Walk a section of the 40km Táin Way from Carlingford, following the waymarked loop into the Cooley Mountains

At Carlingford harbour, find King John's Castle — begun in the late 12th century by Hugh de Lacy and named for King John, who came here in 1210

Climb Slieve Foy (589m) and look down over Carlingford Lough to the Mourne Mountains in County Down

In Carlingford's medieval core, find Taaffe's Castle, an early 16th-century fortified merchant's townhouse on the old quay — trading floor below, living rooms above, and no evidence the Taaffes ever owned it

The Cooley Peninsula in County Louth is Táin Bó Cúailnge country — the Ulster Cycle's Cattle Raid of Cooley. Carlingford, a Norman port town that grew up around the castle Hugh de Lacy began in the late 12th century, sits at the foot of Slieve Foy, the peninsula's highest point at 589m, with the 40km waymarked Táin Way circling the mountains above.

Carlingford and the Táin Way

Climb Slieve Foy from Carlingford village to the summit at 589m

Look across Carlingford Lough to the Mourne Mountains in Down

Walk through the Windy Gap that separates Slieve Foy from the rest of the Cooleys

Pick out the landscape of the Táin Bó Cúailnge from the ridge

Slieve Foy rises 589 metres straight out of Carlingford village — the highest of the Cooley Mountains and the highest ground in Louth, so close to the water that people call it Carlingford Mountain. It is one of two ridges making up the Cooleys, cut off from the rest of the range by the Windy Gap. From the top you have Carlingford Lough below you, the Mournes across it in Down, and the whole landscape of the Táin Bó Cúailnge spread out underneath.

Slieve Foy: The Cooley Ridge Over Carlingford

Cycle the Carlingford–Omeath Greenway, approximately 8km along the shore of Carlingford Lough

Stop at a Greenway viewpoint and photograph the Mourne Mountains across the lough in County Down

In Carlingford, find Taaffe's Castle — an early 16th-century fortified merchant's townhouse on the old quay

Lunch in Omeath village, looking back down the Louth shore to Carlingford under Slieve Foy, with Warrenpoint across the water in County Down

Eight kilometres of greenway along the shore of Carlingford Lough, with the Mourne Mountains standing straight up out of the water on the far side in County Down — one of the best mountain views in Ireland from a flat bike path. Carlingford itself is a medieval town: Taaffe's Castle is a fortified merchant's townhouse of the early 16th century, built right on the old quay with a trading floor below and living rooms above, back when the sea came up to its door — there is no evidence the Taaffes it is named after ever built or owned it. Omeath at the far end looks back at Carlingford under Slieve Foy.

Carlingford to Omeath Coastal Cycle

Stand under the capstone and work out how 40 tonnes was lifted into place

Throw three stones onto the capstone and see whether they stay

Find the wedge tomb standing in the same field

Look across to the Cooley Mountains, the setting of the Táin Bó Cúailnge

Proleek is a portal tomb standing in the Cooley countryside — two portal stones, a backstone, and a capstone that weighs about 40 tonnes balanced on top of them. How it was raised is the question nobody has answered. Local tradition says that if you can land three stones on top of the capstone and they stay there, you get a wish, or you will be married within the year. The top of it is covered in the evidence of people trying.

The Proleek Dolmen: Land Three Stones and Make a Wish

Climb Castletown Mount, the Norman motte traditionally held to be Cúchulainn's Dún Dealgan

Go through the County Museum in the restored Dundalk Distillery buildings

Find An Táin Arts Centre and the epic it takes its name from

Look north into the Cooley Mountains where the Táin is set

Dún Dealgan — Dundalk — is named for the fort of Dealga, and tradition puts Cúchulainn's home at Castletown Mount just outside the town — what stands there is a Norman motte-and-bailey of about 1185, with the ruin of Byrne's Folly on top, though a ringfort is said to have been there before it, which is why the whole Cooley landscape around it is the setting for the Táin Bó Cúailnge. The town sits on the Castletown River halfway between Dublin and Belfast, seven kilometres from the border. The County Museum occupies restored buildings of the old Dundalk Distillery, and An Táin Arts Centre in the town hall is named for the epic.

Dundalk: Cúchulainn's Fort and the County Museum

Climb Slieve Gullion to the summit at 573m, the highest point in Armagh

Go inside the summit passage grave, the highest surviving one in Ireland

Find the small lake on the summit beside the cairns

Trace the circle of the Ring of Gullion ring dyke from the top

Slieve Gullion is a steep, flat-topped mountain of 573m, the highest point in Armagh, and it sits at the centre of a ring dyke — the Ring of Gullion, a circle of low hills formed by a collapsed volcanic structure and now an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. On the summit are a small lake and two ancient burial cairns, one of which is the highest surviving passage grave in Ireland. You can walk into it. The mountain is bound up with Cúchulainn in the Ulster Cycle, and the whole ring is visible from the top.

Slieve Gullion: The Highest Surviving Passage Grave in Ireland

Summit Slieve Donard (850m), the highest peak in Northern Ireland, via the Mourne Wall path from Newcastle

Follow a stretch of the Mourne Wall, 35km of dry-stone wall built 1904–1922 to enclose the Silent Valley water catchment, crossing 15 peaks

Visit Silent Valley Reservoir, built 1923–1933 by a workforce of over 1,000 men to supply Belfast's water

Camp at Tollymore Forest Park near Newcastle, the managed campsite closest to the Mourne Wall trails

The Mourne Wall is the reason to come. Between 1904 and 1922 stonemasons built about 31km of dry-stone wall over fifteen summits to enclose the Silent Valley water catchment for Belfast — a boundary wall run along the tops of a mountain range, and now the best walking route through them. It takes you over Slieve Donard at 850m, the highest ground in the north. The reservoir below was built between 1923 and 1933 by a workforce of more than a thousand men. Tollymore at Newcastle is the managed campsite nearest the trailheads.

The Mourne Wall: Fifteen Peaks and the Silent Valley

Browse St George's Market, the last surviving Victorian covered market in Belfast, built 1890–1896

Walk the Cupar Way peace wall, one of the longest in Belfast and up to 8 metres high, first built in 1969 after violence on Bombay Street

Add your own message to the mural-covered wall, as thousands of visitors have done

Attend a traditional music session in the Cathedral Quarter, at pubs like the Duke of York or the John Hewitt

Belfast has a Titanic story it tells very well and several others it tells more quietly. St George's is the last Victorian covered market left in the city, built between 1890 and 1896 and still trading. Cupar Way carries one of the longest and best known of the peace walls, up to 8 metres high, first put up in 1969 after the violence on Bombay Street and still standing decades after the ceasefires, covered in messages left by visitors. And the Cathedral Quarter keeps the traditional music going in pubs like the Duke of York and the John Hewitt.

Belfast: Peace Walls, St George's Market and the Cathedral Quarter

Take the ferry from Ballycastle across to Church Bay

Get out to the West Light and watch the puffins from the RSPB viewing platforms

Find out why they call the West Light upside-down — its light sits at the base of the tower rather than the top

Find out what happened on Rathlin in July 1575

Look for Irish hares along the island's walking trails

Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island of Northern Ireland, home to about 150 people, and the ferry crosses from Ballycastle to Church Bay, six nautical miles away. At the far west end, four and a half miles from the harbour, the West Light was built into the cliff face from 1912, finished towards the end of 1916 and first lit in 1919 — Ireland's only upside-down lighthouse — and the RSPB seabird centre there looks out onto stacks where puffins, guillemots, kittiwakes, razorbills and fulmars breed. Robert the Bruce took refuge on Rathlin in 1306, and Bruce's Cave is where he is said to have watched the spider that persuaded him to keep fighting. In July 1575, on the orders of the Earl of Essex, Francis Drake and John Norreys took Rathlin and killed hundreds of the MacDonnells' people, among them women and children.