Looking for Irish Roots in the Spectacular Northwest

Prehistory, history and mythology; glorious mountains and gentle rolling hills; literature and art, the northwest of the Republic of Ireland has it all.

I went there searching for lost relatives and found a place that would have grabbed my heart, whether or not it had little Irish blood flowing through it.

My brother, my two nephews and I met in Dublin from various parts of the globe, to attend a family reunion with kin we'd never heard of, let alone met. Our destination was Ballyshannon, County Donegal.

After spending a few days in Dublin, we rented a car and headed to Sligo Town (County Sligo), known as the entry to the northwest.

County Sligo has a fine variety of mountain, lake and coastal scenery. Its history dates back 6000 years to the arrival of the Neolithic farmers who, with their stone axes, felled the forests to make room for tilled fields and villages and to build their massive megalithic monuments to the dead.

County Sligo is also known as Yeats country, in memory of one of Ireland 's most famous literary sons William Butler Yeats and his family. William was the 1923 winner of the Nobel Prize for literature and his brother Jack was an internationally renowned painter. Their father, John, was also a noted painter. Between them, they've captured the beauty of Sligo on canvas and in poetry.

The town of Sligo began as a settlement in the 9th century and grew to a small town in the 12th century when the Normans settled here. Today Sligo, with a population of 18,000, is more a commercial centre than a stop on the tourist map.

One night we stayed with friends, just out of Sligo, close to the tiny community of Cliffony. We were in sight of Ben Bulben Mountain with its striking tabletop profile, and Knocknarea Mountain on whose summit sits a huge unexcavated grave mound, said to be the tomb of Queen Maeve. Legend has it that this Celtic warrior queen is buried standing in full battle dress; spear in hand, facing her enemies even in death.

For those interested in megalithic cemeteries, a visit to Carrowmore and Carrowkeel is a must. These two cities of the dead between them once contained well over 200 passage tombs, some of them dating back to 4000 BC. Carrowmore is easily accessible and has an interpretation centre. Carrowkeele sits on a nearby mountaintop and is connected by sight to Queen Maeve's tomb. Eerily isolated, we found Carrowkeele quite mystical and outstandingly beautiful.

We arrived in Ballyshannon with a great deal of anticipation for it was here that the family reunion was to take place. Located in County Donegal, Ballyshannon sits on the banks of the River Erne and overlooks a landscape dotted with hills, lakes and forests. Created by Royal Charter in 1613, Ballyshannon is one of Ireland 's oldest inhabited towns.

Our connection to Ireland was through our paternal grandfather who had immigrated to New Zealand in 1895 at age 17. He died in his early 30s and, as far as we could find out, had very little or no contact with his family in Ireland. We travelled with two photographs taken in the 1960s by my late father. On the back of one, he noted ‘Tommy Whitten outside his house in Ballyshannon'. On the back of the other photograph it said ‘Tommy Whitten beside the Whitten Bridge'.

Numerous conversations, and many a pint of Guinness, in many a pub led us to Kinlough, a small village just a few kilometres east of Ballyshannon. My father had it wrong – Tommy Whitten lived in Kinlough not Ballyshannon.

We found the house with the help of the local publican who, incidentally, was also the funeral director. A neighbour told us that Tommy had died two years earlier and had been a bachelor all his life. Although the Kinlough graveyard was the resting place for several Whittens, we never found a living relative that shared our name. And we never found the Whitten Bridge. We suspect that was just one of my father's famous travel stories.

Slieve League sea cliffs

After the reunion, we drove north to Donegal town. This area was settled as early as 2000 BC with the Vikings establishing a base here in the 9th century. The Celtic chieftains, the O'Donnells became the ruling dynasty from 13th until the 17th century when they were defeated in battle during the flight of the Irish earls, marking the end of the old Gaelic order. The O'Donnell castle, built in the 15th century, has been restored and is well worth a visit. Donegal is also known for its fine quality tweed.

Leaving Donegal town we headed to the northern coast of Donegal Bay. Narrow, switch back roads, sheer cliffs, panoramic mountain and sea views, road signs in Irish – or no signs at all – and asking directions made getting there half the fun. “Aye laddie, if I were goin' there, I wouldn't be startin' from here,” said one local farmer as we tried to find the road to Slieve League and the sea cliffs.

It's a daunting drive and I was glad not to be behind the wheel as we ascended by switchback along the cliff edge. Stretching 48 kilometres into the Atlantic and 19 kilometres across at the widest point, these cliffs are well worth the trip and the wild and windy walk along their ridge once you get there.

We continued north through tiny villages with Irish names like Gaorth Dobhair and Gorta Choirce (Gweedore and Gortahork on the map).

The coastal village of Dunfanaghy was our most northern stop. Just west of the village is the Dunfanaghy Workhouse a grim reminder of the hardships of the Irish famine. At the height of the famine 10,000 desperate people throughout Ireland were forced to live in workhouses like Dunfanaghy.

In all, we only spent 10 days in the northwest of Ireland but it seemed much longer. After all, we had travelled back through the mists of time. Through the lives of our forebears, the Whittens of Kinlough; through the history pages of Vikings and Celtic chiefs like Hugh O'Donnell; and through the ancient burial grounds of the Neolithic people.

We went seeking family connections but Ireland has it all - history and a sense of timelessness, dynamic cities, picture postcard towns and villages, breath-taking and unspoiled landscapes, and hospitality par excellence. What more could you ask for?