Introduction
There are roads that lead to Rome,
But they don’t lead down to the sea;
And they take me not to my island-home,
So they are not the roads for me.

—Alasdair Alpin MacGregor, 1925


Travel to Britain and Ireland: Combine the seafaring rewards of watching sharks, dolphins, porpoises, and whales with the pleasures of exploring castles and hamlets and sipping brews in cozy, wood-panelled pubs on a small-ship cruise around Britain and Ireland, where you can view puffins, manx, shags, fulmars, shearwaters, and sea eagles. Learn to recognize the high-quality Harris tweeds produced on hand looms on the Outer Hebrides Islands and coveted by tailors in London and Oxford. Sail the historic seacoasts of England and Ireland, admiring their basalt pillars, sea lochs, caves, and rocky peaks. Visit the Forbidden Island of Rum and observe otter, deer, and the breeding sites of sea eagles. Tour ancient abbeys, Stonehenge, and the extraordinary Callanish Standing Stones, one of the best-preserved prehistoric sites in Britain.

Small-ship cruises to Britain and Ireland offer a satisfying balance of wildlife viewing by Zodiac and beach hikes with cultural explorations of historic and contemporary ports. They give you the chance to view wildlife, rolling moorlands, the stone remains of seaside villages, massive cliffs, and abundant nesting sites for several species of birds, all while enjoying the comforts of a small cruise ship.

Travel though history and culture and the wildness of the shores—travel to the the isles of Britain and Ireland.
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Natural History
These rough-hewed islands of peat bogs, rolling green hills, meadows, lakes, sandy beaches, ancient Christian crosses, dilapidated castles, wildflowers, and rural communities invite a sense of enchantment to this region of rich lore and wild scenery.

The rugged coasts of Great Britain and Ireland and the thousands of small islands scattered throughout the North Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, and the Irish Sea reveal natural beauty and abundant bird life. On tiny Staffa Island, learn about deep-sea caves and observe a world-renowned puffin colony. An enormous colony of gannets nest on the sheer cliffs of Little Skellig. Breezes from the warm Gulf Stream bless gardeners on the islands of Inverewe and Tresco, who sculpt lush living masterpieces throughout the villages and countryside.

A diversity of shore birds find refuge in Scotland’s coastal cliffs and marshes. The inaccessible stone walls of northern Scotland, scarred by crevices, caves, ledges, and pock-marks, provide safe havens for colonies of petrels and shearwaters, fulmars and gannets, puffins and guillemots. Watch oystercatchers peck at mussels stuck to the wet stone. Glimpse a pair of golden eagles as they land in their nest high above the sea. Find a cave where cormorants breed. Observe the still form of a gray heron, carefully perched on one leg near a march on the Hebrides.

The isolated island of St. Kilda, west of the Outer Hebrides, is home to numbers of birds that would make even Alfred Hitchcock’s knees quake. Once populated by fishermen and sheep farmers, the last of whom relocated to the mainland in the 1930s, the island now stands as a nature reserve inhabited mainly by birds. St. Kilda hosts more than 100,000 pairs of puffins, 59,000 pairs of gannets, 40,000 pairs of fulmars, 20,000 pairs of guillemots, and 11,000 pairs of kittiwakes.

Farther out, off the western coast, is Handa, now a reserve run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Around the towering rock known as the Great Stack of Handa circle parrot-beaked puffins, kittiwakes, razorbills, guillemots, fulmars, and herring gulls.

Adamant birds flock to Fair Isle, a speck of land between the Shetland and Orkney islands, often called the most essential avian observatory in Europe. During their annual migrations, thousands of birds rest on Fair Isle. Ornithologists have tallied over 335 different species of birds on this spit of land. Some, like the western sandpiper and song sparrow, are re-routed North American birds.

Sprinkled at the far northern end of Scotland are the Shetland Islands. ‘Shetland’ means ‘highland’ in Norse, and islanders are proud of their Nordic heritage. Birds are an attraction here, as are the famed Shetland ponies grazing the open, wind-whipped fields. Their small, stocky forms move easily over the uneven terrain where this gentle, long-lived breed evolved. Their shaggy manes and tails aloft on the wind, these hardy horses are adapted to the demanding climate of Britain’s northern islands.

For more information on the natural history of Britain and Ireland, see book selections below.
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History
From prehistoric sites like Stonehenge and Roman constructions like Hadrian’s Wall to Gothic cathedrals—Durham, Salisbury, Canterbury—to castles, fortifications, palaces, country houses, and ancient abbeys, Great Britain and Ireland offer fascinating traces history to explore.

Under Roman rule in the period of AD 43-410, central Britain prospered. The Romans introduced local Celtic chieftains and nobles to a pampered lifestyle of elegant furniture and heated mosaic floors lining the interiors of beautiful stone homes. Before the Roman rule, many of these chieftains lived in wattle-and-daub huts with dirt floors and leaky roofs. When the reign of the Romans collapsed, the British Celts spiraled through cycles of conquest that lasted centuries—the Middle Ages.

Venerable St. Bede, the seventh-century Northumbrian monk who was one of England’s earliest historians, informs us that, beginning in the fifth century, the roots of the English-speaking people took hold in the migration of three pagan tribes from Germania: the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes. These ransacking peoples, collectively called the Anglo-Saxons, settled most of southern Britain. They mingled with the surviving Romano-Celtic people. The Romano-Celtics suffered great losses during the invasions of the Middle Ages, and those who didn’t intermarry with Anglo-Saxons fled to the hills and moors of Wales and Cornwall. When the proverbial dust settled, England emerged.

Four centuries after the Anglo-Saxons dominated the land, the Vikings arrived and stirred things up a bit, raiding and settling parts of Scotland and England. Across the Irish Sea, the Vikings founded Dublin and Cork. The Vikings held fast for two centuries before the next strain entered the English/Irish bloodline.

In 1066, the French-speaking Normans crushed England and, by 1172, reigned over huge territories of eastern and southern Ireland as well. Richard the Lion-Hearted reigned from 1189 to 1199. Departing England to join the Third Crusade, he left his government in the hands of his ministers. His scheming brother, John, ascended the throne in 1199, after Richard’s death. Power corrupted John absolutely. In an attempt to check John’s power, church leaders and barons demanded reform and rebelled. Turmoil ensued. In 1215, John was forced to sign a settlement known as the Magna Carta (Great Charter), which limited the power of the king and made him subject to English law.

From 1485-1603, the House of Tudor ruled England. The last Tudor monarch, Queen Elizabeth, reigned from 1558-1603. The Tudor family rule, called the Elizabethan Age, produced outstanding works of drama and poetry, including, of course, those of the Bard, William Shakespeare.

In 1707, the parliaments of the Kingdom of England and Wales and the Kingdom of Scotland passed the Act of Union, which fused the two kingdoms together as the Kingdom of Great Britain. That same year, the English Parliament gained a substantial influence over the monarchy and, as a result, the political parties known as the Tories and the Whigs emerged. In 1714, after Queen Anne’s death, her cousin George I took the throne. He selected a council of ministers from the Whig Party and, over time, the British Cabinet developed. Over the next few centuries Britain built and then lost a huge empire that covered much of the globe. In 1997, Scotland and Wales voted to establish their own legislatures, and in 1998, peace talks on Northern Ireland ended with an agreement to design a legislative assembly for Northern Ireland.

For more information on the British and Irish history, see book selections below.
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Culture
Maritime Britain transports you to ancient Celtic traditions and local customs found in quaint fishing villages, pubs, abbeys, castles, and archaeological ruins.

Though English is the predominant language of Britain and Ireland, in some places the locals also speak a modern variant of the Celtic tongue. Old Celtic, an Indo-European language, is the mother of Welsh, Cornish, Breton (spoken in the Brittany region of France), and the Gaelic languages: Irish, Scottish, and Manx. There has been a movement in recent years to revive these languages, which are less and less spoken by young generations. Ireland recognizes both English and Gaelic Irish (usually referred to simply as ‘Irish’) as official languages, and in a few places, such as the Aran Islands off the west coast, Irish is the language of daily life, though locals easily mix the two. In Wales, less than a fifth of the population speaks both English and Welsh.

The Celts were the first civilization to inhabit northern Europe. Archaeological evidence dates them back to 700 BC in what is now Hallstatt, Austria, near Salzburg. The Celts fashioned iron tools, hunted, and traveled widely. By 500 BC, Celtic groups spread throughout France, Portugal, Spain, and the British Isles; over the next two hundred years, some of the Celts moved into the Balkans. The Roman conquest of Europe around 100 BC, however, wiped out Celtic culture in southern Europe, leaving only the communities in Ireland, Scotland, and western England.

The early Celts formed complex societies of aristocrats, commoners, and an educated class of lawyers, poets, and pagan priests, called Druids. They lived in small family groups linked together by a common ancestor. The Scottish clans developed from these Celtic tribes. The Celts farmed crops and raised livestock in small rural settlements. Before adopting the Latin alphabet, the Celts used a form of writing called ‘ogam’. Stone carvings still exist with ogam inscriptions. With the introduction of the Latin alphabet, the Celts recorded elaborate myths and legends, many of which are still repeated today. Modern descendants of the Celts keep alive Celtic customs throughout Scotland, Ireland, and western England.

On the Irish coast south of Dublin is the old commercial port of Waterford, best known for its hand-blown crystal. Narrow streets and gray stones lend a medieval quality to the city. But don’t be misled. The River Suir’s estuary flows deep enough to admit modern shipping vessels right up to the docks, which keeps Waterford operating as one of Ireland’s busiest ports. In 1783, Waterford founded its first glass factory, which closed in 1851 when punitive taxes from the British government made the raw materials—red lead, silica sand, and potash—too expensive. In 1947, glass-blowing returned to the riverside quays, and the present glass factory opened in 1971. Today, glass blowers, cutters, and engravers at the Waterford Crystal Factory develop and refine their skills over a period of eight to ten years, producing prized crystal finery.

For more information on British and Irish culture, see book selections below.
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Dos and Don'ts
Britain and Ireland Travel Tips:

Prepare yourself for changeable weather and uneven terrain. Bring a waterproof jacket or raincoat and hood and plenty of clothes to layer on when the wind blows and peel back when the sun shines. Don’t forget a pair of Wellington boots (‘Wellies’), those British rubber boots that are dear friends to anyone who tramps about in inclement weather!

To enjoy wildlife, tote powerful binoculars and ask your guides about availability of spotting scopes. Don’t feed or touch any wild animals.

Before you go, get to know the folklore and history of Britain and Ireland to enhance your appreciation of their rich cultures and traditions.

As a courtesy, ask permission before snapping photographs of people.

Don’t be daunted by Britain’s undeserved reputation for bland food. Try the local fare, which is generally simple but hearty.

Britain and Ireland are famous producers of beer and whiskey; if you enjoy these, try to learn a little about them before you go.
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Weather
Although in relative terms the climate is mild and the rainfall is not spectacular, there is general obsession with the weather in Great Britain. The least hospitable months for visitors are November to February - it's cold and the days are short. March and October are marginal - there's more daylight but it is very cold. April to September have, undoubtedly the best weather.
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Best Time to Go
April to September are undoubtedly the best months, and this is, unsurprisingly, the most popular time to visit.
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Temperature Range
April to September: 55 F to 85 F
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Books
The Penguin London Mapguide : The Essential Guide, by Michael Middleditch
Guide Book
An attractive and useful mapguide to London

The Nature of Scotland : Landscape, Wildlife and People , by Magnus Magnusson & Graham White
Field Guide
An interesting introduction to the natural history of Scotland.

Portrait of Scotland, by Colin Baxter
Culture
Colin Baxter's "Portrait of Scotland" showcases the best of Scotland from Edinburgh and Glasgow to the Isle of Skye, Inverness, and the Orkneys. Travelers, Scotland enthusiasts, and armchair explorers alike will be mesmerized by these stunning photographs by Scotland's most famous photographer.

Fodor's Exploring Scotland (3rd Edition), by Gilbert Summers
Guide Book
This compact guide is a great overview of Scotland and its attractions. Most of the book is devoted to a region-by-region description of attractions, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, the highlands and islands. Excellent local maps and photos.

England, A Concise History, by F.E. Halliday
History
An overview of English History. Very readable.

The Mother Tongue, English and How it Got that Way, by Bill Bryson
Language and Phrasebook
An lighthearted and informative look at the history of the English Language.

In Search of England: Journeys into the English Past, by Michael Wood
History
What does it mean to be English? Michael Wood traces an answer through many of the most cherished national myths, such as Robin Hood, King Arthur, Alfred the Great, and the mysteries of Glastonbury. He ranges about over the whole of England. Timely, readable, and fascinating, this is popular history at its very best.

Notes from a Small Island, by Bill Bryson
Culture
Britain fascinates Americans: it's familiar, yet alien; the same in some ways, yet so different. Bryson does an excellent job of showing his adopted home to a Yank audience, but you never get the feeling that Bryson is too much of an outsider to know the true nature of the country.

The Most Beautiful Villages of England, by James Bentley & Hugh Palmer
Guide Book
The latest installment of the lavishly illustrated Most Beautiful Villages series focuses on the picturesque hamlets of Brittany in northwest France. The Most Beautiful Villages of Brittany depicts the rich history of the proud and independent Bretons. With 2,100 miles of coastline, the region's livelihood has forever been intertwined with a sometimes unforgiving sea, and the still-standing granite Romanesque homes and churches built centuries ago reflect the considerable Breton resilience. Well organized.

The Celts, by Nora K. Chadwick & Barry W Cunliffe
History
The history of the Celtic people from prehistory on.

An Eye on the Hebrides : An Illustrated Journey , by Mairi Hedderwick
Exploration
An illustrated journey of Scotland's Hebrides.

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