To understand Ireland's rich history and mythology you can do no better than travel around the beautiful valleys of the Boyne and Blackwater where so much of it is located.

 

This book is an account of a journey along the rivers from source to sea, roughly following the itinerary of William Wilde's classic work of 1849. It looks at what has changed and been discovered since those troubled times, and how much remains almost as he saw it. Drawing on the huge literature of the area, it is enlivened by the author’s own experiences and his eye for the curious detail.

 

It is a highly readable book that can be read straight through or dipped into as each chapter describes a particular locality - its landscape, monuments and stories. It deals in detail with all the famous sites like Newgrange, Tara and Trim but also covers many lesser known but still extraordinary places, the fascinating people who lived or came there and the controversies that often still surround them.