Tag: Ireland

Map of the Month: The Adventure Map of Ireland

If your New Year’s resolution is to be more adventurous our Map of the Month The Adventure Map of Ireland will give you some inspiration.

Ireland’s beautiful landscape offers so much potential for adventure whether on foot, bike or boat. This unique map documents thousands of the island’s natural features such as rivers, beaches and mountains as well as the walking, cycling and paddling routes that connect them. So spread it out on the kitchen table and start making plans…

At a scale of 1:450,000, 1cm = 4.5km

Printed on the same press as the Irish and UK Ordnance Survey maps, this large format (890mm x 1125mm), high-quality map is the ideal planning tool for your Irish adventures. The reverse side is packed with a vast amount of detailed information offering suggestions of different routes and activities

Featuring:

  1. Long-distance walks
  2. Cycling routes
  3. Pilgrim paths
  4. Greenways
  5. Blueways
  6. Signposted hiking trails
  7. Cycle hubs
  8. Mountain bike centres
  9. The Wild Atlantic Way
  10. Beaches
  11. Surf spots
  12. Canoe routes
  13. Mountains
  14. Rivers
  15. Lakes
  16. Islands
  17. National parks
  18. Forests

The Adventure Map of Ireland is available now for £15.

Celebrate the Emerald Isle

To celebrate St Patrick’s Day, we took a look at our Ireland shelves to pick out some guide books. If you are planning a trip to the Emerald Isle, here are some suggestions to help you on your way:

Lonely Planet Best Road Trips Ireland

£17.99

Discover the freedom of the open road. This trusted travel companion features 34 amazing drives, from 2-day escapes to 2-week adventures.

Continue reading Celebrate the Emerald Isle

A Connemara Journey by Hilary Bradt

A Connemara Journey is Hilary Bradt’s classic account of a journey through Ireland on horseback in the 1980s published for the first time in a single volume.

In 1984, Hilary Bradt achieved an ambition from her pony-mad childhood to undertake a long-distance ride. Using her experience of horsepacking in Peru with saddlebags imported from America, she and her pony set forth with no decent maps, and only a vague idea of the route. The book is also a portrait of a vanished rural Ireland before the Celtic Tiger era, built up from descriptions and conversations with local people.

The journey takes Bradt a thousand miles south from county Mayo, around the peninsulas of Kerry and Cork, and inland towards Waterford.

A Connemara Journey

By Hilary Bradt

£12.99

-by Hilary Bradt

From my horsey childhood growing up in the 1950s and addicted to pony books, I had dreamed of having my own pony and going on a long-distance ride. No more riding-school hour doing a circular hack, but days out exploring the countryside with my perfect pony. This finally came to pass in 1984 when I found myself single again and ready to embark on this greatest of all adventures. 

First I had to decide where to go.

I know, Iceland! It had all the requirements: lovely scenery, a tough breed of native pony and friendly people who generally spoke English. I’d been there and loved it. I tried out the idea by rather casually mentioning in my Christmas letter that I was going to buy a native pony in Iceland and do a long-distance ride. I received a reply from a horsey friend: “Ireland! What a great idea. A Connemara pony would be strong enough and it’s such a beautiful country. And they love horses.”  Oh. My handwriting… well, let’s think about Ireland then.  It had never come into my reckoning, perhaps because of a very wet family holiday there where we children had sulkily squelched up Ireland’s highest mountain in mist and rain. But now, suddenly, everything fell into place. Ireland was an ideal choice. Scenic, safe, English-speaking … perfect! 

Continue reading A Connemara Journey by Hilary Bradt