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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Travel
Phoebe Smith

‘I felt I’d stepped into Narnia’: walking St Patrick’s Way in Northern Ireland

Phoebe Smith walking the St Patrick’s Way with her 11-month-old son.
Phoebe Smith walking the St Patrick’s Way with her 11-month-old son. Photograph: Phoebe Smith

A single streetlight glowed brightly in the darkening evening as I approached a small wooden door. As it grew closer, the silhouette of a familiar figure emerged. It wasn’t a man, but rather a faun, bowing down to shake my hand – and all at once I’d stepped into the pages of my favourite childhood books containing the fantastical world of Narnia.

Yet this was no imagined place. It was, instead, a fittingly magical introduction to the lakeside (or, rather, loughside) village of Rostrevor, situated on the coast of Carlingford Lough in County Down.

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