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Travel Celtic Ireland and Scotland in Style and Comfort.
New 2010 Tours & Dates Announced!
Small group custom, escorted tours of Ireland and Scotland, 8 people or less, starting at only $4665.
Call us toll-free at 888-648-8893 or email Sam@RisingRoadTours.com
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St. Patrick's Day Virtual Tour More Virtual Tours of Christmas in Ireland, Scotland, |
Rising Road Tours specializes in custom, escorted small-group tours to Ireland and the islands and highlands of Scotland. At Rising Road Tours, we offer you an adventurous, sophisticated, personalized experience of the roads less traveled throughout Ireland and Scotland. Relax and enjoy the flexibility, TLC, and extensive knowledge and experience you should expect from a custom guided tour of the highest quality. Your guide, Dr. Samuel Couch, has been leading students, friends, and small group tours to Ireland and Scotland since 1984. His background as a professor of Irish Studies programs lends unparalleled insight into the geography, history, and personality of Celtic Ireland and Scotland that you simply won't find anywhere else. |
Following are the small-group escorted tours we have developed over the years. These tours have been enjoyed by many happy travelers. Past participants enjoyed the planned tour offerings but also wanted to add city visits before or after our outlined itineraries. We are happy to accomodate those requests. The suggested tours of Ireland and Scotland have been crafted with the same care, attention to detail, and personalized experience you would expect if you had designed a custom tour of your own - plus you don't need to spend time poring over maps and dealing with the myriad details of planning a custom trip. We've done it all for you! Our tour itineraries are optimal for 4 to 8 participants, however, this is simply a recommendation. We are happy to create tours of groups from one to one hundred.
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A Taste of Ireland
Travel back in time for two weeks in rural Ireland. Explore the Ireland less traveled - the Land of Saints and Scholars. This tour is designed to provide the traveler with a bird's-eye view of rural Ireland not usually experienced by travelers on traditional tours. Our goal is to learn first hand about the culture, tradition, history (and prehistory), music, art, and lifestyle of those people still living in the Irish countryside. Although we will visit a few cities to learn more about Irish history, our main focus will be on the non-urban Irish citizens and how they maintain ancient traditions in a very modern world. |
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A Taste of Scotland
On this special adventure, we pack as much of "must-see" and off-the-beaten-path Scotland as we can into fourteen days. Rising Roads will bring you blooming heather and spectacular autumn colors. |
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Celtic Sampler: A Taste of Ireland & Scotland
The tour may start in either Shannon or in Edinburgh. This itinerary begins in Shannon. The itinerary for a tour beginning in Edinburgh simply would be reversed. All itineraries are tentative and may be adjusted to suit the needs of each particular group. |
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Ireland North and South
No, this is not an "across the pond" Civil War Heritage Tour. On this Irish adventure, the tour visits important sites in Irish history, both ancient and modern. We visit the World Heritage site at the Giant's Causeway in Bushmills (with a side trip to the Bushmills Distillery); we spend a few days in Derry, home of the Irish Civil Rights movement; on our way down to Dublin from Northern Ireland, we stop at the ancient passage tomb, Newgrange; in Dublin, our excursions take us to the Guinness Brewery, the Jameson Distillery and Kilmainham Gaol. |
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The "Magic" Rings of Ireland
On the southwestern tip of the island, The Rings of Ireland will capture our minds and hearts. This tour traverses some of the most well-travelled areas of the island. Dingle Peninsula, the Ring of Kerry, and the Ring of Beara provide the centerpiece for this tour. |
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Donegal Southwest by Northeast For 2010, Rising Road Tours is pleased to renew this tour exploring the wilds of Donegal. In the northwest, our adventures will take us to both ends of the largest and furthest north of the counties – Donegal. On this tour, we will visit traditional venues on the Sliabh Laeg and the Inishowen Peninsulas. Based in the seaside village of Gleanncholmcille, the cultural, historic, and artistic treasures of southwest Donegal will be within our grasp. Inishowen, our northwest base, is one backdrop for the Leon Uris novel, Trinity.
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Historic Ireland
We'll take you to Counties Sligo and Donegal on a trip through the past. We also visit venues where the crafts and working heritage of over 7,000 years of continuous human experience are kept alive and vibrant in the Ireland of today. We visit sites ranging from prehistoric megalithic tombs and monuments to modern fishing, farming, and woolens producers. |
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Saints and Giants
Come to the landscapes familiar to St. Patrick, one of Ireland's patron saints, and to Fionn macCumhail, the mythical giant credited with creating the Giant's Causeway. These two historical and legendary figures provide the backdrop for our travels through Counties Antrim and Armagh and nearby areas of Northern Ireland. We will visit both ancient sites of mystery as well as historical landmarks of faith among the green hills of Ireland. |
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Into The West
Come along with us, and be transported into a real-life experience of the vivid artistic and literary history of Ireland. Based in Connemara, we'll visit many sites across Counties Galway and Clare, including Galway City, Kilfenora, Kilmacduagh, the Aran Islands (if weather permits), and Thoor Ballylee - the home of Nobel laureate poet William Butler Yeats. |
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Christmas in Ireland 2010
This tour begins in County Galway, taking us through the Connemara region for visits to Kylemore Abbey, Aughnanure Castle, and the charming seaside village of Clifden. From there we travel through County Mayo on our way to County Sligo and a night of Irish poetry and song, with a stop at the sea kelp baths at Kilcullens along the way. From Sligo we go to County Donegal, a land of over 7,000 years of continuous habitation with many historical sites to visit. We round off our trip to Christmas in Ireland with a first-hand experience of Joyce's "dear, dirty Dublin". We'll make a day trip out from the city to visit the ancient passage tombs at Bru na Boinne, the most famous of which is Newgrange. Our visit coincides with a very famous event which occurs each month of December at the tomb. |
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In The Steps of St. Columba
For those interested in ecclesiastical history, this tour visits sites in both Ireland and Scotland associated with St. Columba, founder of Irish missions in the fifth and sixth centuries. Columban priests are credited with producing world-famous illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. This adventure starts in Gleann Cholm Cille, Co. Donegal, Valley of the Dove of the Church (Columba). Here we will participate in Turas Columcille, the pilgrimage round of St. Columba, which has taken place continuously since 594 in this valley on the Saint's Feast Day, June 9. If time permits, the group also may make a one-day pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory, an island in Lough Derg, where St. Patrick wrestled with demons. From Ireland, the group travels to Iona off the west coast of Scotland, where Columba was exiled and died. This holy island is a place of contemplation and prayer for people of all faiths. |
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Birthplaces of Golf
Golfers will appreciate the opportunity to try links and inland golf courses in both Ireland and Scotland, the TWO countries who claim to have invented the game. This tour starts in Ireland where we will have the opportunity to play courses in both the Republic and Northern Ireland. Golf courses may include Oughterard, Bundoran, Murvagh, and Powerscourt in the Republic; and Bushmills, Royal Portrush and Portstewart in Northern Ireland. In Scotland, we base in East Neuk and play courses in and around St. Andrews. |
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Adventure Tour: Highland Hill Walking
Intrepid hill walkers will enjoy this excursion across the Highlands of northwest Ireland and Scotland. Our trip begins in Ireland for hill walking in Donegal. One highlight of the Irish adventure is trekking overland to One Man's Pass on Sliabh Laeg, the highest sea cliffs in Europe. After five days in Ireland, we head to Glasgow where we meet with our partners at Wilderness Scotland, who specialize in treks across the Scottish Highlands. Tour size is limited to ten participants. |
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Scotland's Wild North: Shetland and Orkney Isles
Join us for a once-in-a-lifetime tour of the Shetland and Orkney Islands. Our adventure to the great island wilds of Scotland features sites of ancient historical significance, including settlements of the very earliest of Scottish inhabitants. Our excursions take us to Norse farmsteads, Stone Age settlements, prehistoric stone rings and much more. We will venture through seven thousand years of continuous history to experience the unique heritage and spirit of independence of Orkney and Shetland. For the nature lovers on the tour, we will see multitudes of seabirds, otters, and other wildlife distinctive to island habitats. |
Unrivaled experience and knowledge of travel in Ireland and Ireland.
Rising Road Tours offers you an adventurous, sophisticated, personalized experience of the roads less traveled throughout Scotland and Ireland. Relax and enjoy the flexibility, TLC, and extensive knowledge and experience you should expect from a custom guided tour of the highest quality. Your time will not be spent waiting in airports or sitting in buses. Our escorted tours of Scotland will take you to see the hidden gems - the history, rich literary and artistic heritage, age-old crafts and ways of life, and glimpses into an ancient past that predates the pyramids.
Enjoy your trip in a small group at a relaxed pace. You have the freedom to participate in the many sight-seeing opportunities we can guide you through, or simply bask by the fireplace - with Rising Road Tours, the choice is yours.
If our suggested tours don't suit you, please contact us for information on arranging a custom tour to fit your calendar and special interests - for example: Celtic music, golf, castles and manor houses, a wedding or honeymoon, country farms and B&B's, distilleries and breweries, gardens, and more. We have the background, experience and knowledge to create any tour you desire.
In the News:
Vacation Savings: Are We There Yet? Travel-book publisher Pauline Frommer talks with host Stacey Vanek-Smith about where good vacation deals can be found this summer, on NPR's Marketplace Money, July 3 2009. Read the story or listen to the podcast.
Top Ten Reasons to Travel Now, by expert travel advisor Ed Hewitt of The Independent Traveler.
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Rising Road Tours
828-648-8893 (Tel) ~ 888-648-8893 (Toll-free)
sam@risingroadtours.com
P.O.Box 9322, Moscow, ID 83843 USA
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TOUR DETAILS: A Taste of Ireland | Historic Ireland | Into the West | Saints & Giants | Christmas
in Ireland
Highland Hill Walking | In The Steps of St. Columba | Birthplaces of Golf | North and South
Donegal Southwest by Northeast | Ireland's Rings | Scotland's Wild North: Shetland and Orkney Isles