Thin Places Ireland Tour Itinerary 2012

For nine days (eight nights), Mindie Burgoyne will guide tour guests across the western counties in Ireland  – including Westmeath, Sligo, Roscommon, Fermanagh, Mayo, Galway and Clare – exploring thin places, sites with mystical qualities.

Mindie will share information on the history of the sites, its mystical charism and the local lore associated with the site.   Guests will stay in premier town-center hotels in Sligo, Galway and Westport with all breakfasts and four dinners included.

DAY 1 – Saturday, September 8 – Welcome to Ireland !
Free day in Galway City – group dinner
- Arrive in Shannon or Dublin airport and depart for Galway.  Enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure in Galway City.  Get some much needed rest after the all night flight, the enjoy a welcome drink and dinner at your hotel.  Meet the other guests on the tour and the tour guide.  Receive materials and information on the week’s touring agenda.

DAY 2 – Sunday, September 9 – The Burren and Yeats Sites
Tour the Burren and visit Coole Park and Thoor Ballylee
After a full Irish breakfast at the hotel, guests will take a morning tour of the Burren, a mystical landscape in County Clare resembling a moonscape for all its rocky ground.  There are several monastic ruins and megalithic tombs.  The highlights will be the portal tomb – Poulnabrone Dolmen and Corcomroe Abbey.  We’ll also stop at the Kilfenora church.  Then on to Coole Park, the former estate of Lady Gregory, one of the leaders of Ireland’s literary revival and close friend of William Butler Yeats.  Drive by Thoor Ballylee, the restored tower and home of W.B. Yeats.  Back to Galway for dinner on your own and overnight.

DAY 3 – Monday – September 10 – Croagh Patrick and Connemara
Croagh Patrick, Murrisk Abbey – Sky Road to Clifden – group dinner
After a full Irish breakfast in Galway, enjoy a morning visit to the holy mountain – Croagh Patrick, and have a chance to explore the lower regions of the mountain known to have been made holy by St. Patrick himself.  Take in scenic views of Clew Bay and the 365 islands scattered in its waters.  Visit the National Famine Memorial and the ruins of Murrisk Abbey.  Then enjoy one of the most scenic drives in Ireland through Connemara, where the light (even in a rain storm) is like no other.  Travel along the Sky Road to the seaside town of Clifden and enjoy a group dinner in town.  Then on to spend the night at Clew Bay Hotel in the scenic town of Westport.

DAY 4 – Tuesday - September 11 – Knock and Ballintubber Abbey
Shrine of Our Lady of Knock and Ballintubber tour
After a full Irish breakfast enjoy the morning at the Knock Shrine where in 1879, villagers between the ages of five and seventy-five simultaneously saw a vision against the back gable wall of the Knock church.  In the apparition were the Virgin Mary, Sts. John and Joseph and a lamb on an altar.  It lasted over 2 hours in a rain storm. The apparition has been recreated in statuary and a shrine built that has become the most traveled to pilgrimage site in all of Ireland – and one of the top ten in Europe.  After Knock the tour will visit Ballintubber Abbey, a restored monastic church on St. Patrick’s Pilgrim Road to Croagh Patrick.  Then back to Westport with the evening on your own.

DAY 5 – Wednesday – September 12 – Sligo town – and sites
Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, Knocknarae, Kesh Coran
After a full Irish breakfast travel to Sligo and visit several sites in and near the town.  Visit Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery and Knocknarae – the mountain with a cairn on top said to be the tomb of Queen Maeve. Also visit Kesh Corran and the high cross of Drumcliff in the shadow of Benbulben… Ireland’s famous flat topped mountain.  Dinner on your own in Sligo town.

DAY 6 – Thursday – September 13 – Roscommon – Tulsk sites
Rathcroghan – Ancient Royal site of Connaught – group dinner
After breakfast at your hotel, venture with the group to Tulsk in County Roscommon for a tour of Rathcroghan with guide, Mike Croghan.  See the mounds where the ancient kings and queens of Connaught were crowned and buried.  This is the largest complex of Celtic Royal sites in Europe, and also includes a cave.  After the tour, return to Sligo for a group dinner and relaxing evening.

DAY 7 – Friday – September 14 – Free day in Sligo
Optional tour …Boa Island, Caldragh Cemetery, Drumskinny Stone Circle
After a full Irish breakfast spend the day relaxing or exploring Sligo town.  Or take the optional tour to County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland.  Boa Island has magnificent light and sits in scenic Lough Erne connected to the mainland with causeways.  Caldragh Cemetery is ancient and houses two Janus figures and a remarkable Hawthorne tree.  Nearby is Drumskinny Stone Circle.  The landscape in Fermanagh is positively enchanting.  No charge for this optional tour.  Dinner is on your own.

DAY 8 – Saturday – September 15 – Hill of Uisneach – Fore Abbey
Last day visit the geographic center of Ireland – Farewell Dinner
After a full Irish breakfast visit the Hill of Uisneach in County Westmeath, also known as the geographic center of Ireland.  Many believe all ley lines and earth energies intersect at this point.  Next stop at Fore Abbey to take in “the Seven Wonders of Fore” which include water that flows uphill and a tree that won’t burn.  Then on to Ennis and a farewell dinner at the hotel.  Overnight in Ennis.

DAY 9 – Sunday – September 16 – Farewell
Breakfast and depart for Airports
After a full Irish breakfast depart for Shannon airport for the group’s departure flight home.

Optional Tour – Aran Islands – September 16th
For anyone interested an optional tour of Inis Mor, the largest of the Aran Islands is available upon request.  Tour includes transportation to ferry launch, ferry ride and tour of the island.  Inquire separately for more information.

*Hotels and tours listed above are subject to availability and may be substituted for a hotel or tour of similar price and rating.

*Itinerary is subject to change.

For booking information contact Mindie Burgoyne at mindie@travelhag.com or Kathy Harrigan at Harrigan Holidays 717.818.3024  or kathy@harriganholidays.com