B1–B2 IRELAND CD Track 8 TF Activities

ADVENTURES
IN IRELAND
Have you ever considered an Irish vacation? I’ve always been
interested in the country, maybe because so many Americans
came from there – including my mom’s family. My friend
Jake and I decided it was time to visit “the old country”, but
rather than cities like Belfast and Dublin, we wanted to see
the villages and cool places in the countryside. So we flew to
Dublin Airport, rented a car and hit the road.
Damien Galeone (USA)

TITLE CHALLENGE
Choose the best title for each section
of the article. There are three options
you will not use. Alternatively, come
up with your own titles.
Dublin
THE LAND OF NATURE
THE RINGS AND MUSIC
2

A MEMORABLE ACCIDENT
ANCIENT ISLANDS
GRAVES OUT OF TIME The Conor Pass
3

CELEBRATING HALLOWEEN while we nervously looked at the valley far

THE CASTLE OF BOATING

below. However, the views were amazing:

NIGHTMARES ADVEN
gorgeous green mountains, a wide valley
TURES Leap Castle and mountain pools in craters formed by

BEAUTY ON THE EDGE

glaciers. The drive may have been scary, but
were poisoned at one dinner. In 1922, it was beautiful.

Solutions in the TF and next month
S on the Bridge website
3 _______________________________
workmen discovered a hidden dungeon
called an oubliette, a deep hole into
which prisoners were dropped and left The Dingle Peninsula is the westernmost

1 _______________________________
The first place we stopped was in County
Offaly in the Midlands, an inland region of
Ireland known for beautiful countryside,
to die. What a terrifying thought! We
didn’t see any ghosts, but we learned that
life in a 13th-century castle was not very
comfortable. We were happy to get back to
our warm and cozy room later on.
point of Ireland. It’s in County Kerry, which
has lots of famous archaeological sites. On
a misty day we hiked to a fourth-century
ruin called Staigue, which is an example
of something called a “ringfort”. The big

mountains, lakes and canals. We stayed
at a farmhouse where we had a full Irish
breakfast, which is fried eggs, black
pudding*, brown bread, juicy sausages,
fried eggs, ham and potatoes – yum! After
breakfast, we headed to Leap Castle, known
as “the most haunted castle in Ireland”.
The big stone castle stands alone in
the countryside and certainly seems
like an ideal place for ghosts: according
to our guide, hundreds of people were
murdered there, including 40 people who
2 ______________________________
Roads in the Irish countryside are
narrow and twisty, often with stone walls
or hedges*, which means two cars can’t
fit on them at the same time. This was
the case when we drove over the Conor
Pass on the way south to the Dingle
Peninsula*. The Conor Pass is a 12km stretch
of narrow road that goes over a really
high and steep mountain; and more than
once we had to pull over and let cars pass
castles in Ireland, like Leap Castle, weren’t
built until after the Anglo-Norman invasion
in the 12th century. People living in Ireland
before that protected themselves by building
circular walls of earth or stone, and around
40,000–50,000 of such ringforts once dotted
the island. Staigue is a typical example of
a stone ringfort. It’s a dry stone structure,
which means it doesn’t have mortar*.
Around Kerry we visited other stone
structures such as clocháns, which are
stone huts that look like beehives.

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Doolin
6 6
The Aran Islands
4 ______________________________
Dingle’s coast is beautiful, but no coast
of Ireland is better than the Cliffs of Moher.
The dramatic cliffs are 14km long and sit
above the Atlantic Ocean. At their tallest
point, they rise up to 214 meters.
From the cliffs we took a walk through
the Burren, a rocky landscape (the name
comes from boirinn, meaning “rocky place”).
Over 70% of Ireland’s native flower species
can be found here, as can butterflies, seals,
foxes and wild goats.
That night we stayed in a great little
village called Doolin, which is 7km north
of the cliffs. It only has a population of
about 300 people, but it’s famous for
the traditional Irish music in its pubs. We
listened and stomped our feet to musicians
playing the fiddle, flute and penny whistle*.
The Cliffs of Moher
The Dingle Peninsula
5
The Burren
NORTHERN
IRELAND
9
IRELAND
1
8 2
7 5
4 3
9
Carrowmore
5 ______________________________
From Doolin, we took a ferry to the Aran
Islands, which is one of the best places to see 6 ______________________________
On our last day, we visited Carrowmore,
what life in Ireland was like 300 years ago. All a megalithic cemetery built sometime in
of the 1,347 people who live on the islands the fourth millennium BC. These tombs were
speak Irish as their first language and use built above ground out of large stones. Our
it for everything from legal transactions guide told us that at dawn* on October 31st
to road signs (though most, of course, can the sun shines onto the stone in the main
speak English as well). This sometimes tomb’s chamber, which means that the day
made it difficult to find our way around was important for the people who built
on our rented bicycles, but the island is Carrowmore. A few thousand years later,
small enough that we couldn’t get too lost. the same date had become the Celtic
We bought some of the island’s famous festival called Samhain – the mother of
traditional fishing sweaters before taking Halloween. So the date has been important
the ferry back to the mainland. in our cultures for more than 5,000 years!
GLOSSARY* peninsula [pəˈnɪnsjələ] – a long penny whistle [ˈpeni wɪsl] – a small
black pudding [ˌblæk ˈpʊdɪŋ] – dark piece of land that sticks out into musical instrument shaped like
sausage made from pig’s blood, the sea a tube with holes, which is played
fat and grain mortar [ˈmɔːtə(r)] – a thick sticky by blowing into it
hedge [hedʒ] – a row of thick paste that is spread between dawn [dɔːn] – the time of day when
bushes along the edge of a field, bricks or stones to hold together light from the sun first appears
garden or country road buildings and structures
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