North Down - Coastal Path

Doireann travels north to County Down to meet Mark Devenport, former BBC Political Editor.

Mark has called County Down home since he began working in Northern Ireland in 1986. Doireann takes the train from Belfast to Cultra and joins Mark on a scenic 12km stretch of the North Down Coastal Path to Bangor Marina.

Along the route, they take in views across Belfast Lough, stop at Grey Point Fort, a key WWII defence site and pass through Helen's Bay. Mark, reflecting on his adopted home, jokes: "C.S. Lewis was the County Down man who went to Oxford, and I'm the Oxford man who came to County Down.”

Doireann is struck by the deep layers of history woven into the trails and landscapes in this episode and leaves both counties eager to return.