 Private jaunting car operators based at "Kate Kearney's Cottage" have been accused of erecting signs that imply the road is closed to cars.In 2018, the Lonely Planet guide had to clarify the road is public in its 2018 Ireland guidebook.The true "Head of the Gap" (at ), can be accessed from the north by driving past "Kate Kearney's Cottage", and from the south by driving to "Moll's Gap" and then continuing east on the R568 road until a small side-road (at , sometimes labelled "Gearhasallagh" after the townsland, on maps), descends steeply north into the "Black Valley" and then winds its way westwards towards "Lord Brandon's Cottage" (which is off-route), but then diverts north to the actual "Head of the Gap"; this route is part of a 55–kilometre loop of the Killarney–Gap of Dunloe–Black Valley–Moll's Gap area, popular with cyclists.