Friday, January 22, 2010

Garda Brown's greeting remark was, "You need a Hercules helicopter."

Garda Brown's parting words were, "Looks like you got away with it!"

What happened in between was nothing short of heroic, and acknowledged by this rainbow, we imagined, as we departed the pass.  Story to follow the photo . . . .

A glorious morning.  The weather pattern is holding true, sunshine today, so off to Kenmare for a guitar hardcase from Soundz of Muzix for Kevin's accoustic.

To the Caha Pass

944 feet and climbing

1,259 feet

and the Druid's view

Thinking of John and Jeannie Finegan outside Boston, it's Finnegan's Corner:

Leaving Kenmare, Kevin and I decided to take the road less traveled - this is where our story takes a terrible turn . . . . or slide . . . . thankfully not a turn over!

It was still early in the day (about 1:30 pm) so instead of taking the N71 back to Bantry, we took the R571 for a few miles towards Castletownbere, then changed our minds.  Our GPS showed us a shortcut to Glengarriff so after a few miles we took a left towards the Barraduff Guest Cottage and followed a lovely one lane bureen for five miles or so through the valley before we started to climb upwards.

This is where the ascent of the road ahead became so steep that our Inca was struggling in second gear and when I stopped to downshift into first, there was not enough power to climb and on the slippery road when I braked to keep from rolling backwards, the car slid backwards into the ditch running alongside the mountain.

After many minutes, and attempts to get back onto the road, we just kept sliding back downwards and getting more wedged into the dirt and ditch.  We already knew that the chances of our cell phone working was chancy, but when I stood in just one specific spot, after many tries of getting through to 999 and losing the connection, I was successful.  This is the spot . . . .

The difficulty was in not knowing how to tell the garda where we were exactly - they had no GPS.  I explained the direction in which we drove, and the place name on our GPS said Drombane, but we were out in the middle of nowhere.  We could see two farms off in the distance.

I explained that we would probably need a tow and did not know if there was damage to the vehicle.  The garda assured me they would find us. 

Kevin and I were shaken, but unhurt.  We were really lucky not to have ended up in the trickling brook, or more worse, overturned.  After so much time had passed, the sun began to lower behind the mountains and I was beginning to think there was no possible way the garda was going to find us.  I suggested that we start walking to the nearest farmhouse, thinking they could at least call and tell the garda exactly where we were.

Any other time this would have been a lovely walk, and all downhill.  There was a cold nip in the air, but we had our gloves and warm hats in our pocket.  The sunshine felt warm on our faces.

We hadn't gone more than one mile when we heard a car approaching . . . . it was the garda.

Garda Paul Brown smiling widely says, "You need a Hercules helicopter."  And he hadn't even seen the car yet!  He and his partner left us there, drove up to assess the situation, and we waited for their return.

   

Garda Jimmy Hendrix (really!) returned alone, confirming what we already knew . . . .  it didn't look good.  He gave us a ride back to the Inca.  We envisioned all the worst-case scenarios and resigned ourselves to doing whatever it took, all the while reassuring ourselves that there was a resolution in sight.

Long story, short . . . . just when garda had called for the tow truck, a local farmer from up the hill arrived with instructions to cancel the tow.  Apparently, when the garda called him he was with the vet, birthing a calf.

Finished, he was now here to help.  We learned that this is something he does quite often.  In concert with Garda Brown and Garda Hendrix, he made quick, light work of getting us back on the road.  He was like the Lone Ranger, he left us standing there wondering, who was that generous lad?  He refused to take any money.  Tomorrow we will write a complimentary letter to the Garda's Chief Inspector, in Tralee, singing their praises.  

This is the car backing up the hill to load all the suitcases, etc. that we removed to lighten the load. That's the garda's car in the background.

Kevin and I were immensely thankful for the kindness of strangers, and as we were about to drive away, marveling at the fact that the Inca was able to even be driven away, Garda Brown smiles and says, "Looks like you got away with it."  We rounded the bend and saw our first Irish rainbow!

We DO know how lucky we are.

An overview of where we went off . . . . follow R571 from Kenmare, turn left at Dawros, end in Drombane.
Gentle reminder: double click any photo and it becomes HUGE

Closer view, in three steps . . . .

We'll sleep well tonight, thank you, thank you . . . .