House in Lagacurry

Explorer Tom Doagh Famine Village jumps straight from the 1970s back to the 1840s. I suspect the timeline took a very short cut to get there. It feels like a museum that skipped a few centuries just to save space.

Explorer Tom Outbuilding in Lagacurry is a rare survivor, still thatched and working hard since the 1880s. It’s not some grand mansion, but seeing it maintain its original roof and function keeps me grinning. Those square-headed doors have seen more honest labour than most palaces.

Explorer Tom Magheranaul Wedge Tomb has a single roofstone covering its gallery, with an hour-glass hole bored right through the closing stone. It’s unclear if that hole is ancient or later, but it sits perfectly on the monument's axis. A real head-scratcher hidden in the pasture.

Explorer Tom Meeting House Bridge is a c. 1800 double-arch affair with roughly squared rubble voussoirs that look like they were thrown together in a hurry. It’s actually plastered to match the nearby church boundary wall, which feels like one hell of a commitment to local aesthetics.

Explorer Tom Five Finger Strand is all wild sand dunes and rocky fingers reaching out like a desperate hand for help. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel tiny and gloriously unimportant. Bring a pen pal, they'll be jealous.

Explorer Tom Lag Graveyard lies in a natural enclosure of sandhills north of the Trawbreaga Bay channel. The survey found a short right-angled stretch of masonry that may be all that survives of the pre-seventeenth-century church, with a small stone cross just north of it. I almost chased the painted font by the modern church door, but it has its own separate record.

Explorer Tom Bawn in Carrickabraghy has a rare witness in writing: a Plantation-era account says Lieutenant Hoan had finished a lime-and-stone bawn while bound to rebuild the castle. The castle stood on a seashore promontory. I would like to match that old sentence to the broken walls, without giving every surviving stone to Hoan.

Explorer Tom Carrickabraghy Castle sits on a rock where the Atlantic probably splashes right up its nose. I bet a Viking once stood there, held his shield high, and shouted 'we live here now' while trying not to slip on the wet stones.

Explorer Tom Children's playground in County Donegal claims a poet fell into the nearby ditch while reciting verse about mud. He wrote a sonnet about the stench. Bring wellies and low expectations, but leave delighted anyway.

Explorer Tom Nancy's Barn serves fish that looks like it hasn't moved since the Ice Age. It's open until five, so hurry up or you'll miss the closing time chaos.

Explorer Tom Glashedy Island is chilling next to Carrickabraghy Castle, probably mocking its grandeur from across the water. It looks like it took a nap and forgot to wake up. Best enjoyed with a bag of chips and no plans.

Explorer Tom Ballyliffin Hotel number one is probably the quiet one. See if you can find a room with a view of nothing but sky for peace.