As soon as Healy Pass was mooted as a runner for the 2023 Rally of The Lakes there was only going to be one place last Saturday was going to be spent!
Having taken in other famed Rally of The Lakes stages like Molls Gap, Caragh Lake, Shanera and Gortnagane there was one particular bucket list Stage which hadn't been ticked off just yet.
And funnily enough there are a few more still as from memory I don't recall being on Cods Head or Ardgroom either which will definitely have to be tackled!
With Mam hailing from just outside Mallow, the natural route was always via Rathmore and into Killarney.
But with a late Friday evening departure, we decided in the best of our wisdom this time out to head from home in Carlow towards Portlaoise on down the M8 and past Ballincollig and a whole host of other places before reaching our destination which was Kenmare this time out.
Little did we know that two diversions and a slow waltz behind a Berlingo later that it would be headed for 1am before we touched down in Buff Egan territory, a mere 2 hours after the ETA given to Phil our B&B host! Sorry Phil!
With a brief little sabbatical taken sleep wise the alarm sounded less than 4 hours later and up we got.
We made our way towards the Start of the Healy Pass stage which of course was at An Síbín Restaurant and Bar.
As we crossed what would be the Start line a few hours later, my eyes had just about started to open but soon I was bright eyed and bushy tailed as Irish Rally legend James Cullen was spotted taking in the fresh morning air alongside the incredibly knowledgeable Tommy Hayes who can literally turn his hand to anything when it comes to Rallying.
The car was stuck into reverse and I went out to chat to the lads for a minute or two and they were in great spirits.
That really set the tone for the day!
So off we went on our merry way and to be fair it didn't take long to discover why Healy Pass is one of the best known tourist areas in Ireland.
The views were breathtaking!
But with time ticking away, the importance was being placed on finding a spot to pull in the battered Silver Focus in order to avoid any further bumps and bruises (even if it did mean getting bogged!)
Having successfully parked/beached the car, out we went to scope the place out and who of all people was parked behind us only Rally volunteer extraordinaire Caroline McGuinness!
The Rally community is tight as we know, but I couldn't quite believe that I had bumped into two of our more recent podcast guests in a matter of minutes and having never fully had a proper conversation with either before in the flesh.
As things transpired the day was spent in Caroline's company which was very enjoyable. Caroline had taken a well deserved weekend off to spectate and as we all know it was well overdue as barely a weekend goes by without Caroline or her son (check out CMC Videos on YouTube) attending a rally and being actively involved also.
Another notable aspect before things got underway was the lengths that photographers go to in order to get a good shot but also a safe shot.
Dave Harrigan of D Harrigan Images has been incredibly good to us at The Irish Rally Podcast and as luck would have it we also got to have a chat in the flesh last Saturday.
Dave wouldn't have looked out of place playing the role of Bear Grylls with the bag on his back and all the gear he had with him, but this is the reality of what these guys and girls do in order to produce the pictures that make us all smile during and after a Rally.
And the least that photographers, videographers, journalists etc all deserve is to have their work credited whenever someone uses it for their own social media posts or articles so please always do that folks, it's the least they deserve and don't crop out the watermarks!
Rant over!
So after the convoy of officials and Five taping crews (never seen as many in my life!) made their way by it was time to get down to business.
Never before had I ever had the vantage point like last Saturday.
It's not unusual to see 2 cars at the one time on a stage, maybe even 3. But to see 4 and sometimes 5 cars navigating the snakes and ladders type terrain was simply breathtaking.
Despite the mist and fogs' best attempts to blur the vision (as if the lack of sleep hadn't done so already!) the occasional impedence of the view was more than made up for by the roar and purr of the state of the art machinery on show.
And if I close my eyes now I can still hear the cars, but unfortunately I can't type for sh*t then at the same time so I have to open them again!
After capturing a few cars on the first run I simply had to pull the trigger on the Live button for the second run to share what I was lucky enough to witness in front of my very eyes.
It seemed that everyone at home was mesmerised just as much as we were, and I wouldn't have expected anything less!
I tried to give the Historics their moment in the sun but unfortunately it was more like the fog in the hollow as we had to abandon ship due to poor vision!
So to conclude, my message is that whenever this stage happens to run again, just get there and do it!
And get there early at that because the parking possibilities aren't as plentiful as they might be on other stages.
In true Rally fan fashion, we pushed each others cars back on to the road out of the muck and shite while even pumping up the wheel of a little van in the middle of all the madness!
And all that made me smile because it seems to be an element of the sport where people just get it and will help you if you do happen to be in bother.
Of course the weather cleared up as soon as the road opened and it was off to catch Kilmakilloge before finishing up!
This is Irish Rallying folks, we have the best of stages all over our beautiful little island and by god are we lucky!
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