GREAT ROADSIn the first of a series exploring Ireland's driving routes, Bob Montgomerytakes the St Patrick's trail through Meath
Rightly called "Royal Meath", the landscape of this county bears silent witness to Ireland's royal past, its Anglo-Norman knights and most of all to the coming of Christianity to this island. And where better to start another season's exploration of Ireland and its roads than at Royal Tara.
I have to admit that there's not a lot to see at Tara, but that's beside the point - this is a sacred landscape, a place to feel the presence of the ancients, a place where myth, legend and history all combine to make this the most special of landmarks.
I defy anyone to stand here on a misty spring morning and not to feel that the path of the nearby N3 is defiling a very special landscape, and that the decision not to re-route the much-needed road is one that future generations will regret, and for which they may well condemn us, their recent ancestors.
From Tara I headed towards Trim, keeping to the east of the River Boyne.
At Bective crossroads I turned northwest, crossing the picturesque bridge over the river to the ruins of Bective Abbey.
Easily missed, Bective Abbey is today a substantial and imposing ruin. Founded in 1147, the Abbey was the second Cistercian monastery founded in Ireland, and owed its establishment to Ó Maoleachlain, the King of Meath. A daughter house to Mellifont, it was at one time a very important sanctuary.
Its surviving cloisters are notable for their early English arches, which are of quite beautiful design.
From Bective its only a short drive to the Town of Trim - the town of the Ford of the Elder Tree - and its magnificent Anglo-Norman castle, which is the largest such structure to be built in Ireland.
Once again, St Patrick is reputed to have come to the ancient ford over the River Boyne and to have founded a monastery here.
Ancient ruins seem to be at every turn at Trim, but all are dominated by Hugh de Lacy's mighty castle.
De Lacy built the castle in 1172 intending it to be the keystone of Norman rule right at the eastern edge of the English-controlled area known as the Pale, and from where it protected the northwest approach to Dublin from the Irish chieftains.
It's a mighty structure well worth exploring in detail, and, if it seems familiar, perhaps it is because it featured as a set in the film Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson, in 1994.
If you have the time, visit the Trim Visitor and Genealogy Centre next door to the castle and see the Power and Glory multimedia presentation which serves to place the rich abundance of medieval ruins in the vicinity of Trim in context.
Having hopefully had time to explore the many attractions of Trim, take the R154 to Athboy and then the N51/R164 to Kells. Kells - or Ceanannas Mór, meaning the Great Fort - is another of Meath's towns with early Christian links.
St Columcille's House, a 10th century oratory, is believed to have housed the saint's relics and there is a round tower nearby some 90ft high.
St Columcille is best known as the founder of the monastery on the Hebridean island of Iona, but what is perhaps less well known is that the monks, following raids there by the Vikings in 802, sought refuge in Kells, where they founded a new Columban monastery in 804.
Kells is of course most famous for the Book of Kells which may have been completed around 804.
The book was stolen in 1007 and found roughly three months later in a bog - minus its jewel-encrusted cover.
In the 17th century it was given to Trinity College, where it remains today.
From Kells take the R163 to Slane, pausing at the junction just before the road joins the N51 to view the exquisite ancient milestone that resides there.
Slane is a pretty 18th century village which retains the charm of a bygone age, despite the large volume of traffic that traverses it daily using the N2.
Just off the N2 about a kilometre north of Slane, a narrow road leads up to a carpark at the Hill of Slane.
This of course is where St Patrick lit the first Easter fire to symbolise the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.
Today, there are here the ruins of Slane Abbey, a 16th century college and a church, abandoned in 1723.
I've a feeling that not as many people visit the Hill of Slane as perhaps should - a great pity, as the view from there is exceptional, leading all the way back to Tara, from whence we began our exploration of some of the sites associated with St. Patrick in Meath.