Sidecar to Looscaun

Almost every week,  I meet somebody, who is just home from Lanzarote or Tenerife, from a holiday.  There were no holidays in my time, just departures to London, New York or Boston in search of work.

I have cycled from Abbey to Aughrim and repaired a puncture on route.  I have a nephew who repaired a plane engine on flight and thus feel fully competent to talk about the complexities of travel.  I have travelled from Abbey on a pony and trap.  I have flown to Rome and back but my favourite travel trip was in a sidecar to a hurling match in Looscaun.  The man who travelled had certain additional rights to talk about his travel experience and I now claim membership of his clan.

Jaunting along in the Sidecar – Brings back memories of days gone by!  Photo: Courtesy of Tom Keane

The sidecar was called a jaunting car when operating in Killarney or ferrying American tourists.  I think of it as particularly suited to match travel.  It was higher than other ways of travel and just looked down on other less significant modes like the bicycle or walking.  With its back-to-back seating, every passenger looked outward with a confidence that it was only a question of fielding a team to achieve local hurling supremacy.  The sidecar was stable and secure and less likely to have either of the wheel bands come loose.  It would be easy to get a roadside stone to deal with any such misfortune.  Planning would be done the evening before: what horse we would bring, who would sit where and when we would have our sandwiches.  Younger passengers would not be allowed to smoke no matter how cheaply they had bought their woodbines.  To end my story I must confess that Abbey were beaten in that match, in spite of two smashing goals by two Kylemore stalwarts.  What’s another year!