Irish Blessings Tours

Last Sunday I was walking the Glenfarne Sculpture Trail in Leitrim with another tour guide.  We were chatting about approaches to visiting Ireland. Both of us have lived in other parts of the world and come to live in Ireland in middle-age.  Why would you want to race around Ireland, packing in the maximum sights, traveling the length and breadth of the island at break neck speed?  You could see just as much without a change of pillow every night by centering your holiday in one region.

This is the primary joy of slow travel.  You get to savor as many types of site and sights but without the hectic fervor of a gallop. Slow travel is more of a canter.  Slow travel allows for in depth exploration, the joy of serendipity as well as a relaxing and reviving vacation.  The northwest of Ireland really lends itself to that sort of vacation experience.  It’s a real holiday (holy day) and authentic experience of Ireland.

While many North American tourists look at a map and realise that Ireland is the size of Indiana, they don’t realise that in Fairy Ireland no road goes straight from A to B.  You have to realise that most routes are as intricate, beautiful and surprising as a Celtic knot.  So why would you try and dizzy yourself whirling around these ways when you could simply stop, look, stare, and soak up the spell of this country by taking a slow travel vacation.

John and I live in Northwest Ireland where the Slow Food  and organic movements are  well established. So, too, with both of us having seen much of what Ireland can offer the visit, we can recommend northwest Ireland as the best place for a slow travel experience. As John is quick to point out, in Sligo alone there are 3,000 ancient monuments. Sligo and Leitrim are the home to much of the action in Tuatha de Danaan lore. As one friend quipped, the pair of us could be a Come to the Sidhe Tourism Board!  Without a doubt, the unspoiled environment and scenic beauty of northwest Ireland is very Fairy Ireland.

If the stones in this geological gem of Ireland could just speak! The limestone, sandstone, sedimentary rocks all can tell a story. It’s no little wonder that this region became the first international, cross-border global geopark.  Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark takes in both built and natural heritage in counties Cavan and Fermanagh.

The place names of each townland are full of myth and legend.  Tullydermot Falls, Co. Cavan  in the photo right was one of the brief resting spots in the Flight of Grainne and Diarmuid. Diarmuid lost his life at Benwisken, Co. Sligo. Grainne, who returned to her husband Finn MacColl, is said to be buried on Sheebeg, Co. Leitrim.

The Tuatha de Danaan’s homeplace is in Co. Leitrim where they are said to have landed on Slieve Anieran. The Battle of Moytura where they were finally defeated is located on the Roscommon/Sligo boundary.   What better place to contact the faerie than in Fairy Ireland homeland?

Northwest Ireland has stunning coastline that reveals the fossil record of this region. The whale backed drumlins march from the inland lakeland counties of Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh towards the Atlantic coast of Donegal and Sligo.  The region offers thousands of ancient sites and monuments, relicts of Neolithic Ireland, peaceful roads to explore on footea or bicycle or by car. The region inspired poets and artists like William and Jack Yeats.  It also educated literary giants like Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett.

Within a compact region that can easily be explored on day trips you can have the whole of the authentic Ireland vacation experience. To make it even more relaxing you won’t need to pack up everyday and sleep on a new pillow each night. You can breathe in the cleanest air in western Europe and sleep soundly after a day’s fairy hunting, communing with the land spirits, eating good food, and enjoying the genuine hospitality of this region’s locals.

The northwest of Ireland offers many byways, boreens and serendipitous left turns. It’s how we wound up setting here in the first place! Northwest Ireland definitely has the X Factor.

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Bee Smith created Irish Blessings Tours to serve travellers to Ireland who want the unique and inspirational packaged for their group’s desires and needs. Bee seeks the source to manifest your dream Irish vacation according to your budget and time scale. She has a special interest in Fairy folklore, Celtic Spirituality and the Natural Heritage of northwestern Ireland and Northern Ireland. In 2011 Bee became one of the first trained tour guides that act at ambassadors for the UNESCO designated Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark. Send her your dreams for your Ireland vacation package to bee@irishblessingstours.com.