Cooley Peninsula

Introducing Cooley Peninsula

There is an arresting beauty in the forested slopes rising out of the dark waters of ­Carlingford Lough up to the sun-dappled, multihued hills of the peninsula. There are crisp views across the waters to Northern Ireland’s Mourne Mountains and good views across the windswept land here. Tiny country lanes wind their way down to ‘beaches’ where there are stones of every size. You’ll feel solitude and maybe even calm.

But there’s something unsettling about the place too. Isolated and remote, the Cooley Peninsula may be a political part of the Republic of Ireland, but its spirit is in the wilds of South Armagh, a fiercely independent territory in Northern Ireland that is deeply suspicious of outsiders, and a bastion of republican ­support.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009