(atmospheric music) (Adrian) The island of Ireland sits on the western edge of Europe.

(birds cawing) I'm Adrian Dunbar and it's great to be home.

(dramatic music) What an amazing spot.

♪ Ever since childhood I've been fascinated by the rugged and wild beauty of Ireland's unique coastline.

Really is spectacular.

With centuries of history, astonishing landscapes and traditions, the Irish coast is like nowhere else.

I've been wanting to do this for such a long time.

I'll drive the great coastal roads, visit staggering clifftops, fantastic feats of engineering, and have a taste of Ireland's amazing cuisine.

I've got my fork at the ready.

Starting at Ireland's southerly point, I'll travel north, visiting some iconic locations and dropping in to see some old friends.

(indistinct remarks) Join me in this series to experience the wonders of the Irish coast.

♪ (intense music) ♪ Though I live in London, I'm never far away from Ireland for long.

(thudding) And this trip will give me a chance to really connect with the landscape and my friends.

♪ My journey will take me around the west and north coasts, covering over 600 miles.

For this leg I'm starting at Ireland's most southerly point at Mizen Head in County Cork, and then traveling through to County Sligo.

My first stop is a real reminder of what makes this coastline so special to me and countless others: The wild Atlantic Ocean.

I'm at the last piece of land that sailors would've seen before starting an Atlantic crossing.

♪ All my life I've wanted to come to this spot, the most southerly point in Ireland, and you know, I've been told how spectacular it would be, but I had absolutely no idea.

This is a major alpha destination.

Mizen Head is an example of nature at its most powerful.

The waves reaching as high as 67 feet.

It makes my first stop even more impressive.

(dramatic music) Suspended 45 meters above sea level, Mizen Bridge is a marvel of engineering.

It spans 52 meters across an awe-inspiring gorge and is almost an exact replica of an earlier bridge built in 1909.

An incredible place, isn't it?

(Noel) It absolutely is, you picked a lovely day to come here.

It's force 8 gusting to force 9.

(Adrian) Fantastic.

Retired county engineer Noel O'Keeffe built the bridge and senior resident engineer Brendan Meagher maintains it.

(Noel) Two days ago we had Storm Ellen.

-Yes, we did, yeah, yeah.

-We had winds of up to 143 kilometers per hour.

-Wow.

-You know?

On very bad days the sea breaks over the bridge.

(Adrian) Wow.

(sloshing) (Noel) Every time I come down here -it's like the first time.

-Absolutely, and looking across there, that view there -is just incredible, isn't it?

-Yeah, you see the--you can see the Sheep's Head peninsula just through that little gap -in the, uh-- -Yeah, yeah, what's that gap called?

-A gap.

-A gap.

(Adrian) A gap, I was gonna say, yeah.

(uplifting music) The original bridge was of great importance.

It was built as a crossing to a signal station, which played a vital role in navigating the many seafarers safely on their way.

♪ The bridge served its purpose for almost a century, and then fell into a state of disrepair.

Work to rebuild the new bridge began in 2009.

Tell us a bit about how it all came together.

(Noel) The existing bridge was analyzed in about 2005 and the sand that was used for the concrete -came off Barley Cove Beach.

-Right.

(Noel) So when you looked at the cross section you could see shells and everything, but also there was salt.

-Salt, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-So over time the original steel reinforcement corroded.

-Uh-huh, uh-huh.

-And in some places -it was just dust.

-Right.

So that's why we had to replace the bridge.

(atmospheric music) (Brendan) What we want to do then is make sure that the bridge would last for at least another 100 years.

So we used stainless steel reinforcements, which is--which is not something that you-- (Adrian) No, that's not something you'd usually do.

Why did you decide to use stainless steel?

(Brendan) Basically it increases the lifespan of the bridge.

♪ (Adrian) My father worked on a lot of bridges.

He was a foreman for Lang's.

Were these precast or was this shutter joinery that built the parabolic arches here?

(Noel) We have to go really back to basics.

And how did they build it in 1909?

-Yeah.

-And we've replicated it a lot.

(Brendan) The designer precast the box section to do the arches, which was hollow in the center, and then he filled it with concrete to make it monolithic.

They really were amazing, those Victorian engineers.

So we developed that through a 3-D model.

We were able to figure out the intricacies and fine tune how we were gonna build it.

(waves crashing) (Adrian) The access here is very tight.

How did you manage to get everything -down into the site?

-We brought it down in a small dumper and we brought it down in a shoot via guise and ropes.

(Noel) As we cut out the old bridge using concrete saws, all the material had to come back up, because we're in an area of special conservation.

-Yes.

-We couldn't just throw it into the sea.

At one stage we had three bridges here.

-We had the old bridge... -Yeah.

(Noel) ...and we started to build the new bridge, which we're standing on now, which is slightly wider than the old bridge.

But above that we brought a steel beam as a fail-safe.

We had to build a bridge to build a bridge.

(Brendan) Trying to get the reinforcement in place was very tricky.

The guys had to actually go on their tummies -and steel fix-- -But you don't need that much height between the steel beam -and the old bridge.

-And the old bridge, yeah.

(Noel) So everything was done on the flat of your tummy.

-Right.

-Technically it presented a lot of difficulties I suppose, you know, yeah.

(wondrous music) (Noel) This bridge cost 1.5 million Euro, which in terms of where it is and how difficult it could've been, -is absolute peanuts.

-Yeah.

(Noel) I've built over 100 projects.

This is probably the least expensive one I ever built and the one I'm most proud of.

(Adrian) Yeah, well, you should be proud of it.

It's a beautiful bridge.

♪ And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

The bridge opened in 2011 and is now mainly used by tourists who come to admire the unrivaled views and visit the old signal station that's now a museum.

♪ Come rain, shine, or gusting winds, nothing stops the 50,000 people who cross it every year.

♪ (Noel) Even today, they're expecting upwards of 800 to 1,000 people here today.

(Adrian) I think we'd better let them through, don't you?

♪ If the wind doesn't take your breath away, the scenery will.

♪ The bridge is absolutely spectacular.

The guys talking to us were wonderful.

I feel very, very privileged to feel that I belong to this amazing island.

♪ (waves crashing) ♪ Next: The water is very treacherous.

I've tried on two separate occasions to get out there, didn't make it.

Hopefully it will be third time lucky as we brave the roaring waves to get to the ruins of St. Fionan's Monastery built on the incredible Skellig Islands.

And island's beautiful produce.

(Darina) This is another of my favorite varieties.

This one is called green zebra.

(Adrian) I'm treated to lunch by a super chef using ingredients entirely from her own land.

(uplifting music) I'm Adrian Dunbar and I'm traveling around Ireland's spectacular coast.

It's a trip I've always wanted to do, giving me a chance to reconnect with the place I call home.

♪ (contemplative music) ♪ I'm on my way to County Cork for a bite to eat in Ballymaloe House.

♪ I stayed here during the early '90s when I was acting in a film with Anthony Hopkins and Jean Simmons, and I have fond memories of how good the food was.

Since then Ballymaloe has secured itself firmly on Ireland's culinary map.

There's even an internationally admired cookery school.

This is big.

Darina Allen is one of Ireland's most celebrated chefs.

She prides herself in honest, fresh produce, much of which is grown on her 300 acres of land.

With fertile soils, a temperate climate, and lots of rain, Ireland has perfect conditions to grow a variety of ingredients.

Some of the produce, however, needs to be protected from the elements and given its own microclimate to thrive.

The humble tomato is one of those ingredients and I had no idea that there were so many varieties.

(Darina) We grow about 20 different varieties.

This one, for example, is called San Marzano.

And then look at these little duds.

This one's called yellow pear.

Let me show you how to pick a tomato, look.

Just break that and then you have a-- This is another of my favorite varieties here.

This one is called green zebra and this is actually ripe now and it's juicy, succulent.

A lot of these are old varieties that were almost lost, and people got sick and tired of tomatoes that had absolutely no flavor.

-Yeah.

-So then the supermarkets listened to the customers and suddenly a few years ago there you saw on the package it would say, "Grown for flavor," and you'd be wondering what they were grown for before that.

-Right, yeah.

-It was actually of course, it was to keep and that was the only thing -that really mattered.

-It's really hot in here, -isn't it?

-If the sun comes up at all, you know, it's really, really warm.

(Adrian) Yeah, and well, do you think we can go and, uh, maybe make something with these-- (Darina) Oh yeah, I'll make you an heirloom tomato salad.

-Sounds fantastic.

-Delicious.

(cheerful music) ♪ (Adrian) Ballymaloe house used to belong to Darina's in-laws and has since been passed down through the generations.

It first became known for its food when the family opened a restaurant here in 1964, which was internationally recognized as the birthplace of modern Irish cuisine.

Darina established the cookery school in 1983 and Ballymaloe's reputation for producing exceptional food has been celebrated by customers and critics ever since.

You know, when I first came here nearly 30-odd years ago I remember one morning waking up and seeing the kids coming in with the black currants from the hedgerows, and the next morning there was a fabulous black currant compote sitting on the table.

-I know.

-Where did all that come from?

(Darina) Well, you know, we're so lucky because it was my mother-in-law, Myrtle Allen, and my father-in-law, Ivan Allen, who originally started a--a restaurant on their farm right up in the middle of the country.

That's Ballymaloe House.

Myrtle, who couldn't cook a thing in her life, by the way, when she got married, 'cause story goes that my father-in-law taught her how to scramble eggs on the first night when they came home from their honeymoon.

-Oh, come on.

-But she learned how to cook.

We started the cooking school here in 1983.

-Yeah.

-And I went on to spread her philosophy -of fresh and in season.

-Well, you did, because, you know, there's a big things these days they talk about influencers, people who influence.

Well, I mean, Ballymaloe has to be the biggest influencer on cuisine in Ireland for the last 30 years.

(Darina) Well, most definitely.

(Adrian) This entire dish is made using produce Darina has grown.

(Darina) This is Genovese basil.

This is a little opal basil.

Also, a very simple little dressing.

This herb is called lovage.

-Lovage, yeah.

-And this is something within the celery flavor that you might normally think of putting with the tomatoes, -but it's lovely.

-Yeah.

(Darina) We take a couple of dollops of homemade mayonnaise, and then I'll-- look at our yogurt.

-Yeah.

-This is the yogurt made from-- ugh!

(chuckling) (Adrian) Yeah, a good job I'm here anyway, isn't it?

(Darina) Lovely, it's a good job you're here.

Made from, uh, the-- the milk of our Jersey cows, and look at that lovely layer of cream on top.

-Beautiful, beautiful.

-So I'm gonna push that aside -actually for the moment.

-Yeah.

(Darina) Take another, and look how lovely and thick that is.

-Yeah.

-Now mix that together... -Mm.

-...like that, and then chop in a little bit of lovage.

This is worth growing, lovage.

It's a herb that not so many people know about.

It's perennial, so it comes back year after year.

-Sprinkle it in like this.

-Yeah, lovely.

(Darina) Mix it round, and of course, always good to have a little taste because, um--mhm.

(clinking) So good, now that would be-- perhaps a dollop of that would be delicious with this.

-Yeah.

-Also, I sometimes put some lovely edible flowers.

We've got lots and lots.

-These ones are quite amusing.

-Yeah.

(Darina) This is called society garlic.

-I've got my fork at the ready.

-There we go.

Of course you could serve this as a starter.

I'll cut you a little bit of that green zebra that you're so keen on.

Here's a bit of marmade, look, have a bit of that as well.

-Yeah, okay.

-So that was lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil, little local honey.

-Do we like it?

-Oh, it's delicious.

(rock music) After that brief and tasty stop, I'm ready to hit the road.

No matter where I travel in the world, I'm always drawn back to these remote parts of Ireland.

It's a real trip down memory lane and where many of my pals still live.

♪ There's no way I can drive past the house of my good friend John Minihan without popping in to say hi.

(John) I haven't lost it.

(indistinct remarks) (Adrian) John happens to be one of Ireland's greatest photographers.

We met some years ago through our combined interest of the playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett.

You might not know John's name, but you'll definitely recognize his work.

This iconic picture of Princess Diana, Andy Warhol, The Who, Jimi Hendrix.

John snapped famous faces from all around the world, but there's more to his photography than that.

♪ Adrian, yeah, welcome to my den.

Yeah, this is the holy of holies.

-This is the holy ground.

-Yeah.

I don't feel anyone has to fall on their knees, but, um, I have a particular devotion to, you know, Marian devotion.

The only pictures I saw were pictures of the Madonna on the wall, you know, the bleeding heart.

That kind of imagery never ever left me.

That kind of defined who I was.

(Adrian) In John's very famous photograph of Lady Diana it's easy to see the influence of the Madonna and Child statues that adorn so many Irish homes.

(John) One of my pictures in the Whispering Gallery -in St. Paul's Cathedral.

-Beautiful picture.

(John) I saw these two gentlemen.

Well, they weren't moving, they were like statues.

-Yeah.

-Wherever I've been there's been a religious inflection.

(Adrian) Another of John's most famous pictures, and one of my favorites, is of Samuel Beckett sitting in a café in Paris.

The Observer voted that one of the greatest photographs of the 20th century.

-Yeah, here we are here.

-Oh, great.

(John) We met at 3:00, I can still see him coming and smiling, 'cause he knows why I'm sitting where I'm sitting.

(Adrian) He knows you want to get the shot, yeah.

(John) 3:30, 4:00, the ashtray's getting fuller and fuller.

And then he said, "John, you wanna do a picture here?"

And the light's dissipating, and if you read the photograph, you can just see the available lights come on.

-It all came together.

-It was meant to be.

(wondrous music) (Adrian) I could stay and talk to John for hours, but I need to catch a boat to my next location and it won't wait for me.

♪ I'm hoping to make it onto the Skellig Islands, home to one of the most famous and impressive monastic sites from Ireland's ancient Christian world.

It's somewhere I've longed to get to for years, but it's easier said than done.

Well, there's a hearty man in the background there.

♪ It's lovely and fresh here in Portmagee in the very southwest of Kerry, opposite Valentia Island here, and we're trying to get out to the Skellig Rocks.

Scene of a beautiful monastic settlement and of course Star Wars was shot there, and, uh, I've tried on two separate occasions to get out there, didn't make it.

The water is very treacherous, so we're just keeping our fingers crossed.

That man looks like he could swim out.

♪ I'm trusting that my luck's in today.

Thank you, hi, guys, how's it going, all right?

The waters seem calm.

I have the well-weathered crew of the Skellig Walker to navigate me safely to the island.

(contemplative music) ♪ After all the storms and everything that greeted us on the first day when we arrived into the southwest of Ireland, it's unbelievable that today we're gonna manage to get out onto the Skellig Rocks.

I've been wanting to do this for such a long time.

It's one of those great destinations in Ireland and it looks as if we're gonna get the island to ourselves today, which is absolutely amazing.

Real privilege.

♪ As we leave the bay, however, we go through an area called the coup, where two major currents collide, making this part of the sea extremely choppy and unnavigable during bad weather.

♪ Reaching the Skelligs has been an ambition of mine for as long as I can remember.

But as the swell builds, I fear I may be disappointed again.

Landing at the island is entirely dependent on the force of these waves.

(dramatic music) Thankfully today the waters have calmed and we can dock in Blind Man's Cove.

♪ I've come here to meet 86-year-old veteran boatman, author, and historian, Des Lavelle, who knows this island from childhood.

♪ You're born and bred on Valentia Island.

You've been a diver around here all your life.

You know under the water, you know over the water.

(Des) And I've flown over the top, too.

(Adrian) And you've flown over the top as well.

(chuckling) This stretch of ocean was the main trade route right up into the western isles of Scotland and further into Norway, then down into North Africa, and around into the Mediterranean.

The Vikings used this route and the islands as connections all the way along the western seaboard of the Atlantic.

♪ The Skelligs are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

And perched 600 feet above sea level on this beautiful but inhospitable rock is the ancient monastic settlement I've been wanting to see.

Thought to date back to somewhere between the 6th and 8th century AD, it was home to the monks of St. Fionan.

Of course, they did a lot of fasting, and then after three, four, or five days of a fast, that's when you started to see the visions.

A lot of it may be enforced fasting when times were hard.

-Well, so (inaudible).

-Or you couldn't catch a few puffins for your breakfast (unintelligible).

But the excavations that took place up here found some--of course some bones and all that, -their remains.

-Yeah.

(Des) And concluded that the diet was poor.

-Yeah.

-From the teeth, -from the bone joints.

-Uh-huh.

They would've eaten the birds.

(Des) Yes, you can take whatever the sea would offer.

(Adrian) And they couldn't grow anything here, of course.

(birds cawing) (ominous music) The monks endured 600 years on the island, but it wasn't the hard way of life that made them leave.

There's a lot of speculation that the Christianity that the monks would've had out here was a lot different to the Christianity that was coming out of Rome at the time.

(Des) The big influence was the rival of the Augustinians.

Up to that they were Christians.

-Yeah.

-Suddenly there was no written distinctions.

(Adrian) Yeah, suddenly there was Roman Christianity arrived, in other words, yeah, that's interesting, isn't it?

(Des) And coincidentally at that time these old lay monasteries, like Skellig, they all faded.

-Yes.

-All of a sudden the center was on the mainland.

(birds cawing) (Adrian) And this is the Wailing Woman over here it is.

(Des) The Wailing Woman.

If you look at it in certain sunlight, you can see the shape of a woman in it.

Allegedly is part of the stations of the cross maybe where the Christ meets the wailing women of Jerusalem.

(Adrian) Oh yes.

Are there still people who come here to try and find a spiritual connection with this?

(Des) Sure, yes, I'm absolutely sure of that.

In my time when I was boating, many people actually came to me and said, "There's something special about the island."

There would people of no particular denomination whatsoever, but they felt something about the place, and--and I can agree with that, I can feel it, too.

It's--it's more than just a rock in the ocean and a few buildings, it's-- There's an aura there somewhere, right?

And it will touch many, many people I think.

-I believe that.

-Yeah.

I believe that where you have for hundreds of years that people practice something in ritual space that the legacy of that is always left behind.

(Des) I hope it--I hope it stays forever and ever.

I mean, it's lasted now for 1,500 years, and in another 1,500 years I think the feeling will still be the same.

(Adrian) I think you're right.

I'm gonna head on up to the top of the hill and have a look at the monastery, Des.

I'll see you back at the boat.

-Slán.

-(speaking Gaelic).

(Adrian) Next: A hike up 618 steps sees me finally make it to the tranquil ruins of this captivating monastery.

It's definitely a spiritual place.

I'm treated to the treasures of the sea.

(Piero) We have the best of the best that you can get.

(Adrian) And island life continues to captivate me.

-Wow, really is spectacular.

-Bit of heaven.

(Adrian) Once described as the most magnificent fort in Europe, I'm in awe of these ruins believed to be around 3,000 years old.

(dramatic music) I'm Adrian Dunbar and I'm making a wonderful journey as I rediscover Ireland's unspoilt and spectacular coasts.

(uplifting music) (tranquil music) It's been an ambition of mine for many years to see the rugged and isolated Skellig Islands.

After a rough sea crossing, I finally made it, and they're just as impressive as I'd imagined.

I've always been fascinated by how our ancestors lived such a remote existence in this inhospitable place.

There are 618 steps that lead to the top to the ancient monastery, and with every step you feel a sense of peace, of being alone with the wild Atlantic Ocean.

♪ The island's only inhabitants are the tens of thousands of seabirds that live here in breeding season.

♪ Today the island is quiet.

♪ No cries from the gannets or grunts from the puffins.

Yet we are in the middle of the sea.

♪ You can almost hear the silence.

♪ I can understand why the monks were drawn here.

♪ The monastery is perched 180 meters above the ocean below.

The monks built retaining walls to protect themselves from harsh winds and to create microclimates for growing food.

♪ They lived in individual cells shaped like beehives.

The buildings were all corbelled, an arch-like construction technique that helped to keep their structures watertight.

♪ They had an oratory, an adjoining graveyard, and finally a church, St. Michael's, which was built centuries after the first settlement.

♪ Well, it looks like this day like the Skelligs themselves are going to disappear into the mist.

♪ What strikes me when I'm here is that at a time in the 6th and 7th centuries when the largest thing you would've ever heard was a bell, that men decided to come and isolate themselves in rocky islets like this here for the glory of God.

It's definitely a spiritual place.

It's held space.

It's a very beautiful place and I feel really privileged to have been here today and to have seen it.

♪ Really good to spend the night here, though.

That'd be really interesting.

(birds cawing) (waves crashing) (upbeat rock music) What a memorable trip this is turning out to be, seeing places I've dreamed of visiting for years.

♪ I was born in Enniskillen in the northwest of Ireland and at the age of 20 I went to acting school in London.

But throughout all my career I've been coming back home to Ireland.

♪ I've reached the market town of Listowel to catch up with a new friend, Billy Keane, in the pub he owns.

I was introduced to Billy by his famous cousin, the broadcaster, Fergal Keane.

♪ We've had storms, we've had sunshine, we've had all kinds of stuff, but as the man says in Ireland, "When the going gets tough you can always head for the high stool," and I'm delighted to be in here, in a pub at last with yourself.

The pub is a very special place I suppose.

Certainly in Ireland it's the kinda-- a real hub of the community, and people come in and they find out about things.

It's a parliament in a way.

You might have some poor fella who's at home and he doesn't get a word in.

This is his--this is his stage and he talks away.

And there's a great camaraderie in a pub.

(Adrian) And this isn't just any pub.

It's arguably one of Ireland's most famous.

It's named after Billy's dad, John B. Keane, who was the original owner.

John was one of Ireland's most famous playwrights.

(contemplative music) John tells of how the wild and rugged backdrop of Ireland provided much insight for his work.

But it was the pub which he ran throughout his literary career that gave him most inspiration.

(unintelligible).

This all began when they introduced sandwiches -into the pub.

-Nonsense, rubbish.

You're always getting on about sandwiches.

(Adrian) John would listen to his customers and their life stories played out in front of him.

(man) I'm a bit of a matchmaker.

(John) How many marriages now are you responsible for?

To tell the truth, I've lost count, but I know I'm directly responsible for 224 children.

(Billy) It was the sense of maybe the wildness in the Irish people that I--I truly believe were a pagan race all the time, even though we have the trappings of Christianity -occasionally.

-It's only a veneer really.

And I suppose in the pub is probably where you see the true sense of paganism.

-Yeah.

-So I think the landscape that Dad lived in and that I'm lucky enough to live in here now as well, it lent itself to that wildness and to that kind of-- maybe a sense of escapism from duty and from religion and conformity, and it just lets you go wild, you know?

-Yeah, yeah.

-And you're part -of that wildness really.

-A sense of freedom.

(Billy) A sense of freedom, yeah.

(Adrian) Today the pub remains central to Irish life.

(Billy) There's a spot over there, it seems to be the wedding spot, because what happens is, like, people come in and they say, "That's the first time we met was right there."

I know you have Tinder and all those things, -but there were--like, this is-- -Yeah, this is the real Tinder.

(Billy) It is like it.

-Sláinte.

-Good man.

(atmospheric music) (Adrian) Good stories, good friends, and a nice pint of Guinness.

My journey continues as I head to the wild landscape of the Aran Islands off the Galway Coast.

To get there I pass one of Ireland's most unusual and interesting terrains.

The lunar landscape of the Burren is both rugged and serene.

The formations date back 350 million years to a tropical sea.

♪ In the intervening it's thought the Burren has been caught in two glacial advances, which have shaped and polished its rocky expanse.

♪ It's now recognized, along with the neighboring Cliffs of Moher, as a UNESCO Geopark due to its unique habitat, which hosts an abundance of plant life.

♪ From here it's a short ferry trip to get to the Aran Islands.

♪ Hi, folks, welcome aboard the Aran Islands Express for our trip to Inishmore.

♪ (Adrian) The Aran Islands are one of the few places in Ireland that have remained virtually unchanged for centuries.

(dramatic music) Even some of the local wildlife is as old as the surroundings.

These common lizards, which are an ancient species of animal, are the only reptile native to Ireland.

Many tourists come to escape everyday life.

The population here is small.

It's a place lost in time.

♪ Years ago living on these rugged and remote islands was a constant struggle.

I'm meeting Cyril O'Flaherty, an artist who was born and bred here, to find out what island life is like today.

Tourism does seem to be the main stay of the island these days, and we-- we were on the boats coming out and there's a lot of people from all over the world.

(Cyril) Yeah, when the tourists come I call them the swallows, you know, the swallows or the cuckoos.

You see them in spring and then by September they're all gone again.

(contemplative music) The world is changing I suppose.

I think you'll see a lot of people moving back to islands.

♪ (Adrian) Wow.

What an amazing spot.

-It is.

-What's that headland called -up there, Cyril?

-That's pointy Fair Head, the one that comes out at the bottom where the wave is breaking.

-It's a very wild place.

-Yeah.

(Cyril) Bit of caverns there, there's a wave there, you know?

-Yeah, yeah.

-See that in winter now the big ones go up about 25, 30 feet, well above that--that headland and it'll come right over the corner.

There's cliffs to the west there and there's stones quarried on top of the cliff, where a big wave has come up every now and then and it's hit it and it's actually taken limestone slabs like this and tossed them on top.

That's over about almost a 200-foot cliff.

(Adrian) You don't mess about with the sea.

(Cyril) No, you do not-- respect, respect, oh yeah.

You have to respect.

(waves crashing) (Adrian) Scattered around the island are the ruins of many Celtic churches and forts.

The most famous is the incredible Dún Aengus perched 300 feet above the sea on the cliff edge.

(dramatic music) The origins of this 14-acre hillfort aren't fully known, but legend suggests it was created by the mythological race of the Fir Bolgs after they sought refuge on the island in the 1st century AD.

Others believe it was built and occupied originally in the Iron Age.

♪ Once described as the most magnificent and barbaric monument in Europe, it's entirely surrounded by a dense band of jagged upright stones.

♪ The perfect way to stop potential invaders.

♪ I've been exploring the whole fact that, you know, these islands were the M1 of the ancient world.

There was--it was a route that led all the way up to Norway here, back through these islands, into the Mediterranean, the coast of North Africa, -and so forth.

-We have evidence of long-distance trade as well, you know.

This year, for instance, there's a mound (indistinct) and there's pottery found there that made it all the way from Scotland, and that's during the Neolithic period.

(Adrian) So this would've been a really, really busy place, rather than the kind of-- the empty landscape -we see today.

-That we see today.

Population would've been greater as well.

In 1821, there were over 2,500 people living on the islands.

Today we're down to about 850, 900.

The golden period I think for us was the monastic period -on these islands.

-Yes, yes, it was.

(Cyril) 14 monasteries and a link to Rome.

Enda, who was a patron saint of the island, was after the papacy of Rome, and popes had made their way to here on pilgrimage.

Personally I believe these were geezers, you know, or the desert, going into the desert.

Coming from that early-- early Syria and the idea of removing yourself from all society to find yourself.

You know, I suppose if you can't know yourself, how can you appreciate anyone else?

(Adrian) Yeah, so this idea of going west, the furthest west you could go in the known world... -Yeah.

-...to then kind of live in isolation and find yourself.

There's a little bit of that still going on this day, even though it might be in a different sense.

(Cyril) People find themselves in Ireland.

You can't run away from yourself.

I find who people who come here and live here, they change.

The name itself, Aran, so it's "aran" and eve for a kidney.

"Aran" is the old Irish word for your kidney.

It's known as aran of Enda, the kidney of the saints, and the metaphorical term I think in there is that you came to be cleansed.

The kidney cleanses us and Aran cleanses you, and when you leave you could be a very different person, yeah, and it might take some time.

Some people end up here for a lifetime, you know, so you watch out.

(pleasant music) (Adrian) Island life is very different to the life I lead, but I can see its appeal.

I have a great respect for those who live a more remote existence.

♪ I'll definitely be back.

But for now as I travel on up the western coast, I feel like I'm getting closer to home.

♪ I spent many family holidays in this part of the world, in County Sligo and Donegal.

♪ And while it holds fond memories for me, it's also famous for a 16th century tragedy.

(solemn music) ♪ Here we are in County Sligo on Streedagh Beach, beautiful Streedagh Beach.

On the 6th of September, 1588, three Spanish galleons from the Spanish Armada, the Juliana, the La Lavia, and the Santa Maria de Visón passed this point and thought they could beach here.

What they didn't know was that out there there's a reef and the three ships floundered on the reef and 1,200 Spanish sailors and soldiers lost their lives.

♪ 300 managed to survive, and under the guidance of Captain Don Francisco de Cuellar managed to make their way out of Ireland and back to Spain, where he wrote an incredible account of their whole journey.

It must've been a terrible sight, though, for the people to come down here and see 1,200 bodies wasted on this beautiful bay.

(waves crashing) ♪ Now I happen to know that Captain Francisco is not the only castaway to find himself in this part of Ireland.

My good friend and chef Piero Melis arrived here 22 years ago and set up a restaurant.

Originally from Sardinia, the culinary gifts from the bountiful seas here are one of the reasons Piero never went home.

So this is a typical Sardinian dish, but you're working here on the west coast of Ireland.

(Piero) We have the best of the best that you can get anywhere in the world.

We have the lobsters here coming from Mullaghmore Bay.

These clams are from Lissadell.

For me to find this produce here that it reminds me that I can do all the cooking that we normally do in Sardinia.

-We have the shallot.

-Mm, my favorite.

(Piero) And sun-dried tomatoes, fully sun-dried tomatoes.

-Yeah.

-Put a bit of garlic.

That looks good.

(Piero) Now we're gonna add the fregula.

Okay, and then we start adding the--the stock.

Wee bit of tomato sauce.

(Adrian) Ah, colore.

-Like mama.

-Bella colore.

(Piero) Now we go with the clams.

The clams are still absolutely fresh.

Now it's time for the lobster to go.

-Mm.

-And this is already cooked lobster, so we don't need to leave it there too long because-- -Yeah.

-...you don't want to overcook it.

Okay, perfect.

(ambient music) (Adrian) Seafood is big business in Ireland.

There's around 2,500 vessels fishing the Irish seas.

♪ It's an industry that brings in 1.5 billion Euros every year.

♪ The European lobster that we're about to tuck into is one of the most valuable species landed by the Irish fleet.

♪ Mm.

Mm!

-Beautiful texture.

-Lovely texture.

That's lovely.

Al dente like a pasta.

How did you end up coming here?

(Piero) I used to work in the oyster bar with a guy from (indistinct).

I said I'll do it for the three months for the summer.

-Yeah.

-And then it's 24 years later.

(Adrian) 24 years later, but something must've happened -to keep you here.

-Well, I met a beautiful woman, a fantastic wife, so she kept me here.

-It's always the way, huh?

-The rest is history, -it's always the way.

-And the rest is history.

-Salute, salute.

-Salute, salute.

(Adrian) Mm.

Next: I meet a surfing pioneer who still rides the wild Atlantic waves.

But will he convince me to take to the seas?

-I'm too thin-skinned.

-You're talking like -an old man now.

-And I'm at one of the most scenic parts of Ireland where I visit the resting place of an Irish literary legend.

I'm Adrian Dunbar and I'm touring the Irish coasts... (dramatic music) ...reconnecting with the landscape and its people.

♪ This part of my trip is nearing the end and I've come to Rossnowlagh and its wonderful beach on the Donegal coast.

(energetic music) It's a place I first visited in the 1960s when I was just 10 years old.

But it was in the 1970s that I first came across the surfers and a particular Barry Britton.

Barry was just a young lad when he started surfing.

♪ But it turns out he was pretty good at it.

Today he still rides the waves like a pro.

Over the years Ireland has become a surfer's paradise, the west coast in particular with its many beaches, reefs, and headlands.

Its exposed location to the turbulent Atlantic causes a swell for year-round waves.

♪ Barry is one of the founding fathers of Irish surfing and his family are part of its history.

In 1948, his parents opened the Sandhouse Hotel.

And after discovering surfing on a trip to California in the early '60s, his mother brought it back home to Ireland.

(Barry) She looked out and seeing all this commotion on the beach, you know, the surf-- surf scene and surfboards and all this strike and she was looking.

She says, "I don't understand this at all."

She says--she says, "We have far better waves at home.

Look at these.

Let's turnabout in these waves here."

So she--she says-- She ordered up a couple of surfboards then.

-Right.

-So the hotel, she thought it'd be a great attraction for the guests, 'cause-- And she had five sons.

Soon as we set eyes on those surfboards, we turned into a bunch of beach bums, all right.

And she always regretted bringing these surfboards back.

Just ruined her boys.

(Adrian) By 1968, the hotel had made surfing a success, and Barry's dad set up an annual surfing competition on this very beach.

It still runs to this day.

(Barry) Some surfer (indistinct) you get from a--don't know, was it the (indistinct) that come after?

Spray of the water or what it is.

-Yeah.

-Natural high.

(Adrian) Natural high, yeah.

(Barry) When you get that thrill standing up on that surfboard there's nothing like it.

I feel like a 16 year old again.

(waves crashing) (Adrian) As amazing as Barry's making it sound, I'm not entirely convinced at having a go.

(Barry) You come in for a surf?

I have a wetsuit might fit you, you know?

(Adrian) Yeah, I know, you-- you've been trying to get me up on a board for years, Barry.

-Come on, Jesus.

-I'm too thin-skinned.

(Barry) You're talking like an old man now.

(Adrian) Well, all right then, I'll tell you what.

Do you have a board and a suit, do ya?

(Barry) I have, I have a spare suit and I'll-- Be about the right size wouldn't it?

(Adrian) Yeah, it would be about the right size, but it's looking a bit messy out there today.

I mean, you know, is there any waves?

(Barry) That's a bit rough, all right, isn't it?

-It is a bit rough, aye.

-Just the outwinds not the right direction, you know?

-Yeah, right.

-Need the wind more offshore.

(Adrian) Well, this is it, you see, when the winds-- (Barry) The next day it's offshore, I'm expecting you to be on the ball.

(Adrian) I will, I'll be on the ball, definitely.

-I'll come up here.

-Wanna get a beer?

(Adrian) Oh, that'll be a good crack.

(atmospheric music) I'm ending this part of my coastal tour and some may say I've saved the best for last.

County Sligo in the northwest of Ireland is a slice of heaven.

Beautiful mountains, awe-inspiring land, and dramatic coasts.

It's here that Ireland's most distinctive mountain stands proud.

Benbulbin is over 1,700 feet high.

♪ Dubbed Ireland's very own Table Mountain, it was formed during the Ice Age when large parts of the Earth were under glaciers.

For me it's a special place.

It was the inspiration for much of the work of a man who called this area "the land of your heart's desire."

One of Ireland's greatest poets, Nobel Prize winner, W.B.

Yeats.

He's buried in the shadow of the mountain in Drumcliffe Churchyard.

(contemplative music) His final poem, "Under Benbulbin," describes beautifully what has become his resting place, a land that is now known as Yeats Country.

♪ "Under bare Ben Bulben's head in Drumcliff Churchyard Yeats is laid.

An ancestor was rector there long years ago.

A church stands near, by the road an ancient cross.

No marble, no conventional phrase, on limestone quarried near the spot by his command these words are cut: Cast a cold eye on life, on death, horseman, pass by."

♪ Next time: It's quite deep here, isn't it?

(man) It's steep, all right.

(Adrian) I'm on a hair-raising rope bridge visiting a 400-year-old fishery that's built on a tiny rock.

I visit the breathtaking gardens that have been voted one of the top ten in the world.

(man) We're surrounded by these eucalyptus.

(Adrian) The only place I've seen eucalyptus that big is in Australia, they're massive.

Also: It's extraordinary, isn't it?

The otherworldly of the Giant's Causeway, magnificent in both formation and legend.

(man) This is where you can see the giant's house.

(dramatic music) ♪ (whooshing) (bright music)