicklow Co Co went on a tarmacing spree around the 1950s In other words, they put down a layer of tarmac on what was there underneath - as constructed mostly in the early 1800s.

I'd say that's the same as most regional roads in the state!

The weather is obviously also a factor. And even with a decent sub layer, some subsidence would come into play given the surrounding bogs!

loyatemu

BarryD wrote: »

In other words, they put down a layer of tarmac on what was there underneath - as constructed mostly in the early 1800s.

that describes pretty much every road in the country bar those newly built from scratch in the last 50 years. They're all former dirt tracks with a couple of layers of asphalt thrown on top.