Driving Route: Travel through Tyrone & Derry

Whether you arrive in Northern Ireland by air or by ferry to Larne or Belfast, you may begin your tour by heading for Antrim town. Make your way to Antrim Castle Gardens which offers easy access to the great Lough Neagh, far and away the biggest of many big lakes in Ireland. Amongst mature and stately trees, there is an art gallery, a restored 17th century formal flower garden, ruins of an ancient castle and an even more ancient mound or motte - one of the fortresses built by the Anglo-Norman invaders eight hundred years ago.

There is a golf club near Antrim town - and a great many more along this route, each one offering an exciting course in beautiful surroundings. Less than half an hour's diversion from any point on the route will bring you to a game.

In the village of Toome you cross the River Bann, where it flows out from Lough Neagh on its way to the Antrim Coast at Coleraine. The poet Edmund Spenser in the 16th century described it as 'the fruitful, fishy Bann' and Seamus Heaney has written lovingly about the river and the lough. Look over the bridge to the right for a view of the headquarters of the Lough Neagh Fishermen's Co-operative, where a traditional fence of wattles is used to direct migrating eels into fishing nets - as they have done for thousands of years.

Stay by the edge of the lake after Toome and go through Ballyronan to The Battery and Ardboe. The Battery is on the lake shore, with a little fishing and yachting harbour and a welcoming pub. Down the road from it is Ardboe and its beautiful modern church with wrought iron sculpture on the walls. A little farther on, a signpost to Arboe Abbey and Cross shows the way to an idyllic spot on a hill overlooking the lake. The great Celtic cross, a thousand years old, is magnificent: tall and beautifully decorated with scenes from the Scriptures.

Take the road through Cookstown in the direction of Omagh, stopping for refreshment, mental and physical at An Creagan Centre, with its display on the area's abundant archaeological features, together with bog trails and walks and a restaurant and craft shop. Then go to the busy county town of Omagh, where an incomparable feast of old Ireland and America awaits you. To the north of the town you find the Ulster American Folk Park.

The park is in the beautiful surroundings of gentle hills with hazel woods. The Ulster American celebrates, by means of translocated or replica buildings from both sides of the Atlantic, the contribution of Irish emigrants to the development of the USA in the 18th and 19th centuries.

After enjoying this generous offering of history, take the Gortin Lakes Scenic Drive. The lakes, though scenic, are small but the view just around the corner from them is unique. Scenery in Ireland is generally wild and rugged and none the worse for that. But the view from Gortin is of an idyllic green and fertile valley: the Owenkillew River meanders through sheep pasture, there is a church on a hill, ancient trees and hedges and in the distance, just in case it all looks too clean and well-ordered, the moorland slopes of the Sperrin Mountains.

Go west for Newtownstewart, visit Harry Avery's Castle, a pair of massive stone towers, commanding yet one more wonderful view. Then take the lovely road that follows the River Strule to the town of Strabane, where it meets the legendary Foyle which flows beneath the city of Derry. The great Saint Colmcille founded a monastery on the hillside in a sacred oak wood - derry or doire means 'oak' in Irish. In the 17th century a group of speculators from London developed the city and renamed it. They built walls to protect it - which still survive, making the city unique in Ireland. Like Belfast, Derry is a place full of warm-hearted people and the greatest of craic.

FURTHER INFORMATION
For further information on any of the items featured above, or on the counties in general, please contact:

Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau
44 Foyle Street
Derry
BT48 6TE
Northern Ireland
Tel: 0044 (0) 28 7137 7577
Fax: 0044 (0) 28 7137 7992

Email: info@derryvisitor.com
Web: www.derryvisitor.com

Flavour of Tyrone
Killymaddy Tourist Information Centre
190 Ballygawley Road
Dungannon
Co.Tyrone BT70 1TF
Tel: 0044 (0)28 8776 7259
Fax: 0044 (0)28 8776 7911

Email: info@flavouroftyrone.com
Web: www.flavouroftyrone.com

Sperrins Tourism Ltd
The Manor House
30 High Street
Moneymore
BT70 45 7PD
Tel: 0044 (0)28 8674 7700
Fax: 0044 (0) 28 8674 7754
Email: info@sperrinstourism.com
Web: www.SperrinsTourism.com