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Great days out in Ireland for 2006
 Malcolm Rogers considers some great days out for your holiday to Ireland
this year.
Take a hike
Ireland’s longest purpose built mountain track, a 2.65mile route to the
top of Diamond Hill in Connemara, has just opened and is worth every
step of the way.
The route, a combination of wooden boardwalk and stoney path, rises to
almost 1,500 feet into a Special Area of Conservation. The walkway
starts in the very attractive village of Letterfrack and passes through
fuchsia-lined fields before passing through Connemara National Park on
the way to the summit.
From the top you’ll get views right across Connemara, with a
particularly spectacular vista south-eastwards to the Twelve Bens.
Diamond Hill is the lowest of the hills in the area and is a good
introduction to the ecology and wildlife of the region, though still
prone to sudden mists and rain.
So dress appropriately — remember, so there’s no such thing as bad
weather, only bad clothes.
Connemara National Park, managed by Dúchas, is itself an area of huge
natural beauty, with bog, heath and granite sprawling over 2,000
hectares, taking in some of the Twelve Bens range — you could spend an
entire month here, let alone a day trip.
The mountains Benbaun, Bencullagh, Benbrack and Muckanacht are within
the confines of the park, but are a much sterner prospect than Diamond
Hill.
Visit Ireland’s biggest film set
The Wicklow Hills have seen Henry V’s army massing in the valleys. This
was in the film where the Irish Defence Forces got their first big
break, acting as both the French and British armies. Meanwhile, the
re-make of the classic Lassie Come Home was filmed at Kilruddery House
near Bray, Co. Wicklow.
John Boorman filmed Excalibur (1981), his retelling of the legend of
King Arthur, in the magnificent gardens of Powerscourt, and the new film
based on the legendary king was filmed in west Wicklow.
Wicklow, as you may have gathered — or may already know — is one very
photogenic place, where you’ll be spoilt for days out.
My own recommendation would be a walk up past Glencree, to visit the
poignant German Forces Cemetery where the German airmen who perished in
the vicinity of Ireland are buried.
Yeats’s An Irish Airman Foresees His Death seems to have been almost
written for the occasion.
Spoil yourself rotten
Book in for a weekend at the Great Southern Hotel & Spa, Killarney.
Sometimes described as one of the Grand Old Ladies of Irish hospitality,
presidents and princes have stayed in this, one of Ireland’s finest
hotels.
The great and good of Europe and America have enjoyed the hotel’s Garden
Restaurant, still looking fabulous with its high domed ceiling and old
world charm, enjoyed a dram in the famous bar and taken a post-prandial
stroll around the beautiful grounds.
The hotel’s Innisfallen Spa has a wide range of facilities where your
body can be indulged and pampered — and you can even do a bit of
exercise if you have to. It’s not cheap — a double room will set you
back e260 per night and the luxury suites, the Presidential and the
Ambassador, are even more wallet-unfriendly.
Still, I’m saving up to have more money than sense — and I’ve so far to
go there isn’t any point in worrying about it. So you might just see me
emerging from that Presidential Suite yet.
To book yourself in at the Great Southern, tel: 00 353 64 38999
Cheer on the Europeans
From September 22-24 The K Club in Straffan, Co. Kildare will be hosting
the Ryder Cup, when our lads will be taking on the Americans.
A crowd of around 40,000 is expected each day of the tournament, so
you’d be well advised to book ahead.
For more details www.rydercup2006.ie or contact Ryder Cup Travel
Services tel: 00 353 1 231 0090
Potholing in Clare
Here’s one site in Ireland I’ll never see, but some of the more
adventurous Irish Post readers might contemplate a visit. It’s reckoned
to be one of the wonders of the world and is situated in Clare. Or more
accurately under Clare. The huge sparkling Great Stalactite of
Pol-an-Ionain, at nearly twenty feet long the biggest in the world —
officially confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records.
Bad news though — to reach it you have to crawl along a narrow
150-yard-long tunnel described by even the most experienced pot-holer as
‘knee-wrecking’ and ‘miserable’. As well as being in top physical
condition, it’s also a good idea not to suffer from claustrophobia.
However the rewards are, reputedly, without parallel. Seeping acid
water, lime and carbon dioxide have interacted since the Ice Age to
produce a chamber of silent beauty, dominated by the spectacular
Pol-an-Ionain.
Address: Craggydorran, West Doolin, The Burren, Co. Clare.
Museum-going in Limerick
Visit the Hunt Museum in Limerick, one of the best laid-out museums in
Ireland and “an internationally important collection of art and
antiquities”.
Unlike most museums, however, this is a personal collection, gathered by
a couple (the Hunts, obviously) who hand-picked each piece according to
their own taste.
They subjectively chose artefacts from Neolithic times to the 20th
century — Ould Sod to Hip Hibernia so to speak — so you never know what
you're going to find round the next corner.
As Queen Victoria never quite said to Albert: “We are not a museum.”
More of a window on Ireland through the ages.
The Hunt Museum, Rutland Street, Limerick. Telephone: 00 353 61 312833.
 Drinking in Belfast
Visit the Crown on Great Victoria Street, Belfast, without doubt one of
the great bars of the world.
Originally owned by one Felix O’Hanlon, he sold it to Michael Flanagan,
whose son Patrick was responsible for brightening up the family bar —
and thus turning it into a gem of Victorian splendour.
Today it is still a vital part of Belfast’s everyday life. No theme bar
this — the only theme is drinking. Sit back and enjoy a pint of Guinness
in one of the snugs, which bear a passing resemblance to confessional
boxes — but don’t let that put you off. Instead marvel at the ornamental
woodwork and intricate glasswork — if you’re lucky the sun will be
streaming through the stained glass windows, once again giving the
impression of being in church. No wonder it's packed of a Sunday
morning.
The Crown Liquor Saloon, 46 Great Victoria Street, Belfast. Telephone:
02890 249476
Strolling in Donegal
Take a stroll on An Trá Bhán (the Silver Strand) near Málainn Bhig, Co.
Donegal. At the bottom of a long flight of steps built into the cliff
face, the beach is a beautiful, sheltered inlet, ideal for picnics and
paddling.
If it’s a bit too nippy for a dip, once you’ve finished your sarnies
take a short three mile drive eastwards to Slieve League, the highest
marine cliffs in Europe — some 1,800 extremely vertiginous feet above
the Atlantic.
Ghost hunting in Derry
Can’t guarantee 100 per cent success with this one — basically hunting
for a haunting is an inexact science.
So you likely won’t see the awful Crom Cruach, headless aside his
terrible black steed, nor even spot the slightly more tourist-friendly
bog sprites which are particularly numerous in this area; but you never
know.
If you’re a banshee fancier, head for Mussenden Temple, Co. Derry — it’s
as good a bet as any. The temple — actually a folly built in 1783 — sits
on a promontory above Magilligan Strand and during its history was
apparently the scene of at least one terrible murder.
A young lass, done wrong by the squire, was set upon by locals who
showed her the quick route to the bottom of the cliffs. Her bereft
sobbing can be heard to this day, about eight miles north west of
Coleraine on the A2.
Alternatively, take the Derry-Portrush train along the banks of Lough
Foyle (be sure to sit on the left). Get off at Castlerock or Downhill.
The train journey is worth the effort, even if those from Ireland’s
otherworld prove elusive.
Northern Ireland Railways, telephone: 02890 899411.
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