The highest cliff face in Europe, Slieve League is spectacular not just for its sheer elevation but also for its colour: at sunset the rock is streaked with changing shades of red, amber and ochre. The 8km drive to the eastern end of Slieve League...
The peninsula – and some of Northern Ireland’s finest scenery – begins east of Belfast at Bangor. This resort town has a modern marina and some well-known yacht clubs. A little way south is Donaghadee, from where boats sail to the three Copeland Islands. These...
Ten locks west along the Grand Canal from Dublin. Robertstown is a characteristic 19th century canal side village, with warehouses and cottages flanking the waterfront, freight barges plied the route until about 1960, but pleasure boats have since replaced them. Visitors can take barge cruises from...
The Turoe Stone stands at the centre of a large area of parkland, the Turoe Pet Farm and Leisure Park, near the village of Bullaun. The white granite boulder, which stands about 1m high, dates back to the 3rd or 2nd century BC. Its top...
Perched on cliffs, roughly 200 feet high, and a deep chasm on the landward side, it is plain why Dunnottar Castle, 2 miles south of Stonehaven on the east coast, was for centuries a favourite stronghold of the power-hungry Scottish nobility (and, on occasion, of...
One of Scotland’s oldest royal burghs, Linlithgow was a common stopover for important personages in the Middle Ages. Today the ruins of the fortified Linlithgow Palace are exceptionally well preserved. Its oldest part is the tower in the right foreground, which was built in 1302....
This tapering headland of gentle landscapes scattered with ancient ruins and quiet villages is perfect for a circular tour. The “Ring of Hook” route begins south of New Ross at Dunbrody Abbey, the ruins of a 12th century Cistercian church, but Ballyhack is another good...
The spine of Dublin’s most popular and stylish shopping district runs south from Trinity College to the glass-covered St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre. At the north end, at the junction with Nassau Street, is a bronze statue by Jean Rynhart of Molly Malone, the celebrated...
The association of Glamis with Shakespeare’s Macbeth is historically vague; the present structure dates mainly from the last quarter of the 17th century, by which time the Englishman who wrote the greatest Scottish play was long dead. However, a building of some sort was on...
Near the seaside dormitory town of Malahide stands a huge castle set in 250 acres of grounds. The castle’s core dates from the 14th century but later additions, such as its rounded towers, have given it a classic fairy-tale appearance. Originally a fortress, the building...