Ireland’s Ancient East: Newgrange, the Rock of Cashel and Glendalough
Eight days through the green, stone-walled east of Ireland, where five thousand years of history lie closer to the road than anywhere else on the island. The loop leaves the Georgian squares of Dublin for the Boyne Valley, where Newgrange is older than the pyramids, follows the Shannon to the monastic ruins of Clonmacnoise and climbs the Rock of Cashel, the seat of Munster’s kings. Medieval Kilkenny and Viking Waterford lead to the wild Copper Coast and the oldest working lighthouse in the world at Hook Head, before the Wicklow Mountains and the lakes of Glendalough close the circle above Dublin Bay. Fast chargers line the motorways and every county town; country houses gladly lend a socket overnight.
