The lovely Nine Glens bite deeply into the basalts of the Antrim plateau and into the hard overlays of modern history. Cut off, until a century ago, by land barriers, these green pockets of Gaelic life have kept their own distinction and character. Their outlook was always...
Words in stone network round the crown of the abbey tower read ‘King Robert the Bruce’. Here, before the high altar, the great hero of the medieval Wars of Independence is buried. Dunfermline’s Benedictine abbey dates from the 12th century but lettering such as that...
At 2466 feet tall Errigal is the tallest peak in the ice carved Donegal highlands. With its furrowed sides and white screes of broken quartz, it is by far, the finest of all conical mountains in Ireland. The hard quartzite rock is in contradiction to the softer...
County Kerry has a clean beauty of bone about it that is not so in the other more “fleshy” counties of Ireland. That is because, although Kerry was notably glaciated in the Ice Age, it was not over coated by drift to the same extent as...
This beautiful lough is in the heart of the Connemara countryside. We usually explore it on our tours of Ireland while staying at Ballynahinch Castle. In fact, Derryclare Lough forms part of the famous salmon fishery of Ballynahinch. It is well worth visiting. The lough lies between Lough Corrib...
Achill is the largest island off the Irish coast. It is approached by bridge across the sound and you should see it on any tours of Ireland. It is shaped like an inverted “L” and is fifteen miles in length. Its widest point is twelve miles. For the...
To see the lakes of Killarney for the first time is to realise the haunting luxuriance of mountain, waterfall, castle, lough, and island. They let you see a very important part of the tapestry of Ireland. Do not miss them on any tours of Ireland. There is...
The largest open space in central Glasgow, George Square, laid out in 1781 and named after George III, may be considered the centre of the city itself. In 1837 it was crowned by Glasgow’s tribute to the great Edinburgh novelist, Sir Walter Scott: an eighty-foot...
Ardmore, with its smooth beach, its colour washed cottages, and green fields, is the pleasantest of places to see on any tours of Ireland. It was once an Episcopal seat, which for centuries ranked amongst the high places of Ireland. It is said to have been founded...
Louth is the smallest of the Irish counties and lies between the Boyne Estuary and Carlingford Lough. It was always border country and therefore debatable land. It guarded the Gap of the North. This was the pass that runs from the plains of Leinster into the hills of...