Northern Ireland - June 13-19, 2010

Rendezvous in Belfast for a private transfer to our hotel which overlooks the sea at Carnlough.

We start with one of the nine Glens of Antrim. Nine rivers have carved deep valleys through the Antrim Mountains to the sea. It is here that we can see the wildest and most remote part of Ireland. We walk through Glenarm (Glen of the Army) with its wild and lonely upland moors until we reach the private Glenarm Castle with its beautiful park, home to the Earls of Antrim. After a light lunch in the castle's mushroom house, we enjoy a walk through the Earl's private garden and estate.

We drive to the Queen of Glens described as “Switzerland in Miniature” to explore the most dramatic of the nine Glens of Antrim, Glenariff. We pass waterfalls, gorges and woodland. We pass waterfalls, gorges and woodland. After our lunch we visit another spectacular private garden, see inside one of Northern Ireland's grander homes and walk through the estate along the banks of the River Bush. We are served a delicious cream tea in the garden before transferring to our hotel in Bushmills.

We start our day at the impressive ruins of Dunseverick Castle perched on a crag and we see where Spanish Armada ships were wrecked in 1588. Against the background of the roar of the Atlantic waves crashing onto the cliffs below, we walk along a memorable and stunning stretch of coastline past the Giant's Causeway - the extraordinary geological phenomenon of forty thousand basalt columns. After lunch at the Nook, there is more of the rugged coastline to explore or some might choose to sample the classic Black Bush whiskey at the world's oldest distillery.

We pick up our trail to Ballycastle Bay where we take a ferry to Rathlin Island, eight miles off the coast towards Scotland. The boomerang shaped island attracts geologists, botanists and birdwatchers. It is where Robert the Bruce retreated from Edward I (Longshanks) in 1306 and where, in 1898, Marconi made the world's first radio communication.

We walk along the water’s edge of the glorious sandy beach at White Park Bay, within sight of both Donegal and Scotland, and are rewarded with coffee and Mrs McCullough’s freshly-baked scones beside the tiny harbour at Ballintoy. We continue along a cliff-top path to the famous Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge hanging precariously over an eighty feet chasm (crossing it is optional!). After lunch in Ballycastle we walk to Fair Head, and follow the grey man's path to Murlough Bay, a place of true beauty, with views to Rathlin and the Mull of Kintyre, and a fitting finale to our stay on the Antrim Coast. We return to Belfast by bus.

For many years visitors avoided Northern Ireland until the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Troubles are obviously the ‘elephant’ in the Northern Irish living room and so, on our final morning, we see some of those unforgiving murals and the strident graffiti. The strife in Northern Ireland can be traced back over eight hundred years and we take a black taxi tour to the memorial plots and the peace walls of Shanklin and the Falls and hear some first hand accounts from people who lived through those troubled times.