Ireland's Only Cable Car May Soon Be Demolished
Did you know that Ireland only has one cable car? Well if you didn't, now you do. It's also technically the only cable car in Europe that traverses the "open ocean" but we'll get to that.
But yes, this weird little bespoke cable car in the far southwestern corner of County Cork was opened in 1969 to help farmers get to and from Dursey Island, a rugged, picturesque spot of land that forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way hiking route. But for decades it was also used to transport livestock including cows and sheep, like a flying barn.
However, in the next few years it may be torn down and replaced, despite major concerns from environmental activists who claim it will fuel unsustainable tourism and damage the fragile ecosystem there. So what's it like? And what happens next? I flew to Ireland to check it out.
00:00 Intro
00:20 Dursey Island
01:16 Geography problems
02:06 A solution
02:28 "Open ocean"?
04:29 Technical difficulties
05:47 History of Dursey Island
06:43 An unknown future
09:50 Outro
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Welcome to What On Earth Is This?, a YouTube channel featuring strange and quirky things from around the world that you may not have heard of.
Think abandoned engineering marvels, weird funiculars, transit oddities and other bits of history you never wanted to know about... until now.
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100km/h sign: mozzercork/Flickr
Dursey sea view: Dieglop/Wikimedia Commons
Eire sign: Kmccook/Wikimedia Commons
Old Dursey footage: @bearahistory6919 (The loveliest guy ever, go check out his channel!)