FROM THE rugged clifftop walk along Bray Head, it isn’t difficult to let your imagination drift back 1000 years. You can almost see the Viking longboats heading for the beaches and inlets, looking for trouble and plunder.
They couldn’t have picked a more beautiful place to raid. The coast is spectacular, with the Wicklow Mountains spreading inland. Further south the landscape is gentler, with natural harbours at Wexford and Waterford that most attracted the Norsemen.
Today we can follow in the footsteps of the Vikings and also investigate the heritage of the Celts who first populated Ireland and eventually saw off the invaders. We were discovering the Irish part of The Celtic Routes, a tourist initiative born out of partnership between six Irish and Welsh counties encouraging visitors to ‘go deeper, stay longer’.
“We were discovering the Irish part of The Celtic Routes, a tourist initiative born out of partnership between six Irish and Welsh counties encouraging visitors to ‘go deeper, stay longer’”
The relationship between the two Celtic nations has been formed since