Excerpt: "The aeroplane is man's latest invention. Through it man has become lord of the air. The steamship and steam engine had already given him victory over sea and land. Now he is complete master of the situation. One of the most delightful uses of the aeroplane is in sightseeing. Aerial tourist travel will soon become popular, as a bird's-eye view of a country is the most satisfactory of all. For several reasons, however, many will be unable...

'You've had some pretty crazy ideas in your life, Newby, but this is the craziest.' Grandmother Wanda Newby was exasperated after continuous rain, snow, and gales that knocked from her bike. Twice. To avoid other tourists, Eric Newby had decided that the depths of winter would be the very best time to explore Ireland by mountain bike. More astonishing still, he managed to persuade Wanda, his long-suffering wife and life-long co-traveller, to accompany...

A sea kayak battles the freezing Irish waters as the morning sun rises out of the countryside. On the western horizon is the pinnacle of Skellig Michael-700 feet of vertical rock rising out of exploding seas. Somewhere on the isolated island are sixth-century monastic ruins where the light of civilization was kept burning during the Dark Ages by early Christian Irish monks. Puffins surface a few yards from the boat, as hundreds of gannets wheel overhead...

Presents a memoir of the author's life near Dublin, a city that inspired his imagination and literary life and served as a backdrop for the dissatisfactions of adult years shaped by Dublin's cultural, political, architectural, and social history. "Born and bred in a small town a train ride away from Dublin, author John Banville ... saw the city as a place of enchantment when he was a child. It was first a birthday treat, the world his beloved, eccentric...

"In recent years, Ireland has enjoyed a newfound prosperity as Europe's most affluent nation. But tucked away in a far corner of the so-called "Celtic Tiger," that other enduring and authentic country--that small, hidden place of simple magic and romance--still exists. Acclaimed travel writer David Yeadon and his wife, Anne, set out to find it. On the Beara Peninsula of southwest Ireland, the Yeadons discovered their own "little lost world," an enticing...

Readers of Robert Gibbings' previous illustrated tales of river life such as "Sweet Thames Run Softly" (1940) and "Coming Down the Wye" (1942) will need no introduction to the unique style that this author uses to explore the people and places that he describes with warmth and affectionate good humour. But the real reason that his books have become so collectable is the delicate and evocative engravings with which he illustrates his subject. In "Lovely...

One man's tour of Ireland on tap; a rollicking travelogue in the tradition of Round Ireland with a Fridge and McCarthy's Bar. "Regret" is the word that best describes Evan McHugh's first taste of Guinness. For an Australian raised on Vegemite, Ireland's black brew is very much an acquired taste. But the travel-writer is committed to acquiring it. Determined to discover exactly what makes a pint of Guinness so legendary, he crosses the Emerald Isle...

It is a journey along one of the most spectacular coastlines in the world, featuring the wildlife and wild places that make it so special. As never captured before, this series features Ireland's west coast and wildlife wonders--from the Skellig Rocks to breaching humpback whales, to golden eagles, to majestic salmon, to the clash of Ireland's last surviving red deer stags.