Graveyard in Letterkenny

Explorer Tom Conwal Parish Church Graveyard has been laying out its dead since the seventeenth century, with gravemarkers ranging from 1650 to the mid-twentieth century. It’s got those recumbent markers with skull and crossbone motifs that are quite the mood-setters. Go check if any of the metal railings still look sharp!

Explorer Tom Church in Letterkenny appears to stand on an older seventeenth-century parish church site. A 1654 survey mentions it in one busy breath with a Friday market, two yearly fairs, a stone house and a bridge. I can almost hear the town refusing to stand still for the surveyor.

Explorer Tom Blake’s Bar sits next door to The Central, acting like a cheeky sibling shouting over the noise. If you hear loud singing, it’s definitely them causing trouble in Upper Main Street. Ideal for a moody photo you'll pretend wasn't posed.

Explorer Tom The Brewery stands in Market Square, pulsing with foam and stories that taste better than the ale. It’s basically the beating heart of Letterkenny, bubbling over with secrets you’ll forget by morning. Spot the oldest stone and give it a name.

Explorer Tom PoleStar Monument is pointing at nothing but the sky, which is fair enough since I'm lost anyway. Get there early and have it all to yourself before some influencer shows up with a selfie stick and ruins the vibe.

Explorer Tom Battlefield in Ballyboe Lisenan in County Donegal is another patch of land where things went sideways centuries ago. Now it’s just a quiet field with a lot to say if you listen. Linger, it's not going anywhere and neither should you.

Explorer Tom Battle of Farsetmore in County Donegal is where Hugh O'Donnell kicked Shane O'Neill's backside into the River Swilly. Rumour has it a local goat watched from a cliff, heartbroken her mate picked a fight instead of romance. Give it a pat on the way past, it's had a long life.

Explorer Tom Dry Arch Monument in County Donegal is made of steel and stone, celebrating workers who probably missed all their weekends for this. It’s a shiny tribute to hard work and stubbornness. Go with someone who loves old stuff and watch them melt completely at the details.

Explorer Tom Conwal Wheeled Cross Slab is a tiny, battered fragment that survived the mess of a 1968 tidy-up. It’s just the top half of a wheeled cross, weathered smooth on the cairn. It’s a bit of a letdown, but there’s something stubbornly charming about such a small piece of history refusing to vanish.

Explorer Tom Godfrey O'Donnell Graveslab claims to be the final resting spot of a guy who died in 1258. It’s got a wheeled-cross with some fancy interlace that looks like Celtic knotting meets a bicycle wheel. The corner is broken, but the carving is still sharp enough to make you wonder if Godfrey was actually into cycling.

Explorer Tom Gregory Hill stands in County Donegal, keeping its access details firmly unknown. The name sounds like a word you’d mumble into your breakfast cereal, yet it sits there as a solid geological fact without offering a single helpful footpath.

Explorer Tom European Yew in County Donegal is a yew, which means it’s tough, old, and probably poisonous if you look at it wrong. It’s the kind of tree that survives empires and bad haircuts. Bring your own legend, I've run out, make up a story about a dragon living in its branches.