On the waterfront

ALONG one of the busiest routes on the south coast of Ireland is one of the country’s most spectacular views.

The N25 heading east from Youghal and past Ardmore ploughs through miles of rich and forested Co Waterford countryside before rising up on the hills to Windgap (at An Seanchaí Bar) just before the town of Dungarvan. It’s worth stopping here — there’s even a viewing area with a lay-by — to sample the view of the estuary and its hinterland. It’s magnificent.

And Dungarvan itself, the administrative headquarters of Co Waterford, is a town which has had a turbulent history since it was first settled by the Deise tribe in the third century AD. The town is a thriving commercial and residential centre which retains its shape since it was redesigned in the early 19th century by the fifth and sixth Dukes of Devonshire when the square, new streets and a bridge linking it to Abbeyside on the far side of the Colligan river was constructed.