A Ride in the Park

What would you consider to be an enjoyable ride? Would it be in a high speed, high performance car? Or, would you consider another type of ride? Would you consider the type of transportation that was in the British Isles prior to a hundred years ago?

Close your eyes and let your imagination take over. You are about to take a short trip with your significant other and you need to decide on the type of transportation that you are going to use. Are you going to use horses to race each other and get a “thrill” of a lifetime? Or, do you want something that is more romantic? Will you need transportation for just the two of you? Or, will there be a group of people going with you?

During the nineteenth century, there was a form of transportation used in Dublin that could be used with the help of one horse. It was a two-wheeled vehicle called a jaunting car and was designed to have a driver for the horse and to carry two or four people at a time. Samuel Coleridge made arrangements for one for a tour of Ireland with William Wordsworth, who named himself as driver, and Wordsworth’s sister, Dorothy. Apparently, Wordsworth did not do so well as a driver.

There were also two types of jaunting cars, outside jaunting cars and inside jaunting cars. If you are in an outside jaunting car, you look out, across the wheels at the scenery. If you are in an inside jaunting car, you are sitting on the benches facing inwards towards your companions. Our group used about three jaunting cars and they were all inside jaunting cars.

Jaunting cars today are designed to carry between ten and twelve passengers and have four wheels instead of two wheels. They are still pulled by one horse and are used mostly by tourists. The companies in Killarney take their passengers out to Ross Castle in Killarney National Park. They give their passengers enough time to visit the castle and the castle grounds before taking them back to their hotels. Almost all of the jaunting cars in Killarney have overhead protection from rain if there is no wind. The car that I was in also had plastic walls that gives better protection in the rain.

On the way out to Ross Castle, I rode in the back. It gave me a chance to experience what the ride was like in the back. Seriously, though, I wanted to ride up front, but I know how selfish I can be, so I chose to sit in the back so that someone else could have the privilege. The person who sat with the driver decided that she felt that the wind was too cold for her and wanted to go into the back with everyone else. I jumped at the chance to ride in the front and I don’t regret doing it. I had a chance to talk with the driver one-on-one and actually had a chance to drive the horse for about ten minutes.

We arrived back at our hotel with time enough for a quick break, and then we were off to our next adventure. I would suggest that anyone who visits Ireland and doesn’t go on a jaunting ride when given the chance, is not experiencing all that Ireland has to offer. I enjoyed the ride and the chance to actually drive the horse. If I come across the chance to do it again, I will not be missing the chance to repeat my experience.