All language subtitles for Adrian.Dunbars.My.Ireland.S01E02.1080p.HDTV.H264-DARKFLiX

ADRIAN: The island of Ireland.

No matter where I am in the world, I
always look forward to coming home.

I want to take you with me
to some of my favourite places.

I'll share my passion for food...

That's a beautiful dish.
Thank you.

Maybe even a bit of creme fraiche.
Creme fraiche? Going too far. Come on.

...history...

It never ceases to amaze me,
this monument.

How did they dream up these things?
Yeah.

...and scenery.

This really must be one of the most incredible
views of any formal garden anywhere.

I'll take you behind
the scenes of where I grew up...

Thank you very much.

...and reveal a few secrets
along the way.

Me and a mate and a couple of girls.
That was a tester then, you know.

As well as old favourites, we'll go
to places I've always wanted to see.

Come with me. I'm Adrian Dunbar
and this is My Ireland.

On this part of our road trip, we're
travelling down Ireland's ancient east.

Land of myth and legend.

Unlike the rugged west coast, the east
is calmer and perhaps less well known

but it's an area with real hidden
gems, both people and places,

that I can't wait to share with you.

We're starting in the Boyne Valley
in County Meath,

just 30 miles north of Dublin.

In the last series,
we went to the Skelligs,

those wonderful monastic settlements
off the coast of Kerry.

And this time
we're going to Newgrange,

which is a megalithic monument that was built
about 600 years before the first pyramid.

I was there before, in the past,

and I'm very excited
about going there today.

The Boyne Valley
has some of the world's most ancient

and mythical landscapes that
are filled with relics and ruins

that reveal the drama
of early Irish history.

From the site
of the famous Battle of the Boyne

to the megalithic marvel
that is Newgrange.

At over 5,000 years old,

it's one of the most important
Neolithic sites in the world.

It never ceases to amaze me,
this monument,

the idea that it's 5,500 years old

and yet it looks incredibly modern.

Yeah, it is just so big.
Yeah.

Ancl if we're impressed now,
can you imagine coming on a visit

all those years ago when you were
seeing things like this? Yeah.

Clare Tuffy is the manager
of the Bru na Boinne area,

which is famous for its mythical
prehistoric passage tombs,

of which Newgrange
is the most spectacular.

The mound covers a single tomb

where the remains of at least five
Neolithic people were recovered.

So the last thing
that they would have clone

before they went inside was carry the remains
of their dead across the entrance to it.

So many people
interpret it as like the threshold

between the world of the living
and the world of the dead.

This giant monument
that pre-dates Stonehenge

stands 13 metres high,
85 metres across,

and is built with 200,000 tons
of material.

Surrounding the base
are 97 kerbstones,

each weighing at least a ton

and it's faced with a massive wall
of brilliant white quartz.

The quartz is like a beacon
in the countryside. Yeah.

It brings people towards it.
Yes, yes.

It must have been extraordinary if
you were two or three miles away here,

suddenly seeing the sun
hit this incredible wall. Yeah.

Some of the kerbstones
are engraved with symbols

that we now call megalithic art.

The most impressive is the highly
decorated entrance stone.

But all of this remained hidden
until a new landowner

began quarrying stone here
over 300 years ago.

The clay they discovered the monument
in 1699,

they were taking stones away,

not knowing they were going to find
this fantastic thing.

They found this carved stone,

and then they knew they were
on to something. Right.

Walked behind it,
opened up the entrance.

The passage and chamber
were perfectly intact.

Nobody had been in
for thousands of years. Yeah.

And then in the 1960s, it was
decided that it should be excavated.

Ancl Professor O'Kelly, he was the leading
archaeologist in Ireland at that time,

and he thought he wouldn't
find anything here.

But how wrong Professor Kelly was.

He went on to discover one of
Newgrange's most remarkable secrets.

So he excavated very carefully
and found this box.

He called it the roof box.

And at first they didn't know
its purpose, they had no idea.

But he realised once the survey was
clone that it faced south of east,

and if it caught the sun, it would
be at sunrise at winter solstice.

These Stone Age ancestors
built the roof box

to perfectly align with the rising
of the winter solstice sun.

The ray of light reaches nearly 20
metres into the heart of the chamber.

The earth's axis changes,
doesn't it? Mm.

So has there been a change
in the alignment?

Yeah, there has. Now it is the sun
enters the chamber at two minutes to nine

but 5,000 years ago it entered
the chamber at six minutes to nine.

So in 5,000 years,
we've lost four minutes,

which as a time-telling device
is pretty good.

It's absolutely extraordinary.
Extraordinary. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It really means that the ancestors
were a lot brighter

than we possibly give them credit
for, for a start.

Ancl what I love about these
monuments is that

they release their secrets
very slowly.

We don't know all their secrets yet.

No.
We're still finding them out.

And in 2018, close to the site,
there was another chance discovery

as the Boyne Valley shared one more
of its remarkable secrets.

Is this the drone
that found Dronehenge?

This is not the one. The drone that
found Dronehenge is officially retired.

All right. Bless it.

Primarily because I don't want to damage it. No,
no. It's got a place in history. It certainly does.

Anthony Murphy,
an expert on Newgrange,

was flying his drone over this field

when a huge monument that had been hidden
for thousands of years revealed itself.

I've always been
interested in megalithic Ireland

and I've been wanting to meet Anthony
since he made this incredible discovery.

This is basically a replay
of what I saw the first night

and I'm flying the drone around it,
looking at the enormous size of it,

the symmetry of it,
and the patterns of it.

Must have been a shock.
Finding it difficult to draw breath,

actually shaking with excitement,
you know.

Immediately I saw it, I let out
a shout, "What the hell is that?"

I think we knew within maybe
half a minute or a minute

of having first seen it that
what we were seeing was a henge.

And, of course, the fact that
it's within 700, 800 metres of

the great monument of Newgrange.
Yes.

In one of the most studied
archaeological landscapes in the world.

It was really, really hard
to believe

that it actually existed and that it
wasn't some sort of prank, you know?

But it definitely wasn't a prank.

The henge they discovered
was around 150 metres across,

almost twice the size of Newgrange.

It only appeared because the unusually
long, dry summer had an effect on the crops.

The wheat was greener where there
had once been dug-out trenches.

Whilst you wouldn't notice this from the
ground, from the air, it's dramatically visible.

This is the miracle of the crop marks.
I call it a miracle. It's like a hologram.

Archaeologists believe the outer
rings would have been post holes,

the perimeter of a wooden structure.

It has been speculated they may have supported
tiered seating, something like an arena, you know?

Was it a place only of ritual
or was it a place of sport?

Maybe there were sort of something
like gladiatorial contests taking place

in some of the henges, you know?
OK.

Whether it was trade or music or horse racing
or beating each other to death, who knows?

You know... Anthony, I didn't know
you'd go that far, but...

HE LAUGHS
The...

By the way, there were something
like a dozen henges here,

which is the highest concentration
of that type of monument

anywhere on the face of the planet
and we didn't know that before 2018.

You could walk that field
365 clays of the year

and never get a sense that there was
a huge arena there

at one time in the past.
Yeah.

Next, an old friend and Michelin
star chef treats me to brunch...

Mm. It gives you a lot
of fulfilment, food like that.

Yes, of course. Yeah.

And I meet the man behind one of the
most iconic images in the world.

I needed to do something I felt big.

I'm Adrian Dunbar and I'm showing
you around the Emerald Isle.

Dropping in on a few local legends
I'd like you to meet.

So we're on our way to
Virginia Park Lodge, County Cavan.

I'm looking forward to seeing my old friend
Richard Corrigan, who's invited us for breakfast.

The last time I was there,
about nine years ago.

Should be interesting.

Virginia Park Lodge
is in the small town of Virginia,

founded in the reign
of Elizabeth I.

It was originally built as a hunting lodge
for the first Earl of Bective, Lord Headfort,

one of Ireland's richest men.

In 2014, Michelin-starred chef
Richard Corrigan

bought the estate
and lovingly restored it.

It's set amongst 100 acres of truly
stunning grounds and epic scenery.

Sitting on the banks of Lough Ramor,
it's even more beautiful than I remember.

Good to see you. Welcome.
Yes, thank you.

Welcome to Cavan.
What a spot. Virginia.

The last town in Ulster,
looking down towards Leinster here.

And you're right on the side of the lake and
you have a huge property here at the minute.

Tell us a bit about that.

Well, Virginia Park Lodge, it was
a private estate up to the 1940s

and, of course, I was married here
around 30 years ago. Wow.

I had not a shilling in my pocket.
HE LAUGHS

I remember drinking a bottle of the
wine and sitting in the front room saying,

"God, I'll buy this place one clay."

Ancl it came up for sale in 2012.

Yeah. It was a really crazy time
to buy anything, frankly. Yeah.

But I looked at this place and I thought, it's the
biggest doer-upper you could ever face, really.

A matter of nine years.

I remember coming to it in the very
early days. Early clays. Yeah.

And now I've just had
a quick look through.

I'm amazed at the amount
of growth that's happened.

The amount of stuff that you've done within
those nine years is absolutely extraordinary.

When you put the order in
for £35,000 worth of trees,

you know, that kind of scale,
then you realise, God Almighty,

this is a lot of money, you know?
Yeah. To feel broke all the time.

THEY LAUGH

But you have something lovely
to look at. Why are you motivated?

Yeah. Yeah. I have this!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

One of Richard's main aims is to be
as self-sufficient as possible,

something he's achieved
with all of this incredible produce.

The kitchen gardens are being
lovingly brought back to life

by a team of Ireland's
finest gardeners.

I remember when these bushes
went in, Richard, some time ago.

Ancl how good are they now, huh?
Oh, they look incredible.

Look how much fruit are on this.
I mean...

HE LAUGHS

Redcurrants, they need to be picked
now. Yeah, they do.

They do. Well, I mean, they're
so good. I mean, they're delicious.

You don't have to think too hard
but turn them into jam.

Just warmed
in a tiny little base syrup.

I mean, what a delicious dessert
served with a little almond biscuit.

Oh, yeah, that'll be good. Maybe
even a bit of creme fraiche.

Creme fraiche.
Going too far. Come on.

Richard is going to make me
a dish of smoked herring

accompanied by ingredients
all from his garden.

I'm going to use some grapes,
courgette flowers and some nasturtium.

That's what we're going to have for
breakfast, is it? And brown bread.

What are you picking? The flowers?
The nasturtiums and some of the flowers.

I always think quite peppery on the
palate. Yeah. Great. just great eating.

Gardens should be good for the soul
and good for the mind.

They should feed you. They should
not just feed you food.

Yeah. They should feed your mind.
Your enthusiasm. That's right. Yeah.

So I often come down here and just sit here
and just, you know, ideas come to your head.

Yeah, of course. Yeah. That's what
gardens is about, you know.

They nourish your body and nourish
your mind and nourish your soul.

I mean, most chefs, Ady, would give their
right arm for this polytunnel. I know. Yeah.

That's it really. Lovely. Brilliant.
That's it. Beautiful.

The fresh produce is grown
for ten months of the year.

Not only is it
for the restaurant here,

it also supplies Richard's
three London restaurants.

What are we going to do? Well, one of my one
of my great, great favourite people in Ireland

is a London Scots lady.

Yeah. Sally Barnes. Right.

She's a little smokery in West Cork
and, Ady, just...

It's the perfect...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I mean, how she, from the wood chip.

It's delicate.
It's delicate. Yeah.

So this is a bit of a, it's a very,
all chefs would say a simple recipe.

A little bit of water,
a tiny bit of sparkling in there.

Mm-hm. Of course, we're in Ireland,
a little bit of butter.

You have to put the butter in.

Ancl on the other side,
we've a little bit of Wexford. OK.

Home salted bacon.
Nice.

This is real country house fare.
Yeah, yeah.

And I just put that...
Oh, you put it skin side up? Yeah.

You and I go back a long way.

I mean, I first heard about you, of
course, when you were in Cork Street.

You were just cooking really good
grub, Irish food, delicious food.

And your cooking background
was straight off the land.

Straight off the land. I was brought
up with a horse in the garden

but I remember eating well and
eating lots of nice things. Yeah.

At 18, I decided, let's skip the
country and just head into Amsterdam.

Yeah, you went to Amsterdam.

Most people have gone to London
or Paris. Yeah, but I enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the tolerance.

Amsterdam has always been a far-reaching,
liberal, tolerant place. Yeah, liberal, yeah.

Ancl Ireland seemed very, in the
'80s... It wasn't a very liberal place.

It wasn't very liberal
and it wasn't tolerant.

I need some grapes. Grapes, I'll get you
some grapes. Lovely grapes. Yeah, lovely.

Hup! There's a few grapes there.

The grapes are good, huh? They're
excellent. I mean, the grapes are good.

Yeah.
So we just throw them in there.

I'm just going to take a little bit of the
courgette flowers, which we just picked.

Put them in there as well. Nice.
That really looks so nice already.

Ancl we take a little bit
of the little horseradish

into the butter emulsion,
just to give it a little wake up.

You know, you're spending a lot more
time here in Ireland.

That's sitting well with you
at the minute.

Yeah, my head's
in a really nice place.

You know, the Ireland that
I left in '82

is not the Ireland I came back to.
Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, it's busy.
It's busy. It's a big...

Cultural wise. It's full on.

You know, it's like the community has culture,
the community has intellectual integrity. Yeah.

Go down and have a pint
and express your opinions.

Yes, that's right.
Ancl you'd find 20 were different.

Yeah, there's no doubt about that.

These are great, the nasturtiums.

Oh, yeah, beautiful. Yeah. Yeah,
that looks really, really good.

It's really good. That's a new way
of breakfast, you know? Yeah.

There's a spoon there.
Here, go for it.

Mm. That's so good.

It gives you a lot of fulfilment,
food like that. Yes, of course. Yeah.

That's it. Look at that.
just beautiful.

It really does look beautiful.
Thank you, Richard.

Sound as a pound.

It's always great to catch up
with old friends

and, of course,
to be treated to a bite to eat.

It set me up for my 90-minute
journey south

to meet another local legend
whose name you might not recognise

but his work
you most certainly will.

So we're on our way to see jim
Fitzpatrick, an artist and illustrator,

very influential illustrator from
the '60s and '70s album covers, etc,

for Thin Lizzy and people like this.

But what he's most famous for is an
iconic image which has travel led the world

and everybody watching
this program me will know it.

I'm very excited about seeing
this man. He's a true genius.

Jim lives in possibly one of the
most idyllic spots in Ireland,

the peninsula of Howth Head
just outside Dublin.

When the weather is good,
you could be forgiven to thinking

you were in the Mediterranean
or even South America.

Jim began his career working
at an ad agency in Dublin

and got his big break
designing album covers.

But it was a chance meeting in 1961
with the revolutionary Che Guevara

that eventually broughtjim to
design this deceptively simple image.

Jim. What a fabulous place.
Come on in.

Will do, brother. Will do.

Here we are, you and me and the cat
and an incredible view, jim.

Let's go back to '61

and the fact that you find yourself
in a little village called Kilkee

in County Clare
in the west of Ireland.

I was working as a barman

and I was working in the bar
on the Sunday after mass

and in walked three
very unusual-looking gentlemen.

They were dressed in combats,
what we call combats now.

And they sat down
and Che came up to the bar.

Ancl I said to him, you know,
"What brings you here?"

Ancl he said, you know, "Er, drink."

Ancl eventually I learned
that he had been on a stopover

in Shannon Airport
because they were fog bound

and someone brought him
out to Kilkee.

He ended up in the Marine Hotel bar

and when he realised I knew
who he was, he was surprised.

But in Franciscan College Gormanston, they showed
us newsreels during the movies every Sunday

and there was Che and the lads
all arriving in Havana on tanks.

So I knew damn well who he was.
Yeah.

And the Franciscans
you must remember are radical.

They invented liberation theology.

I kind of explained the Irish
diaspora to Che.

Yeah. He must have been thinking,
What is this guy on?

But that's when he told me
he was Irish.

He didn't say
he was Argentinean Irish.

He said, "I'm Irish."

Ancl he explained to me that his
lineage was from Galway and Cork.

So Che flew on to Cuba?
That's right.

So then at some point you came across this
wonderful photograph. Absolutely. Yeah.

But you didn't take this photograph?
No. That was a very famous photograph

taken by the wonderful
fashion photographer called Korda.

Ancl he just appeared on the balcony for
that split second and Korda got his image.

Commissioned after Che's death
in 1967

to produce a work
for a commemorative exhibition,

jim set about creating this image.

I needed to do something I felt big.

I worked in advertising.

I knew the simple use
of what was called spot colour.

I went for just red and black.

Well, he's a Communist,
so I thought red, you know.

Ancl then the yellow star, even though
it's red on his cap, I thought worked well.

The image rapidly went global.

Dubbed the face that launched
a thousand T-shirts,

andjim could have made a fortune,

but he refused to license it
for any official use on T-shirts,

posters, or to promote any products.

In fact, he's even tried to gift the
commercial rights to the Cuban people.

It has an energy of its own now,
you know?

People across the world
have used it.

I mean, it's been used
by revolutionaries

and it's used
throughout Latin America.

It's almost become a sacred object,
which is wonderful, you know? Yeah.

Considering he was an atheist
and a Communist,

you're investing a lot of spiritual
energy into someone.

But the interesting thing is,
a critic pointed out,

I changed his gaze from the photograph
and gave him a more upward gaze. Yes.

Ancl that was from me looking at religious
iconography, pure and simple. Of course, yeah.

You know, my instincts were to,
because he was murdered,

was to elevate him.
Elevate his look. Yeah.

I'm not saying he's a god.
I'm not saying he's a saint.

But to me,
he was an extraordinary man.

Well, it's a powerful, powerful
image that's going to endure

long after you and I have shuffled
off the mortal coil. I hope so.

Jim, thank you so much.
Thank you very much indeed.

Next, we'll visit a truly
spectacular country house...

You can't beat that, can you? It's just got to
be one of the most beautiful views in Ireland.

...and hop on a bike
for a historical ride with a view.

Oh, this is great.
Isn't it amazing?

It's like cycling in the air.
Yeah.

I'm Adrian Dunbar
and I'm your guide as we explore

some hidden gems
on the east coast of Ireland.

We're in County Wick low.
We're going to Powerscourt,

1000 acres
owned by the Slazenger family.

I'm very excited. I've been
to this place many times before,

and I'm really thrilled
at looking at the gardens

and showing you something
of this wonderful, wonderful estate.

Set in the shadow of the imposing
bare rock of Sugarloaf Mountain,

the Powerscourt Estate
really is breathtaking.

From the moment you arrive,
you know you're somewhere special.

Hi, Alex.
Adrian, welcome.

Good to see you, fella. Good to see
you. Welcome to Powerscourt.

Thank you very much. Very much. And what a
place Powerscourt is. I mean, look at that.

You can't beat that, can you? That's just got to
be one of the most beautiful views in Ireland.

Yeah.

Alex Slazenger
is the head gardener here.

His family have owned
the Powerscourt Estate since 1961.

Alex, you know,
you've grown up here.

You're one of the first people
we've met who actually lives

in the place that we're visiting.
Yeah.

And one of the things I wanted
to ask you was,

what was it like growing up here as a child?
This was my playground growing up. Yeah.

Myself and my brother and my sisters
used to explore.

There was the dungeons
that were still intact.

There were still chains on the wall.
The gardens then, you know,

we used to,
we used to explore every nook.

I know every single inch of this.
I bet you do, yeah.

We used to ride around here on our
motorbikes. We used to have parties in here.

Yeah. But my grandmother had this
vision of turning Powerscourt

into a commercial venture.

Somewhere like this, you have to
have people coming in. Yeah.

So we basically took the estate in 1961
and opened up the gardens to the public.

Ancl it's really nice because
it's a family business. Yeah.

My uncle, my late uncle, Dr Michael
Slazenger, he took the reins on then

and said, "Look, if we're going to
do this, let's do it right." Yeah.

We're always really conscious
of what we do at Powerscourt

has to keep the romance
of the place.

Yeah. And I'd love
to show you rest of the garden.

Let's take a look around. We'll hop on the
chariot and have a look. Yeah, let's do it.

Alex has devoted the last decade to
arming himself with academic qualifications

and specialist experience
so he can give these gardens

the proper care that they deserve.

The grounds stretch over 47 acres
and are separated into different areas,

including Ireland's longest
double herbaceous border

and replicas of original European
statues

that the previous owners commissioned
on their travels in the 1800s.

In 1908, a touch of the exotic
was brought to Powerscourt

with this beautiful
Japanese inspired garden.

What I love about the Japanese
garden is how relaxed it is. Yeah.

So we've got the kind of sounds
of water.

I've got water coming over there.
I've got water I can hear behind me.

Yes, yes. So, you know,
it kind of sets the theme.

It really does. And it kind of
chills you out as well.

While there are many areas
of beauty here,

what Powerscourt is really famous
for is the award-winning Italian garden.

This really must be one of the most
incredible views

of any formal garden anywhere,
you know, within Europe.

I mean, it's just
absolutely extraordinary.

So this shows the house
in its full glory now.

Yeah, it's stunning.

Ancl this is, you know,
this is the point,

this is the point of interaction
between the formal garden

and the natural garden.
Yeah.

Ancl I think it was really clever
the way the architect,

so the architect was a guy
called Daniel Robertson,

and he wanted the Italian garden
to mix in with the landscape,

so the use of water
is big in Italian gardens.

So having this big lake here, what
we calljuggy's Pond or Triton's Lake.

Triton. Yeah.

Ancl having the, you know,
the house in the background.

This fountain,
that would have been gravity fed.

And, of course,
from the terrace, you know,

you look down here
and then you look over here

towards the Sugarloaf Mountain,

which is an extraordinary mountain
in itself.

So, I mean, the vista either way
is just incredible.

Before the Slazengers bought
Powerscourt,

the Wingfield family owned it
for more than 350 years.

Richard Wingfield was granted the
estate in 1603 by Queen Elizabeth I

as a reward for his military
achievements.

Work on the exquisite
68-room mansion began in 1730.

But much of what we see today
in the gardens

wasn't started until around
100 years later.

So you're looking at 1844 now.
Yeah.

Ancl what's big in fashion
is Italian garden.

So formality, pomp, showing off.

HE LAUGHS
Ancl that's what we have here.

We have amazing terraces here.
Yes.

Dug out from 1844 to '75,
100 men, 13 years, by hand... Wow.

...to clig these terraces. Trees were
coming in from the Americas.

Yeah. Australia, Africa. Wow.
Ancl they wanted the latest thing.

But the ironic thing was 1875 hits,
Italian gardening goes out of fashion.

Right. So they complete the garden
in 1875, 1876.

By that stage, it's gone already.
It's too late.

HE LAUGHS
But really clever design.

This is our showpiece.
It's beautiful.

You know, this is what we won the
award, third best garden in the world.

Wow. And when you see it from
above, it really does...

You think this was always here.

The striking Sugarloaf Mountain,
backdrop to Powerscourt,

was also an essential landmark
for pilgrims and scholars

travelling along the east coast,

going to Glendalough,
or the Valley of the Two Lakes.

And as we continue our journey, we
pass by this impressive landscape.

Set in the Wick low Mountains
National Park,

it's an area of such natural beauty
that around 50,000 acres are protected.

It's also home to one of Ireland's
most important monastic cities

that was founded by Saint Kevin,
a young monk

from a royal family
some 1500 years ago.

With countless stone ruins of
chapels, churches and many graves,

Glendalough remains
a spiritual place to this day.

I'll never tire of Ireland's ancient
past or its sensational scenery.

And as we travel led two hours
south to our next stop,

the beauty continues.

So we've left County Wick low.
We're heading south

to the beautiful county of Waterford
and the Waterford Greenway,

which is the reimagining
of an old railway line

that has brought a huge amount
of tourism into the area.

It's been a very successful project.
Looking forward to hearing about it.

Over the past decade, Ireland has
transformed many of its disused railway lines

into thriving green ways.

Built for cyclists and walkers
to enjoy

away from the dangers
of other traffic.

How you doing, Adrian?
Yeah, good to see you.

Declan Kelly from Wild Rover Bikes
is going to show me around.

We have 46 kilometres of Greenway
to cycle. Right. Are you up for it?

We'll give it a go anyway, I'll tell
you that. We'll do some of it, anyway.

Yeah, we'll do some of it, OK!

I'll give you the helmet.
OK, man.

Looking good.
OK, great.

When you're ready.
Let's do it. Let's go.

We're starting our ride
on the Kilmacthomas Viaduct.

Built in 1878, it's a magnificent
limestone structure,

with eight arches high above
the valley of the Ma hon River.

Since the Greenway
opened five years ago,

the number of people that have come
here because of the Greenway.

People come from all over the world.
Really?

Because this has become famous.
Where we heading now?

So we're heading now
to the Ballyvoyle Tunnel. Right. OK.

On March 25th 1967,

the last train
travel led this very route.

Exactly 50 years later,
the Greenway opened.

It follows the old Waterford
to Mallow railway line.

And we're quickly approaching
one of the highlights en route,

the Ballyvoyle Tunnel.

Now this is lovely. This is
the opening of the tunnel now.

Yeah, this is incredible.
This is something special.

Here we go. Oh, yeah.

Ancl you hear the difference in here?
Yeah.

ADRIAN YODELS

CHILD WHOOPS

Nobody uses the bell.
They all shout. They all shout.

The tunnel is 400 metres long.

Built in 1871, it still retains many
of its original features.

When it was the old railway, anybody
working in there used to have to duck

into the alcoves as the train went
through. Oh, yeah.

They made the tunnels very small.
Yeah.

So now they have the lights in there
and it has its own atmosphere.

Feel the difference
in the temperature.

It's very, very... It's quite cold
in here compared to outside. Yeah.

Wow. Well, we're nearly there. So we
come out the end of the tunnel here. Yeah.

Ancl you just see the difference.

When I take my kids down here, they say this
is like coming into Jurassic Park this end.

Oh, yeah. It looks like the gate
to Jurassic Park.

Yeah, it has a bit of that,
hasn't it? Yeah.

But this is just
an extraordinary, beautiful sight.

But you can see why people come from
so far to see it. Yeah, absolutely.

The next bridge here is steel.

Ancl this was the first piece
of infrastructure

built after the War of Independence.
Right.

The 46-kilometre journey is much
more than just beautiful scenery.

The Ballyvoyle Viaduct
has a place in history.

In 1922 the originals tone bridge
was attacked during the Irish Civil War.

A year later, the job was completed
when an empty train was run into the gap.

It caused complete demolition.

This railway line was so important
that a quick replacement was essential

and after hostilities ceased,
this new steel bridge was built.

One hundred years later,
it's still going strong

and gives incredible views
over the valley below.

Wow, this is great.
Isn't that amazing?

It's like cycling in the air.
DECLAN LAUGHS

The more I learn along this route, the
more I understand why it attracts people

from all over the world.

Despite the rain.

It's full of history, as well
as the more unfamiliar landscape

of Ireland's east coast.

It may lack the drama
of the more famous west coast,

but the small harbours, hidden rocky coves
and calm serenity are just as beautiful.

Oh, yeah.
This is what everybody comes for.

There she is. Dungarvan Bay.
That's a spectacular view.

The sea, oh, the sea.
That's so pretty.

The east coast is so charming,
isn't it? It's amazing.

It's some view.
It's stunning.

It would have been the last view people had
when they were heading off to England. Yeah.

Never to come back. That's where
the boats left from. Yeah. Yeah.

So the last view would
have been that beautiful bay.

Yeah.
Yeah. Wow.

Yeah, that would have broke
your heart, all right. Yeah.

Next, we continue along the east
coast for an 800-year-old piece of history.

There we go, Adrian, 22 metres up.

Isn't it beautiful?
Fantastic. Absolutely stunning.

Our Irish road trip
is nearing its end.

There's still one place
I'd like to show you

in the scenic south-east corner
of Ireland.

We're on our way
to the Hook Lighthouse,

the oldest continuously working
lighthouse in the world.

It's in a very beautiful place.
I wanted to see it for a long time.

With a bit of luck,
the sun might be out.

At the very tip
of the rugged Hook Peninsula,

guarding the entrance
to Waterford Harbour,

is the Hook Lighthouse.

And what a sight it is.

With the unmistakable black and white bands
of the 800-year-old tower standing proud.

Across the estuary
is the village of Crook,

believed to have been the
inspiration behind a famous saying.

Oliver Cromwell once vowed to take
the city of Waterford by hook or by crook.

Adrian. Good morning. Good to see you, brother.
Great to see you down at the Hook Lighthouse.

Yeah, well, was there ever a more beautiful
or historic place in Ireland, you know?

Noel Lynch is the head tour guide
for this fascinating piece of history

that goes back even before
the lighthouse was built.

It is the gateway into Ireland. I mean, you can
access a quarter of Ireland by boat from here.

The Three Sisters rivers are exiting
just behind the tower.

So Tipperary, Offaly, Monasterevin.

The likes of the Celts,
the Vikings, the Normans.

And now you're here.
Now I'm here, yeah.

Who was it who arrived here first,
Noel?

The first people that we know that
lit fires here were Welsh monks.

I mean, we're less than
270 kilometres from Wales from here.

Just straight over?
They settled there, lit fires.

You know, they were here when the
likes of the Vikings came through,

seventh, eighth, ninth century.

Ancl then, of course, you had the
Norman invitation to Ireland. Yes.

A lot of people seem to think that the Normans
just woke up one morning and invaded us.

But, no, it was we invited them in.
Yes.

One of the Normans guided in
by the Welsh monks' beacon

was William Marshall,
a Knights Templar.

He was said to be one of the
greatest knights to have ever lived.

He built the lighthouse to protect
and develop the shipping trade,

which was hugely important
in the 13th century.

So that was early 1200s.
Right.

And the lighthouse
has remained here.

It's the same building. What you're
looking at over my shoulder now, Adrian,

is an 800-year-old fully intact
medieval lighthouse.

What makes this medieval marvel
so special

is it remains virtually untouched.

It's hard to believe
that this is 800 years old.

This is the main event.
They suppose it's 115 steps. Wow.

Oh, yeah. When we get up to
the very top of the lighthouse,

I think you're going
to be seriously impressed.

You don't have any oxygen or anything.
Oxygen? Yeah. No oxygen today.

A spiral staircase winds its way up
inside the four-metre-thick stone walls.

Unusually, it rises anti-clockwise.

Most medieval towers had clockwise
stairs to give the sword arm

of the right-handed defenders
more freedom of movement.

Ah.
So there we go, Adrian.

22 metres up.
Wow.

Ancl pretty much a 270 degree view.
Isn't it beautiful?

Fantastic. Absolutely stunning.

Oh, and the sun out to meet us.

The sun always shines
on the righteous, my friend.

HE LAUGHS
Well said.

I don't know
what I'm doing here then.

We're standing here
at the very top of the tower.

We're not at the very top, of course. No,
no, no, we're up 22 metres at the moment.

It's as far as we go.
The lens is up at the top there.

It's 36 metres in total.

And how far out to sea, then,
would that light have been visible?

The light at the moment, you're
talking about 36 to 40 kilometres.

As far as, say, the cold,
probably talking about the same,

really, 25, 30 kilometres when
you're looking out. Really? Yeah.

You would have seen that?
Would have seen it.

You'd have had no other lights around.
So even if you saw smoke. Of course.

Yeah. It was warning you
of the danger. Right.

From here down to Slade Harbour,

we're looking at the graveyard
of a thousand ships.

Ancl that's with a lighthouse.
Right.

You know, so you can imagine
without a lighthouse,

the dangers
that would have been here.

There are four floors here with
ribbed vaulted ceilings made from stone,

which provided both structural strength
and a fire break between the floor levels

should the beacon
ever have burnt out of control.

Are all lighthouses the same, or do
they have little differences between them?

Well, you'd have to have little
differences with lighthouses.

If every lighthouse in the country was black
and white, how would you know where you were?

If every night marker was a single
flash every three seconds,

how would you know where you were?

You have a clay marker,
you have a night marker,

and you used to have a fog signal.

Our clay marker is a white tower
with two black lines.

Our night marker is a single flash
every three seconds.

So the next lighthouse along here...
Yeah. For instance,

you could go to the Tuskar Rock,
which is not too far away from us,

that's a double flash
every seven and a half seconds.

You could go to Dunmore East across the
estuary. That's a long flash every four seconds.

So it's important to know
where you are.

Not every ship or vessel
up to recent times

had the fancy equipment
that we have today.

Before modern-day GPS and radar,
these lights were vital.

And in 1822, French physicist
Augustin-jean Fresnel

revolutionised how the light worked.

He developed the compact lens
that was wrapped around the lamp

to concentrate the light rays
into a powerful parallel beam.

It's been called the invention
that saved a million ships.

Oh, wow. That's absolutely
spectacular, that lamp.

It is pretty special, isn't it?
Oh, it's unbelievable.

It's to give an idea to people
of what a Fresnel lens looks like

and their hand-wound
triangular prisms.

We just have a little LED light
in here to give you an idea.

Yeah, it's beautiful.
I mean, this one is quite old.

Ancl as you can see, just a little rotation and
it will probably stay going for a few minutes.

Wow. It really is like a
work of art, though, isn't it?

Yeah, I think it's... I mean, if I was to
see that in a museum of modern art,

you would really pass no remarks.

It's an incredible piece
of engineering as well. Beautiful.

Absolutely beautiful
that it's still here, still intact.

I think at the end of the clay,
it'll be here long after we're gone.

I know, but to be able to say that you
were here or for me working here. Yeah.

You were part of it. Yeah.

It's a privilege, really, isn't it?
Yeah. Yeah, truly. Really is.

Well, the day's going down,
the weather's drawing in,

but we've had an absolutely
brilliant trip through Ireland this time.

We met some fantastic people.
We went to some amazing places.

But now as the going gets tough,

we're going to head
for the high stool.

I hope you've enjoyed it
as much as I have. Slan.

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