The scenery, the tranquillity and the emptiness of Co Tyrone would inspire any artist – not to mention a growing band of hikers, canoeists, cyclists and anglers, writes MAL ROGERS
IMPROBABLE AS IT SOUNDS, The Teddy Bears' Picnicand Red Sails in the Sunsetboth originated in Tyrone. But the lyrical success of the Omagh songwriter Jimmy Kennedy isn't unique in the county. For such a sparsely populated area Tyrone has nurtured an impressive number of luminaries. I need only mention Brian Friel, Flann O'Brien, Benedict Kiely, Philomena Begley or Paul Brady to have you nodding in agreement – and perhaps idly speculating that they must put something in the porridge up there. Or, more likely, that the scenery, the tranquillity, the emptiness of the landscape would inspire any artist.
It certainly did the trick for Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander, a Dubliner resident in Strabane. All Things Bright and Beautifuland There Is a Green Hill Far Away– her big numbers – are locally believed to have been inspired by the Sperrin Mountains; forget about Calvary or the mystery of God's bounteous works.
Not everyone, however, has been equally taken with the Sperrins. When representatives of the London guilds – the people who gave Derry its less-than-popular prefix – visited Ulster in 1609, the lord deputy of Ireland made it his business to keep them well away, lest the remote bleakness of the area put settlers off. That same bleakness today attracts hillwalkers, hikers, canoeists, pony-trekkers, cyclists, anglers, painters and rhymers. One of the latter, the English poet Kit Wright, wrote: “When I think of peacefulness I think of the Sperrins, Bonventura the nun, and me.”
It’s not clear what the business with the nun is, but, in terms of peacefulness, Wright was spot on. And he’s officially backed up – the Sperrins, straddling some 50km along the Tyrone-Derry border, were designated an area of outstanding natural beauty last year.
The highest peak is Sawel Mountain, from the Irish Samhail Phite Méabha, meaning “likeness to Maeve’s vulva”. Whatever. Rising 678m above the B47 beyond the town of Plumbridge, Sawel’s limestone slopes make for easy climbing. Start off just to the east of Sperrin Village in the Glenelly Valley – from here you can knock off Dart Mountain in the same afternoon.
From either summit you’ll be rewarded with mellow views across mid-Ulster; plus a close-up of “montane heath” – a seemingly inhospitable terrain, but in reality home to heathers, lichens, mosses, bilberries and cowberries. In spring and summer the heathland is alive with bog cotton, mountain thyme and orchids dancing in the breeze.
Archaeology, too, lurks round every corner. Homo sapiens hibernicusfetched up in the Wee North just after the Ice Age. The area is studded with ancient remains – more than 1,000 standing stones in the Sperrins alone. To stand on a Tyrone bogland with a plaintive wind soughing in the west, it's not difficult to believe that some of the oldest man-made structures in Europe were built here.
An Creagán Heritage Centre, in Creggan, is an ideal place to begin any megalithic quest. Forty-four standing stones, dolmens and court tombs, up to 5,000 years old, lie within a 10km radius. The people responsible would have regarded the pyramids as modern monstrosities.
The rocky remains come in a variety of sculpted shapes, their exact purpose unknown. However, a desire to communicate with the we-know-not-what seems likely. Many of Tyrone’s ancient stones are aligned with celestial bodies, perhaps marking the passage of the year; others are evidently tombs.
The building of a grave is a significant step in developing a culture. If you wake up in the morning and find your husband dead beside you and your first thought isn’t, Hmm, fresh meat, then you’ve made some sort of step into the spiritual world. An Creagán centre will provide you with guides and maps around the physical features of megalithic Tyrone – pondering the metaphysical is up to you.
The Dún Ruadh tombs and stone circle are a good place to start. The circle can take a bit of finding, lurking as it does behind a farmhouse. The (very friendly) farmer whose land you have to cross assured me it was a busy enough destination. “Aye, we get two or three people a week.” Then he reminded me to look out for the oul’ bull in the field.
Beyond the Dún Ruadh graves, about 1,500m farther up the hill, another structure lies well hidden from view. The Mass Stone dates from the penal times. Today it’s equipped with large cross – and huge, evocative views across the once troubled lands of mid-Ulster.
The isolated countryside of Tyrone, largely unspoiled by the bungalows that afflict areas farther south, is ideal cycling terrain. The roads are empty, the gradients undulating – and it's a terrific way to spot wildlife: hares, deer, kestrels and buzzards thrive in this remote vastness. With Mrs Alexander still in your mind you'll hum "All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small." Maybe even The Teddy Bears' Picnic.
The Gold Cycle Route, about 50km in length, begins in Gortin. The brown Route 1 signs lead into the beguiling Glenelly Valley and through the Barnes Gap, a dramatic U-shaped glacial channel. Up through the wilds of Sawelabeg and Doraville, past a gold mine opposite the bridge at Glenlark – you can’t visit, but there certainly is gold in the hills, so look out for shiny things – and finally down Owenkillew Valley back to Gortin.
Despite the ravages of history, the weather and the Troubles, a small band of visitors always continued to holiday in Tyrone. The reason was the fishing – judged among the very best in the world. For many seasoned anglers the Sperrin region has several stretches of water in the same company as superstar rivers such as the Dee or the Spey, in Scotland. The dollaghan, a type of trout native to this region, is particularly admired for its sport. A fisherman told me: “What you want to do is fish a dry mayfly or maybe a gnat or a buzzer, depending on the season, especially if the trout start showing at the surface of an evening.” Still haven’t a clue what he was talking about.
But you don’t even need to stir out of town for a spot of angling. Strabane, the birthplace of Flann O’Brien, was at one time a byword for communal strife and urban depredation. Yet the fishing ensured that the town continued to welcome high-profile visitors.
I’ve never read anywhere what Tiger Woods made of Strabane. But, avid angler that he is, on his visit he’ll have appreciated the River Mourne babbling through the centre of the town and meeting with the River Finn to form the River Foyle. His handsome face will have creased into a smile as he realised that this serendipitous confluence of H2O has produced what is reckoned to be the finest salmon river in Ireland.
Besides the fishing, Strabane today has a certain recherché charm, as well as being home town of the families of both Davy Crockett and the US president Woodrow Wilson. These transatlantic links are explored at the unmissable Gray’s Printing Museum.
To digress for a moment, one of the unalloyed joys of visiting the North is the number of small museums devoted to the obscurest subjects. In dusty old galleries or ultramodern libraries, a body of information is available with facts so arcane that they are almost beyond trivia. You can visit beetling museums, weaving museums, farm museums, a carriage museum and a militaria museum – not forgetting Ulster American Folk Park.
Just outside Omagh, the folk park explores Ulster's many links with the US. The story is continued at Gray's Printing Museum, where the achievements of John Dunlap are appraised. The Strabane man emigrated to America, and in 1776 published the American Declaration of Independence,as well as the Pennsylvania Packet, America's first daily paper. You can take a tour of the 18th-century printing press and marvel at the collection of 19th-century printing machines and paraphernalia.
The museum also houses an eclectic treasure of unclassifiable swag, including a threepenny bit engraved with the Lord’s Prayer, a 1906 Edison light bulb, a hand grenade, a sword used by an executioner, a clockwork dancing lady and a Long Way to Tipperary bowl.
The not very friendly Winston Churchill uttered what are probably the most famous words ever said about Tyrone. In 1922 he announced to the House of Commons: “The whole map of Europe has changed, but as the deluge subsides and the waters fall short, we see the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone emerging once again.”
It seemed an unnecessarily churlish remark, especially as many men from the area had perished in the Great War. Also aesthetically wrong. Okay, there are steeples aplenty, but they lend a Constable-esque dimension to the already bucolic countryside. Allied to the captivating landscape is the opportunity to hike, horse-ride, cycle, fish, visit esoteric museums – or just walk the hills in whatever weather Tyrone has to offer you, ponder on its time-weathered stones, then head home happy.
Where to stay, eat and go on a visit to the northern county
Where to stay
The Hunting Lodge Hotel. Letterbin Road, Newtownstewart, 048-81662888. A converted 19th century schoolhouse in the heart of the wide timbered expanse of Baronscourt Estate. Double rooms from £70 (€76), or weekend break – two nights’ BB and one evening meal – £70 (€76) pps.
An Creagán Cottages. Creggan, Omagh, 048-80761112, ancreagan.com. Walking in Tyrone’s unspoilt landscape is available from your front door. Prices from £110 (€120) per cottage per weekend.
Gortin Accommodation Suite Activity Centre. 62 Main Street, Gortin, Omagh, 048-81648346, gortin.net. Four-star self-catering cottages and hostel facilities, with activities on site, from badminton to bouldering. Weekly from £240 to £400 (€260 to €435).
Where to eat
The Mellon Country Inn. 134 Beltany Road, Omagh, 048-81661224, melloncountryhotel.com. Faultless execution of local dishes in deeply agreeable surroundings make this a fine, if unchallenging, culinary experience.
The Foothills. 16 Main Street, Gortin, 048-81648157. Sturdy local food with occasional flashes of imagination.
The Derg Arms. 43 Main Street, Castlederg, 048-81671644. dergarms.com. The beef, salmon and duck served here are all former Tyrone residents – the emphasis is on the very freshest of local produce.
Where to go
Wellbrook Beetling Mill. 20 Wellbrook Road, Corkhill, Cookstown, 048-86751735, nationaltrust.org.uk. One of the few places where flax is still grown in Ireland, here you watch as the linen is pounded (or beetled) to produce the finished product.
The Ash Lee Riding Centre. 4 Carricklee Road, Strabane, 048-7879897601. Hacking up gorse-clad slopes, jumping hedges astride a bay mare or learning to find your way round a tack room are the specialities here.