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Northern Ireland - not as you know it

Belfast Telegraph: 21st March 2007

The Belfast Telegraph
   
Vagabond Tours used to restrict its 4WD explorations to south of the border. But, since the peace process, it's headed north. Andrew Morris climbs aboard for a journey that promises a mix of fresh air and politics
'Was that a puma?" Not a question you expect to hear in Northern Ireland's mountains. But then nothing was quite what I expected on my trip around the province with Vagabond Tours.
Our journey around the north began in the south, in Dublin, where my fellow Vagabonders and I met our enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide, Dave O'Connor. Dave also introduced us to our means of transport - no air-conditioned coach, but a converted British military Land Rover. " It'll mean we can explore the parts others can't reach," he joked.
The peace process has opened up Northern Ireland to tours such as Vagabond's. In previous years, Dave and his colleagues stayed south of the border. But now, apart from a few odd looks in rural areas, our Land Rover, with its Irish plates, garnered no adverse reactions.
"The north, but not as you know it," is Vagabond's motto. And we got our first surprise on crossing the border - frankly, where was it? Not even a roadside sign announced we were "entering Britain".
The tour is also marketed as "a mix of fresh air and politics". Dave was able to provide a thorough but never pedestrian lesson in the province's past and its culture, his MP3 preset with an illustrative soundtrack from Gaelic ballads to Van Morrison's upbeat Good Friday " theme song", "Days Like This".
Our first stop was a decidedly "fresh air" element of the tour, a hike up the deserted - and in the mist, particularly ethereal - Slieve Gullion in South Armagh. Climbing up to a neolithic passage-grave, we were utterly alone. For a big-city boy like me, the solace was astonishing.
Simple Minds' "Belfast Child" rang out through the speakers as we reached Belfast's city limits. And after a mooch around the bustling city centre, we were booked for a twilight black cab tour, a fitting time to explore a darker past.
Refreshingly, Big E's Belfast Taxi Tour employs top-class driver-guides from both Protestant and Catholic communities. A visit to the estates and murals of both the Shankill and Falls Roads and the "Peace Wall" between them provided a stark but fascinating insight. After the politics, we drove up the Antrim coast for a good feed and sleep in the fishing town of Carnlough.
Next morning, the sun sparkled on the sea as we meandered along the Antrim coast road. "You don't see this on the news, now do you?" smiled Dave. Our cameras worked overtime as we took shots of the Mull of Kintyre from the abandoned lighthouse at Torrhead and drove along the mouths of the nine glens into a verdant interior. Then, in an instant, a freezing fog descended and Northern Ireland disappeared.
For the next 24 hours, the fog was unrelenting. But a unanimous decision was made to hike four miles along the coast to the Giant's Causeway. At one point during our icy mudfest, I started fantasising about being back in the Land Rover. But as the basalt columns revealed themselves, these wicked thoughts dissolved.
The freeze continued as we explored the eerie clifftop ruins of Dunluce Castle, west of the Causeway. Then, after a very welcome wee dram on a tour of the world's oldest licensed distillery, Bushmills, it was back into the murk. The province reappeared only when we drove above the fog to the top of Binevenagh Mountain in Co Derry and looked down on a swirling, pea-souper over Donegal. It was here Dave thought he saw the puma.
The final stop-off before the tour returned to south of the border was Derry. Our guide, Martin McCrossan, gave us a startlingly honest account of his city's past. But as in Belfast, the main theme was hope. Indeed, a mural that had once displayed a machine gun had recently been repainted to show the gun broken in half. "Better times," smiled Martin.

Do you have any information on the above reports. Were you the person involved, or are you aware of any more sightings in this area. We would appreciate any information that you could give us.

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