Yesterday saw me crossing the international frontier on my way to Castle Leslie, Glaslough, County Monaghan. The most direct rout according to my Road Atlas and also according to Googlemaps was take the M1 motorway to Dungannon, turn left for Caledon, in Caledon, turn right, take the first left, cross the frontier and drive to Glaslough. Simple enough. Or so you’d think.

Down the lane and find it’s blocked!

Both sets of maps showed that the B45 (NI) turned into the R185 (Éire). However, I turned down the road from Caledon but it became apparent that this road was not very much used. The road surface was much more like a farm lane than a road maintained by the Northern Ireland Government. And I made it to the border and found that the way was blocked – I could have walked across but not driven. So back into Caledon and I found another way around: into Co Armagh, and across the frontier into Co Monaghan.

Maps should be clearer

It is clear that the continued closure of roads in border areas is something that needs to be shown on maps. I know that our own Ordnance Survey maps used to show approved/unapproved roads across the Border, but do they still? I’m writing to Google to explain the problems. I’ll update when I any reply is received.