Day 1
We depart from London Gatwick airport on our flight to Belfast (flights from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff, Leeds Bradford, East Midlands, Luton, Stansted and Newcastle are also available on request at a supplement). Upon arrival we will join our coach and transfer to our first visit, Carrickfergus Castle. This is one of the most important Anglo-Norman castles in Ireland, dating back to 1180 when building was begun by John de Courcy, the Norman conqueror of east Ulster. Besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English and French and garrisoned until 1928, the Castle saw action right up to World War II, due to its strategic location at the mouth of Belfast Lough. Following this we drive by Lough Neagh to the Creagan Centre in County Tyrone, which has interpretive information on the archaeology of the surrounding area, and visit the stone circles of Beaghmore. Discovered during peat cutting in the 1940s, this is an important complex of seven circles, stone alignments and nearby wedge and court tombs, thought to date from around 1600BC, the early Bronze Age. It is possible that Neolithic occupation and cultivation preceded the erection of burial cairns and ceremonial circles and alignments: some irregular lines and heaps of boulders resembling field-fences or field-clearance may predate the ritual structures. At some stage peat started to form over the site, and it may conceivably be that the cairns and rows were erected in a futile propitiatory attempt to restore fertility to the soil by attracting back the fading sun. Later in the afternoon we transfer to our accommodation in Dunadry, County Antrim, the comfortable Dunadry Hotel and Country Club. All rooms have en-suite facilities together with TV, direct-dial telephones, hairdryers and tea/coffee-making facilities. The hotel also has full leisure facilities, including a heated indoor swimming pool, spa pool and steam room. Dinner is served in the evening.

Day 2
Following breakfast this morning we set on a circular tour that is packed with archaeological interest. We visit the Giants Ring on the outskirts of Belfast, an impressive earthwork over 200 metres in diameter, surrounded by a bank of gravel and boulders, which has five entrances. Near the centre is a megalithic chamber with a single capstone, suggesting a Stone Age date of around 3000 B.C. The original purpose of this site was probably as a meeting place or a cult centre. We later continue to the area around Strangford Lough in County Down, with visits to two impressive monastic settlements. Nendrum Monastery was founded with the blessing of St Patrick and was at its prime in the year 1000, making it one of the most important pre-Norman monasteries in the Province. The site includes three concentric enclosures (stone walls), with ruined church, round tower stump, foundations of other buildings, a sundial and cross-slabs. Inch Abbey also has pre-Norman origins, though the visible ruins are the extensive remains of the Cistercian Abbey which was founded by John de Courcy (see above) in 1180. The Cistercian Rule insisted that Monasteries should be sited far from the distractions of everyday affairs, and in its beautiful riverside situation Inch perfectly illustrates this preference for solitude. Inch was established by monks from Furness in Lancashire, its 'mother house', and was almost certainly partly built by masons brought in by de Courcy from England. Continuing our tour via Downpatrick we will have a brief look at the stone circle at Ballynoe, a very large circle of over 50 stones, and the fine Motte and Bailey at Clough Castle: the ruined castle sits on top of a 25 metre high Motte, a man-made mound of earth, and on the south-east side is a low crescent-shaped Bailey or enclosure which would have contained domestic buildings and was probably once joined to the motte by a wooden bridge. We move on to Dundrum Castle which was built by our old friend John de Courcy, who certainly seems to have left his mark around here! The castle features a massive keep which was originally at least three stories high and was altered, extended and ruined at various times before being passed to the care of the State by the 7th Marquess of Downshire in 1954. We then have a brief visit to the Ballykeel Dolmen, a wonderful example of a tripod dolmen. The capstone is the only one in Northern Ireland to be re-erected, both it and the door stone having been replaced during excavations in 1965. From here we move on to Armagh and visit Navan Fort, perhaps the most venerable ancient monument in Northern Ireland. It can be identified with virtual certainty as Emain Macha, the seat of the ancient kings of Ulster, and called after a princess or goddess Macha. The low but commanding hill-top is surrounded by a bank with a ditch inside, suggesting that it was more a ceremonial than a defensive site. Excavations of the large mound at its centre, showed that a ditched enclosure had been built in the Late Bronze Age. It was reoccupied in the Early Iron Age, when the first of a series of round houses with large annexes was built. The house was rebuilt a total of nine times on the same spot until, around 100 BC, it was finally replaced by a huge wooden structure. Dinner is served back at the Dunadry Hotel.

Day 3
We leave our hotel after breakfast and head west for the city of Derry/Londonderry ? you can tell the history of this city is going to be complicated when even the naming of it causes controversy. However, by the time we have walked round the city walls (which are among the most complete in Europe) in the company of our local guide all will have become clear. The story takes us from the 1690s to the 1960s and the first sparks of the Troubles that blighted the province for so many years. Happily this most recent piece of Ireland?s history is now firmly in the past and the city can now be enjoyed as a piece of living archaeology. We continue to nearby Grianan an Aileach, a large circular stone fort which is said to have been the Royal home of the ?Cenel Eoghain?, the Gaelic chieftains of Tyrone and parts of Donegal. The massive stone wall (which was reconstructed in 1870) is 3.9m thick and encloses an area 23.4m in diameter. In the walls are small chambers; a series of stairs at regular intervals inside the walls gave access to the wall-walk. The entrance is very long and lintelled. Our final stop today is at Boa Island, at the northern end of Lower Lough Erne, where we will see two strange little people. These are actually pre-Christian carved stone figures. The larger is known as the Janus Stone, as each side features a figure whose heads are joined back to back by an interlace design representing hair. One figure is a calm warrior while the other looks more anguished. The smaller statue was brought from nearby Lustymore Island in 1939 and is known as the Lusty Man, though some think it is actually a woman. We continue to our comfortable accommodation at the Ramada Encore Hotel in Letterkenny. Dinner is served on arrival, with the evening at leisure.

Day 4
After breakfast this morning we travel to Donegal town and visit Donegal Castle, which was built in 1505 by the O'Donnell family who were the ruling Gaelic family in Donegal for over a thousand years until they left Ireland with the Flight of the Earls in 1607. The rectangular tower was then occupied by Sir Basil Brooke who transformed it by adding gables and windows and making the first floor into a banqueting hall complete with a Jacobean fireplace bearing his coat of arms. Besides the Tower Sir Basil built a southern facing manor house and reinforced the bawn-wall surrounding the Castle. Travelling deep into Donegal, with its wild coastline and deserted beaches, we visit Glencolumcille, with its early Christian Cross Slabs, Holy Wells and some of the finest Neolithic tombs in Ireland. This is a good example of how early Christian relics are closely associated with much more ancient, pagan sites. Dinner is served back at our hotel in the evening.

Day 5
Enjoy you breakfast. On our final day we travel down into Sligo and visit the Neolithic cemetery at Carrowmore, which holds a unique place in the archaeological landscape of Europe, due to the extent and antiquity of these passage tombs, cairns and stone circles. As many as 80 sepulchers may have existed here, of which around 60 can be traced today. One of the boulder-chambers has been dated to late in the 5th millennium BC, making it the oldest known building in Europe. On our way back to Belfast we will stop for a visit to Enniskillen Castle, built almost 600 years ago by Gaelic chieftains the Maguires. Guarding one of the few passes into Ulster, it was strategically important throughout its history. In the 17th century it became an English garrison fort and later served as part of a military barracks. The castle now houses the county museum for Fermanagh. We continue to Belfast airport in time for our return flights.

Dunadry Hotel, Dunadry, Co. Antrim and Dorrian's Imperial Hotel, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal