Total 911 Great Roads

N59, County Galway, Ireland

• Great Roads
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• Josh Barnett
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• 1 comments

We’ve previously looked at the Wild Atlantic Way, offering 2,500 kilometres of stunning blacktop traversing the entire west coast of the Emerald Isle. However, you and your Porsche need to get there first, and opting for the equally scenic N59 means the driving merriment can start early.

Set a little further inland than the fervently twisting and slower-paced Wild Atlantic Way, the N59 is no acolyte to its better-known neighbour.

Beginning in Galway as an unassuming dual carriageway, the road quickly leans northwest and reduces to one lane each way, while the urban mise-en-scéne is replaced by countryside.

The N59 is a wonderfully flowing road with fast sections that continually coax you to keep a good pace. You’ve no need to break speeding laws to have fun either, as the limits are generously apportioned throughout.

Safely keep up to the set maximum pace and we guarantee your drive will be thrilling at the wheel, a feat almost unheard of for public roads in entertaining modern sports cars.

Take your eyes off the recurrently swivelling asphalt and you’ll be greeted by idyllic topography, with numerous lochs (there are at least 20 on the stretch from Galway to Clifden alone) sitting level with the road and quickly giving way to striking mountains reaching high into the clouds above.

You’re likely to want to stop and take in some of the scenery and there’s plenty of places for you to stop and do so.

Back on the road, the route is very well sighted and there are little obstacles in the way of traffic – we came across only a handful of cyclists and bikers – though the surface itself can become heinously undulating at times (modern cars may choose to switch PASM off here).

On reaching Clifden, the road heads north and offers another 130 miles of spirited driving euphoria all the way up to Ballysadare, just outside the town of Sligo.

We said the Wild Atlantic Way is a hidden gem, and the N59 is purely an added treasure to the haul – the hardest decision we now face is choosing which car to unleash on the route next time…