Northern Gem Tour - This tour is the Northern leg of the round-Ireland "Emerald Tour", and it'll be 8 and a half days of pure exhilaration.

This tour begins in Galway and ends in Dublin.

Price: €850

Day 1:

Galway is the beginning for adventurers who wish to do the Northern part of round-ireland Emerald tour. You will have a couple of hours to spend in Galway, do some shopping or enjoy many of the sights this vibrant city has to offer. Galway is the most bohemian city in Ireland, a magnet for musicians, poets and dramatists all over the world. You can't help but love Galway when you feel the buzz as you walk down Shop Street and down on to Claddagh (the famous ring!). Have a leisurely day strolling this walled city and discover what hidden things it has to offer. After we say goodbye to our friends, we move on to Connemara where we stay in Killary Harbour for the next three nights. Everyone has heard of Connemara and you won't be disappointed!

We stay in a beautiful guest house overlooking Irelands only fjord. The Quiet man was filmed close by and John B Keane's "The Field" was also filmed here.

You will not want to leave this place guys, so make sure you're on the bus or I'll have to run and get you!

Day 2:

This is one of my favourite walks in Connemara, where we climb up Beebaun and on down to Klyemore Abbey. As we ascend this mountain you will have unrestricted views of the lakes of Connemara made famous in the song by Marcel Sardou. There are a lot of wild mountain goats in this part of the country and you may be lucky to see a Connemara pony rambling beside you.

The walk will take around 4 hours and at the end you can relax around the abbey, now a boarding school for the rich and famous-girls only.

The Abbey, now a girls boarding school, is run by the Benedictine nuns whose order came here from Ypres in Belgium after the first world war. The house itself was built by a business man called Mitchell Henry who, while honeymooning in the area, fell in love with the unspoiled natural charm of the valley and decided to build a home there. The chapel in the grounds is a miniaturized replica of Norwich Cathedral. The gardens are immaculately kept and any of the nuns will be happy to talk to you about the abbey and its surroundings.

That evening, we may take a spin to the local village and take part in a local ceili, an Irish dance evening, where local musicians get together to teach you how to irish dance, not riverdance style but traditional irish dancing. This is great craic and really is a must do in Ireland.

Day 3:

This day will give you a choice of walks to do.

The first is the famine walk down by the shore of Killary Harbour. You will walk on an old famine road that was built by the starving Irish peasants during the great famine 1845 - 1849. On the route you will clearly see the ruins of famine villages and lazy beds, the name given to the potato ridges where the starving peasant Irish tried to provide food for his family.

The walk finishes at a beach and is around 12k long.

The second walk is up over Maumean, a great walk up a small mountain and arrive on the other side at Lough Inagh Lodge where you can relax with a cup of tea or pint looking out onto the lake.

At the top of this religious site, there is a small church with numerous crosses, and if you are getting a little wet(as often is the case), there is a nice niche where we can have lunch. Either walk is nice and not too difficult.

Day 4:

The wonderful quartzite coned mountain of Croagh Patrick has been a sacred place for almost 5000 years. As far back as 3000 BC our megalithic ancestors worshipped there. Before the birth of Christ, the festival of the god Lugh was held on its slopes. Lugh is the god whose name gives us the Irish word Lughnasa for August, and it would seem that there is a connection between the pagan worship which took place at the end of the summer and the date fixed for the present day Christian pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick. Croagh Patrick is Ireland's holy mountain where Patrick, the patron saint, spent 40 days and nights praying and fasting in 441AD. While on the summit Patrick was tormented by blackbirds which surrounded him and in later stories became demons and serpents. Ancient chroniclers say that Patrick threw his bell at them and banished them into the hollow known as Lug Na Deamhan, which is located on the North side of the mountain. It is a common belief that this is why no poisonous snake or reptile can be found in Ireland today. The plain iron bell said to belong to the patron saint is preserved in the National Museum. This walk is about 11k long mostly on loose stones on the mountain. There is fantastic views to be had out over Clew Bay where Grace O Malley, the most feared female pirate had her castle. I believe there is now a show in Broadway portraying her life. They say there are 365 islands in this bay, one for everyday of the year. Before we scale this 784 m high mountain, we will stroll along a secluded beach. Tonight we stay in Westport.

Anyone who wants some musical entertainment. Westport is a veritable Mecca for traditional music with a member of the famous Chieftains owning a bar in the main street less than a five minute walk away. Westport is an easy town to get around, with some funky shops and bargains to be had. Don't forget to haggle!

Day 5:

We depart Westport on our way to Donegal. Early in the morning we make our way for the museum of country life not far from Westport, where you can see what it was like to live in Ireland over the last few hundred years. Today is basically a free day for everyone. There will be an option for walking later in the day up Knocknaree, where Queen Maeve is said to be buried. It's only a short 30 minute ramble, but today I want you to relax and make the most of it guys. I'll have you sweating again tomorrow!

There is the option of having a seaweed bath in Strandhill, Sligo around lunch time. I thoroughly recommend having one of these warm sea baths. You feel like you've died and gone to heaven when you are lying in this bath!

Sligo is the county made infamous by our most famous poet: William Butler Yeats and we will be stopping by his grave en route to our accommodation that evening. He is buried in Drumcliffe graveyard, in the shadows of Ben Bulben.

On the road we will also get to see a fairy-tale castle, once owned by Lord MountBatten. We should arrive in Donegal town by late afternoon.

Day 6:

Join us in Ireland's most northerly county, Donegal, one of the most unspoilt landscapes in Europe. It's famous for its beautiful scenery, coastline, impressive mountain ranges, glens and lakes and rich reminders of a historic past. This day is based in Donegal town, centrally located for the best walks in the area, and famous for it's 15th century castle, tweeds and traditional music. Routes, with a variety of ground underfoot, are from 6 to 10 miles (9.5 to 16km) each day and take you to Slieve League, among Europe's highest sea-cliffs and into the glorious Glenveagh National Park.

After yesterday's rest, delight in a spectacular walk over some of Ireland's finest sea-cliffs. The Atlantic Ocean has carved a variety of shapes and the rocks and vegetation produce a kaleidoscope of colour. The faces are nesting-places for choughs, guillemots, puffins, etc. Distance: 10.5km/6.5miles. Ascent: 535m/1,750ft (The climb to the summits is undertaken only in favourable weather conditions).

We stay in a wonderful hostel this evening just outside Donegal town, family run and a great place for a sing-along and the evenings activities.

Day 7:

We enter into Northern Ireland for the first time on our tour. Dominating the North-western landscape of Ireland, astride the flowing waters of the River Foyle, is a 6th century city that today resonates to the sounds of the 21st century. The historic City of Londonderry, also known as Derry, is the sparkle in the friendly eye of one of our most historic regions. It is a centre of culture and creativity, and is now as famous for its confident modern outlook as it is for its timelessness.Meander through the bustling streets of the only completely walled city in the British Isles and listen to the echoes of 1450 years of history. Stroll along its 17th century walls, and marvel at the ever-changing skyline of a city which is constant only in in the warmth of its welcome. The beautiful Causeway Coast has something for everyone ... including the Giant's Causeway!. It's not all surf, sand and castles crumbling off clifftops (Dunluce Castle). From the County Antrim town of Larne, rugged cliffs stretch north for 80 miles, broken only by 9 deep green glens.Winding on past spectacular scenery, solve the mystery of the beech maze at Carnfunnock Country Park. Splash down at the beaches of Ballygally, Glenarm, Carnlough, Cushendall or Cushendun. The Glenarm Estate is certainly worth viewing on its open days. Not far inland is Slemish Mountain, where St. Patrick tended sheep as a young slave. The coast road becomes even more tortuous, but the views of Scotland are worth it. Glenariff, Queen of the Glens, is fairest of them all with the wild beauty of its waterfalls and trail skirting a sheer plunging gorge. Cushendall, capital of the Glens, is a lively centre of music, dance and craic. Next stop is Cushendun, a National Trust preserved village, famed for its Cornish cottages.The Glens are equally famous for their festivals, exemplified by the Heart of the Glens festival at Cushendall in August. Not to be outdone, Glenarm, Carnlough and Cushendun have festival weeks in July.

This is one beautiful part of the country, and you guys are going to get the best out of it! We stay for two nights in the beautiful hamlet of Ballintoy. This is one of the most picturesque villages in Ireland and Seamus, the owner of our accommodation will welcome you with open arms.

Day 8:

Get ready to experience the giants causeway today!The coastal scenery adjacent to the causeway is some of the most beautiful and awe inspiring that you are likely to find anywhere. The majestic cliffs and inaccessible bays combine with myth and legend to inspire, but look carefully amongst this breathtaking landscape and you will find echoes of another reality, isolated ruins, kelp walls and shoreline fields bear testament to the harder life of subsistence farming and fishing endured by past generations. Dotted around the coast you'll find small sheltered harbours and slipways, fishermen's cottages and rock formations that you will never forget. Many ships have foundered below these towering cliffs but none so tragic as that of the Girona, a galleass of the Spanish Armada. Carrying the crews from two previous Armada shipwrecks, the Girona was on passage from Killybegs and trying to reach the relative safety of Scotland. As she rounded Inishowen peninsula, heavily over laden and in deteriorating sea conditions, her rudder failed. In the teeth of a full blown north-westerly gale, the crew battled to keep her off the coast but she finally struck Lacada Point in view of the Giants Causeway at midnight on October 30th 1588 with the loss of over twelve hundred men. Only five are believed to have survived. Local folklore tell of descendants living here and that victims of the wreck, maybe Spanish nobility, were buried in St. Cuthbert's graveyard near Dunluce Castle, it is known that cannons from the wreck were placed here.

We will be walking all the way from Ballintoy to the Giants Causeway today along golden beaches and treacherous cliff edges!

This will be one of the highlights of your tour!

Day 9:

This is the day we have all been dreading for the whole trip. It is the day we return to Dublin. On route, we will stop in Belfast city and do a tour around the centre and the divide that exists between the Catholic and Protestant communities that live so close together.

We will stop in the royal county before we get back to Dublin, and visit Newgrange, a tomb that is older that the pyramids in Egypt, and then on to the hill of Tara before arriving back in Dublin, where you will be dropped off in your accommodation.

We can all meet up that evening for a few drinks and reminisce over our tour together.