Twelve days in Ireland. We explored the north and north-west, hugging the coast, then travelled east to see a friend in Drogheda. On the way back to Belfast and home, we visited Newgrange. I’ve wanted to go there ever since seeing a photograph of its beautiful carved stones many years ago (on a Clannad album cover?!).

Newgrange is a huge burial mound constructed 5000 years ago, long before metal tools were used in Ireland – which means all the Newgrange carvings were made using stone on stone. Not so much carvings as peckings. How long did they take to make?