| Days Like These Malcolm Rogers
considers some great days out in Ulster.
Take a black taxi tour through Belfast’s historic sites. Not everybody’s
cup of tea this, but you can tour all of Belfast’s important trouble spots
— the site of the Divis Flats, the Peace Line, Crumlin Road Jail, the political
wall murals located on the Shankill and the Falls Road, “a unique cultural
experience”, plus the sites of many events indelibly etched on Belfast’s
bloodstained history. Contact
Michael@BelfastTours.com or Freephone 0800 052 3914. Depending on numbers,
between £7.50 (for a group) to £20.00
In Monaghan, pay your respects to one of Ireland’s greatest poets, Patrick
Kavanagh. If you journey to the tidy village of Inniskeen, in the south
of the county, you’ll find the home of this literary genius who wrote Raglan
Road.
Inniskeen itself is a suitably ancient place with the remains of a 10th
century Round Tower at its centre. The Patrick Kavanagh Rural & Literary
Resource Centre is housed in the historic St Mary’s Church, next to the
cemetery where the poet is buried.
Spend a day at Odyssey’s W5 “interactive and discovery centre” in Belfast.
W5 is the brand new £45 million science bit of the Odyssey complex, where
you can interact with all sorts of weird and wonderful exhibits. Experience
the force of lift and drag in a wind tunnel, see how racing cars are made
or witness a fire tornado. Plus much more wizardry.
Family orientated, W5 has five different zones called Wow, Start, Go,
See and Do. The motto “Team W5 will bring you on their adventures to the
future!” should give you a clue as to what to expect.
Odyssey Trust Company, 2 Queen’s Quay, Belfast BT3 9QQ.
Tel: 028 9045 1055,
www.w5online.co.uk.
Visit Rathlin Island. That’s the thing which looks like a sock at the
very top of the Ireland. In the past it was famous for Robert the Bruce’s
spider. In more recent times its claim to fame has been that islanders helped
save Richard Branson when his balloon crashed nearby — an act for which
the inhabitants should perhaps have been punished by having their island
towed even further into the Atlantic.
Notwithstanding, this a spectacular place to visit, particularly if you’re
into bird-spotting. Don’t miss out Bull Point at the western end of the
island where the sight of thousands of guillemots covering the tops of the
grey stacks of rock is truly spectacular. For fishing you can rent a boat
028207 63933, or for the more adventurous you can go scuba diving amongst
the many ship wrecks which lie broken on the seabed round the island (phone
028 207 63915). Boats run to the island every day phone 028207 63915 or
63017.
Climb Slieve Donard in Co. Down, the North’s highest peak. You don’t
need to be a mountaineer — four hours fairly easy uphill scramble will get
you to the summit, and it is absolutely free. (This compares very favourably
with the $50,000 fee it costs to climb Mt. Everest). From the top of Donard
you’ll be rewarded with views across most of Ireland.
On a clear day you can see as far south as Dublin, and eastwards across
the Irish Sea to the Isle of Man. And if you’re really lucky you’ll see
a huge image of yourself, hundreds of feet tall, etched in rainbow colours
in the clouds a thousand feet below. It’s called the Brocken Spectre (after
a mountain in the Harz range) and the phenomenon occurs when the sun is
low and clouds or mist lie in the valley below you. Shadows cast from the
peak are magnified and diffracted producing startling effects. Spectacular
when it does occur.
For further information on all destinations in the North call the Northern
Ireland Tourist Board on 0171 766 9920 or 01232 246609. However it’s doubtful
if they’ll tell you when conditions are right for spooky goings-on such
as the Brocken Spectre.
How about buying some real linen? You’ll save up to fifty quid if you
buy your tablecloth in the North instead of London. Begin your mission at
the Irish Linen Centre and Museum of Lisburn (telephone 01846 663377) where
you’ll see how the waft and weft are made from the original flax and eventually
transformed into the most luxurious damask.
Light a turf fire on Magilligan Beach (near Benone, Co. Antrim). Seven
miles of unspoilt strand overlooking Lough Foyle. Wait until twilight and
see the moon rise over the Hills of Donegal.
Visit the Slieve League Cliffs — just outside the town of Carrick in
south west Donegal, overlooking Donegal Bay. These claim to be the highest
in Europe with a sheer drop of 1972 ft into the Atlantic.
Mind you I always thought it was Croaghaun on Achill, but hey, what’s
a couple of hundred feet between friends, especially when a forty m.p.h.
wind threatens to dislodge you from your vantage point.
No matter whether it’s the record holder or not, this truly has to be
one of the most magnificent sights in Europe, if not the entire world. The
richness in colour of the massive rock face provides visual pleasures non-stop.
If you need to get your awe inspired, this is as good a place to start as
any. And it’s not just the height. Different hues in the rock formation
— orange, red and grey, mingled with stains of various metallic ores, accumulate
with washed down clays and soils to provide an impossibly colourful background
to the restless Atlantic below.
Visit the smallest church in Ireland. There are a few candidates for
this title, but undoubtedly the most appealing is St. Gobhnan’s in Portbraddan
(also spelt Portbraden), Co. Antrim. St. Gobhnan is the patron saint of
builders, and no, before you ask, he’s not buried in a cowboy outfit. Rather
more incongruous is that Ireland’s smallest church (twelve feet by six)
should be dedicated to him given his special interest in the construction
industry. Needless to say other churches claim the honour of smallness,
but St. Gobhnan’s is probably most worthy of your visit because of its spectacular
setting on the shores of White Park Bay, with towering cliffs behind, and
the angry North Atlantic in front. An added boonus is that you’ll have to
drive round the spectacular Antrim Coast Road, one of the most spectacular
roads in Europe.
Visit the world’s oldest distillery in Bushmills, Co. Antrim. They started
manufacturing ‘the cratur’ here in 1609 and have been laughing all the way
to the bottle bank ever since. The distillery is situated just a mile from
the Giant’s Causeway, the magnificent basalt rock formation on the North
Antrim coast. If you plan to visit to both sites in one day it is recommended
you do the cliffs first, as a certain amount of whiskey sampling is de rigeur
at Bushmills.
During the guided tour, some (but not all) of the secrets of a fine malt
will be demonstrated: the special water from St. Columb’s Well, the malted
Irish barley, the triple distillation in copper stills followed by ageing
for long years in oak casks.
Recent medical evidence points to the fact that whiskey is as effective
as red wine in preventing heart disease. So you can look at your visit as
purely therapeutic.
After your visit to the distillery, get your chauffeur to turn left immediately
on leaving the premises and drive along the B66 towards Derrykeighan. About
three miles up the road look out for the Traill monument, built circa 1833.
This set of stones will appear to swell and contract before your very eyes.
No, it’s not the drink. It is due to an obscure law of physics — the one
which deals with the human eye simplifying differing orientations resulting
in this strange optical illusion. A memorable end to a worthwhile day.
Visit the Marble Arch Caves in Co. Fermanagh. Wrap up well for this weird
subterranean world. And if you can’t remember your stalagmites from your
stalactites — the mites go up and the tites come down.
Visit St. Patrick’s grave in Downpatrick, Co. Down. He is (reputedly)
buried in the grounds of Down Cathedral. St Brigid and St. Colmcille
are also said to lie beside him although Kildare and Iona seem more
likely last resting places for the latter two. However, no matter who is
interred in the old churchyard, the views across the Quoile river to the
ancient Cistercian abbey of Inch, and across to the Mountains of Mourne
are reason enough for a visit.
If the history of transport on the island is what moves you, so to speak,
pay a visit to Belturbet station (Co. Cavan) which served the Northern Railway
and Narrow gauge Cavan and Leitrim Railway, operating from 1885 until 1959.
At one time this was one of the busiest of Ireland’s narrow-gauge railways
— although it’s hard to believe now when you gaze round at the sleepy environs
of Belturbet.
Through the accident of its serving a coal-field the railway line remained
open many years after most other 3 ft gauge lines closed, and in its last
days made use of engines and rolling stock sent from other defunct systems.
The station now houses an exhibition displaying these odds and ends, Heath
Robinson-esque in their complexity. Enthralling, and not just to railway
anoraks.
Walk round the walls of Derry, the last completely walled city in these
islands. History, both heroic and terrible, lurks round every corner — history
from the fifth century, or history which was made just last week. This most
northerly Catholic city in the world is also one of the oldest inhabited
Christian settlements outside the Holy Land or Rome. From the walls you
can see the scenes of much of this history — from St. Columb’s Cathedral
to Free Derry Corner. RUC installations still look down on the city from
atop parts of the walls. Smile nicely up at them and you’ll get your photo
taken.
You will, of course, find yourself almost automatically singing The Town
I Love So Well. Make sure you have a copy of all the words with you.
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