Landmarks

The Battle of the Boyne Site The Battle of the Boyne (Irish: Cath na Bóinne) was fought in 1690 between two rival claimants of the English, Scottish and Irish thrones - the Catholic King James and the Protestant King William, who had deposed James in 1688. The battle, won by William, was a turning point in James' unsuccessful attempt to regain the crown and ultimately helped ensure the continuation of Protestant supremacy in Ireland.

The Giant's Causeway (or Irish: Clochán na bhFómharach)[1] is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim, on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about two miles (3 km) north of the town of Bushmills. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland. In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places.

Bushmills (Irish: Muileann na Buaise) is a village on the north coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Bushmills had 1,319 inhabitants in the 2001 Census. It is located 95 km from Belfast, 10 km from Ballycastle and 15 km from Coleraine. The village's name is derived from the River Bush, one of Northern Ireland's salmon rivers. The village is best known as the location of the Old Bushmills Distillery, founded in 1608, which is the oldest licensed distillery in the world. The distillery is the only Irish distillery using 100% malted barley in its whiskies, in a range which includes Bushmills Original, Black Bush and a range of malts, including the Bushmills 12 year old malt. Surely we will be seeing more of Bushmills when we get back to the finish. :)

Malin Head (Irish: Cionn Mhálanna), on the Inishowen Peninsula, County Donegal, is usually given as the most northerly headland of the mainland of Ireland (it is not in Northern Ireland, though more northerly than any part of it). In fact, the most northerly point is actually a headland named Banba's Crown on the Inishowen Peninsula about 2 km (1 mi) to the northeast. Malin Head lies at latitude 55.38ºN. Malin Head gives its name to the Malin sea area. There is a weather station on the head.
Banba's Crown on Malin Head is Ireland's most northerly point. Banba was one of the mythical queens of Ireland. Banba's Crown is about 16 km (10 mi) north of the village of Malin.

Drumcliffe (Irish: Droim Chliabh), sometimes known as Drumcliff, is a village in County Sligo, Ireland, located 8km north of Sligo town on the N15 road between Ben Bulben mountain and the sea.
The round tower in DrumcliffeThe village is best known for its round tower dating from the 10th or 11th century and as the final resting place of the poet William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), who is buried in the graveyard of St. Columba's Church of Ireland church. Although Yeats died in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France in January 1939, his remains were brought home to Ireland by the Irish Naval Service and re-interred at Drumcliffe in 1948 in the presence of a large number of local people and dignitaries which included the Minister for External Affairs, Seán MacBride, who represented the Government.

Croagh Patrick (Irish: Cruach Phádraig) is a 764 metres (2,510 ft) mountain in the west of Ireland and an important site of pilgrimage. It is 8 kilometres (5 mi) from Westport, County Mayo above the villages of Murrisk and Lecanvey. It is the third highest mountain in County Mayo after Mweelrea and Nephin. On "Reek Sunday", the last Sunday in July every year, over 15,000 pilgrims climb it. It forms the southern part of a U-shaped valley created by a glacier flowing into Clew Bay in the last Ice Age. Croagh Patrick is part of a longer east-west ridge; to the west is the mountain Ben Goram.
Croagh Patrick derives its name from the Irish Cruach Phádraig "(St) Patrick's stack", and is known locally as the Reek, a Hiberno-English word for a "rick" or "stack". In pagan times it was known as Cruachán Aigle, being mentioned by that name in sources such as Cath Maige Tuired, Buile Shuibhne, The Metrical Dindshenchas and the Annals of Ulster entry for the year 1113. Cruachán is simply a diminutive of cruach "stack", but it is not certain what Aigle means. It is either from the Latin loan aquila "eagle" (more usually aicile or acaile) or a person's name.[7][4] In addition to its literal meaning, cruach in the pagan name may also have some connection with Crom Cruach.

The Cliffs of Moher (Irish: Aillte an Mhothair, lit. cliffs of the ruin, also known as the Cliffs of Mohair) are located in the parish of Liscannor at the south-western edge of the Burren area near Doolin, which is located in County Clare, Ireland.
The cliffs rise 120 meters (394 ft) above the Atlantic Ocean at Hag's Head (Irish: Ceann na Cailleach), and reach their maximum height of 214 meters (702 ft) just north of O'Brien's Tower, eight kilometres away. The cliffs boast one of Ireland's most spectacular views. On a clear day the Aran Islands are visible in Galway Bay, as are the valleys and hills of Connemara.

MacGillycuddy's Reeks (Irish: Na Cruacha Dubha, meaning "The Black Stacks") is a mountain range in County Kerry, Ireland. Stretching slightly over 19 km (12 miles), they include the highest mountain in Ireland (Carrauntoohil, at 1,038 metres), the two other 1,000 m peaks existing in Ireland (Beenkeragh at 1,010 m, and Caher at 1,001 m), and over 100 other Hewitts (peaks of over 2,000 ft). The mountains, part of the Armorican Highlands, are of glacial-carved sandstone and are situated on the Iveragh peninsula near the Lakes of Killarney.

Cobh (pronounced /ˈkoʊv/; Irish: An Cóbh, "cove") is a sheltered seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland with a population of around 13,000 inhabitants.
The locality, which had had several different Irish-language names, was first referred to as Cove ("The Cove of Cork") in 1750. It was renamed Queenstown in 1849 to commemorate a visit by Queen Victoria and so remained until the name Cobh (closer to the Irish spelling) was restored in 1922 with the foundation of the Irish Free State.
One of the major transatlantic Irish ports, Cobh was the departure point for 2.5 million of the six million Irish people who emigrated to North America between 1848 and 1950. On 11 April 1912 Queenstown was the final port of call for the RMS Titanic as she set out across the Atlantic on her ill-fated maiden voyage. Local lore has it that a Titanic crew member John Coffey, a native of Queenstown, jumped ship although there is no record of him on the crew list. 123 passengers boarded in all; only 44 survived the sinking.

Carrick on Suir Home town of Irish cycling legend Sean Kelly. Kelly is an Irish former professional road bicycle racer. He was one of the most successful road cyclists of the 1980s, and one of the finest classics riders of all time. From turning professional in 1977 until his retirement in 1994, he won nine monument classics, and 193 professional races in total, bettered only by Eddy Merckx. He won Paris-Nice seven years in a row and the first UCI Road World Cup in 1989. He won the 1988 Vuelta a España and had multiple wins in the Giro di Lombardia, Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Other victories include the Critérium International, Grand Prix des Nations and smaller tours including the Tour de Suisse, Vuelta al País Vasco and Volta a Catalunya.
Kelly was first to be ranked No.1 when the FICP rankings were introduced in March 1984, a position he held for a record six years. In the 1984 season, Kelly achieved 33 victories.