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Customized
tours exploring hidden ancient sites anywhere in Ireland
I am offering this exciting service
due to many travellers asking if I could take them to wonderful ancient
megalithic sites that are not visited by tours and are often miles away
from bus routes.
Many of Ireland's megalithic sites are
quite hard to find or need special permissions and access. Several of the
sites that I can take you to actually took me a few visits to find. By
joining one of our "Megalithic Explorer Tours" you can visit more sites
and spend less time looking for them.
What are your
choices?
driver guide tours using
our minibus that navigates Ireland's narrow roads easily, gives you excellent
views, finds hidden sites quickly and we arrange accommodation for you.
self drive tours equiping you
with car rental, maps, instructions, optional gps reader and mobile phone
and we arrange accommodation for your journey.
guided and self drive tour combos
that
are the most popular because our guided tours provide a wonderful orientation
into megalithic site exploring, map reading and alignments that you can
then take with you on your own independent self drive adventure.
hiking tours are a wonderful
alternative for anyone seeking more fresh air and fitness as well as suiting
anyone without a driving licence or credit card for car rental use. We
do not have any web pages up on this yet, but please go to our inquiry
form below and ask for info. We have a wonderful local Historical Trail
in Co. Sligo that passes many megalithic sites during a comfortable
not too gruelling 5 day hike. This also links with public transport to
make this a truly eco-tourism choice.
cycling tours are an alternative
to the hiking tours above and popular for the same reasons. Again, also
suited for anyone without a driving licence or credit card for car rental
use and we do not have any web pages up on this yet, but please go to our
inquiry form below and ask for info. Another wonderful extension of this
is a .........
barge hire and cycling tour that
we can arrange so that you can visit incredible hidden megalithic sites
in counties Leitrim, Cavan and Fermanagh by boat and by cycle while the
boat is also your home for the tour. Again, this is an eco-tourism choice,
the best you could make! Again, no web pages on this yet, please go to
our inquiry form below.
What megalithic
sites do we visit?
Stone circles are the favourite request,
but
Passage Cairns, with chambers, end
up being the most popular after being visited, with
Court Cairns being rated a close
second.
Portal Tombs and Wedge Tombs, that
many people know as Domens are fascinating
Boulder Tombs, Standing Stones,
Stone Rows, Barrows, Henges, Hut Circles, Rock Art, Sacred Caves and Cooking
Middens are also visited along the way
Post megalithic sites are also popular
such as Ogham Stones, Ballaun Stones, Holy Wells, Crannogs, Raths, Souterrains,
Sweat Houses, Sheela na Gigs,
Some folks like to add additional Celtic
Christianity sites such as High Crosses, Cross Pillars, Mass Rocks, Alters,
Oratories, Round Towers and Carved Arches.
With this service we rarely extend to
post Christian fortresses.
How long are
the Megalithic Explorer tours?
They can be booked for as long as you
desire.
So far, I have taken between 1 and 8
people on these custom quided tours for between 1 and 14 days, but I could
take more people over a longer period if requested. Most travellers exploring
for more than 7 days usually combine my driver guided tours with our self
drive tours.
Guided tours are package tours
that include transport, driver guide and accommodation,
but if you have already arranged
accommodation you can still ride with our tours.
Self Drive tours include car
hire, self guide explorer tools and accommodation
or even a mix of guided tour and
self drive tour, which is very popular.
Where do we
visit?
I can prepare an itinerary that visits
sites anywhere in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, but I am sure
you will be interested in a charting of favourite areas.
| From all of the sites
I have taken visitors to our own local Carrowkeel passage cairns seems
to motivate the most "wow" reactions. Carrowmore is well known and is worth
visiting. Creevykeel court cairn is a massive site, yet the hidden court
cairn at Deerpark seems to be in many of our visitor's top 5 for "wow"
reaction. These are just a few of the remarkable sites we can visit in
Co. Sligo. |
| This is second favourite
mainly because Newgrange is here, but we do not do Newgrange for several
reasons. The main reason is that it is so easy to visit without our help.
Our priority in this area is the hills of Loughcrew with well over 50 sites
and two remarkable covered passage cairns full of ancient art. Fourknocks
passage cairn is also extremely popular. There are many other little known
sites to visit. |
| 3) |
Beara Penisula, Co.
Kerry & Co. Cork border |
| Forget Ring Of Kerry,
the Ring Of Beara is far more stunning for views, and especially for megalithic
sites. The numerous stone circles of this peninsula are a megalithic hunter's
treasure chest. The beautiful waterfall mountain and lake views of Urah
A puts this site into the top 3 sites of many megalithic site explorers.
While exploring Beara we usually find time to visit sites near Bantry Bay,
especially the stunning Kilkeal site, another one that is many megalithic
explorer's top 5. |
| The mass of stone circles
at Beaghmore seem to be almost as famous as Newgrange but, fortunately,
the ambience has not been affected. No interpretive centres, gift shops
and tour buses here. There's always peace here and within a few miles radius
there are many hidden but awesome ambient megalithic sites to explore.
I seem to find something new and outstanding each time I visit this area. |
| Barely anyone knows
this place, but once they visit they soon say, "better here than Paulnabrone
at the other Burren". This Burren is a forested area over a moon surface
like lime karst landscape, but approaching the ancient sites is easy walking.
There are many wonderful different sites in woodland clearings that truly
give these remarkable megalithic sites an "otherworld" feel and atmosphere.
We also like to visit the nearby beautifully ambient Shannon Pot, source
of the Shannon. |
| Many experienced Megalithic
explorers may be dumbstruck to find that I have not included areas that
they are passionate about in our top 5. Examples could be the tall stone
circles of the Millstreet and Clonakilty areas of Co. Cork, the abundance
of court cairns and portal tombs of south west Co. Donegal, the Co. Wickow
stone circles, the massive circles of Beltany, Grange, and Ballinoe .....
and the list goes on. We can create a custom itinerary for you to include
a selection from 1000s of megalithic sites all around Ireland. |
Guided Tour
Costs? 2007 prices
Any time of year
100 euros per day per person sharing
for transport, driver guide and accomodation.
120 euros per day per person as above
but single rooms not sharing
200 euros per day if you are an exclusive
non sharing lone traveller
70 euros a day if you arrange
your own accommodation
120 euros a day if you are an exclusive
traveller arranging your own accommodation
lunch, snacks, dinner and interpretive
centre charges not included
Prefer Self
Drive? Costs?
Some travellers prefer to explore at
their own pace in their own way through using a rented (hired) car, maps,
guide books and gps unit. We can set this up for you.
€ 70 upwards per day per person
for car hire and guest house accommodation.
plus your petrol/gasoline/deisel
costs and meals.
Costs can be lowered through using hostel
accommodation, travelling off season and travelling with more friends or
increased by hiring a bigger car, upgrading your accommodation and travelling
the peak season months of July and August.
If you get lost you could always phone
us for directions.
Downsides are the restrictions of being
the driver and visiting less sites as you have to find them yourself. The
upside may be the independence and priority being on exploration more than
finding sites.
Also, why not
consider a vacation that is mix of
some days on our guided tours
and
other days on your own self drive
tours.
Many of our visitors book this mix.
Its very popular!
How Can You
Book?
First, we will need to work out an itinerary
for you that fits
into the dates you wish to travel
through Ireland
into your personal interests and
prefered areas of Ireland and
into your budget
The first step is to fill in our convenient
email service below.
Within the "information" box please
feel free to type in your dates, interests,
prefered areas and any other information
you feel will be helpful.
We'll get back to you with ideas
and quotes very quickly.
Short notice requests are ok too. |
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