Wicklow and the Boyne Valley from Dublin

Editor's note

Three nights in the Wicklow Mountains. At Powerscourt, walk the Italian Garden down to Triton Lake, find the Japanese gardens and the Pepperpot Tower, then see the waterfall drop 121 metres from the Dargle's hanging valley. The Great Sugar Loaf is a short walk in and a scramble over loose quartzite to the 501-metre top. At Glendalough, climb the sleeper steps from the Upper Lake car park onto the Spinc and follow the boardwalk along the cliff top, then find Reefert Church, the 11th-century 'church of the kings'. Give a day to the Military Road over the Sally Gap: see Lough Tay from the R759 viewpoint, since its shore is private land, and walk to the 80-metre Glenmacnass Waterfall.

Editor's note

One night in Meath's castle country. Trim Castle, begun by Hugh de Lacy in 1176, is the largest Anglo-Norman castle in Ireland, and the guided tour is the only way into the keep. Across the Boyne stands the Yellow Steeple, the bell tower of St Mary's Abbey, and a few miles away Bective Abbey sits roofless on the river. On the Hill of Tara, crouch at the entrance to the Mound of the Hostages, a passage tomb that held over 200 cremated burials; its passage lines up on the sunrise in early November and early February. The two long banks of the Banqueting Hall were a ceremonial roadway.

Editor's note

One last night, beside the Boyne, before the crossing home. Newgrange and Knowth can only be reached by shuttle bus from the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre, on guided tours, so start there. Newgrange is older than Stonehenge and the pyramids: stand in the chamber the rising sun lights at the winter solstice, and find the carved entrance stone. At Knowth, walk round the 17 satellite tombs and look at the kerbstone art. Then climb the Hill of Slane, where Patrick is said to have lit his Paschal fire in 433, and pick out Tara 16 kilometres to the south.