Setting out on foot through some of the remoter recesses of the Irish landscape, Dermot Somers goes on the trail of seven journeys from Irish history and mythology. From climbing the most precipitous pilgrimage in medieval Europe to the needle-like summit of Skellig Michael, to a winter crossing of the snowbound Wicklow Mountains in the tracks of Red Hugh O'Donnell & Art O'Neill, Dermot explores the landscape of seven adventures from our past.

Programme 1 - Cill Mhantáin - Wicklow in Winter
Crossing the Wicklow Mountains & heading for the snowbound summit of Lugnaquilla, Dermot Somers walks the landscape of one of the great tragic journeys in Irish History - the flight of Red Hugh O'Donnell & Art O'Neill. Dermot evokes the memory of these two Gaelic Princes through some of the finest hill walking in Ireland.

Programme 2 - On the Trail of the Táin
From a cave deep under the ringforts of Connaught's ancient capital, Cruachan - Dermot Somers heads back in time & into the Táin. He walks east & deep into the Cooley Mountains on the trail of Queen Maeve and her obsession with the Great Brown Bull of Cooley - and finds the modern landscape still peppered with names & places that feature in the bloody pages of this Iron Age epic.

Programme 3 - Na Gaibhilte - The Galtee Mountains
Trekking on foot from the Glen of Aherlow into the Galtee Mountains and some of the most underrated mountain scenery in Ireland, Dermot Somers tells the story of two formidable writers whose pens clashed over the recording of Irish history when much of our past was in danger of being forgotten forever.

Programme 4 - Wild Mournes - Walking, work and stone.
In a personal tribute to long forgotten men, Dermot Somers treks over 25 miles through the magnificent Mountains of Mourne - using as his guide one of the great feats of stonework in Ireland - the Mourne Wall.

Programme 5 - A Journey South - Sligo to the Slieve Blooms
On a very personal journey, Dermot Somers treks south from the Briclieve Mountains to the Slieve Blooms - passing through the landscape of his childhood. He picks up the story that fired his young imagination - Red Hugh O'Donnell's winter march to Kinsale.

Programme 6 - To the Summit of Skellig Michael
Skellig Michael was beyond the edge of the known world and its needle-like pinnacle was the ultimate goal for medieval pilgrims. Dermot Somers explores Skellig from sea to summit tracing the thread of extreme pilgrimage down through the centuries.

Programme 7 - On Sweeney's Trail - The North Antrim Coast
Through a humid Northern July, Dermot Somers walks the coastline of Antrim, haunted by the ghost of Sweeney, the poetic birdman who rose from the clash of Pagan Ireland and Christianity.

Directed by Art O'Briain
Filmed and Produced by John Murray

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