The Gap itself is a deep gorge overshadowed on one side by the Purple Mountains and on the other by Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, the country’s highest mountain range.The Gap can be tackled via several different routes. You can follow the road that wends its way along the banks of the River Loe for about 12km, past boulders and four small lakes, or attempt a more challenging route. For the latter, veer left off the road beyond Kate Kearney’s cottage and ascend the Purple Mountains, affording you a birds-eye view from the first peak, Tomies Rock. Tomies Mountain rises to 2,411ft and is the site of an ancient burial site. Continuing on you will descend by the end of the Gap.If you decide to follow the road, you will cross a pretty humpback bridge over the river and eventually pass through the deserted ruins of Black Valley, whose entire population was wiped out by the famine. Further on past the ghostly ruins of Gap Cottage, and you pass through two hulking boulders, the Turnpike Rocks.

Eventually you come to the head of the Gap – up to the left is a precipice called Madman’s Seat.You would definitely be mad to tackle the walk without waterproofs. The Gap has its own micro-climate so, even if the sun is splitting the stones in Killarney as you set out, expect unexpected downpours.. One of the most resounding images in Ireland’s cinematic history, is the crashing of waves on the beach in the David Lean film, Ryan’s Daughter. Today, visitors to the Dingle Peninsula follow the sign pointing to “Ryan’s Daughter Beach” and make their way to the tiny Coumeenoole Strand.For the same production, an entire village was painstakingly recreated among the velvety patchwork of fields near Dunquin, only to be taken down again when filming was over.

Almost a quarter of a century later, another village was constructed, close to the original location overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, for the Tom ‘n’ Nicole version of Far and Away. The accents left a lot to be desired, but the scenery certainly didn’t.
Dublin has also become something of a film set. Trinity College was immortalised in Educating Rita, and the city even masqueraded as its country cousin Limerick for the film of Frank McCourt’s bestseller, Angela’s Ashes. Life in the capital has been portrayed in Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins, which showed the dramatic events of the 1916 Easter Rising; in Jim Sheridan’s Oscar-nominated My Left Foot; in Alan Parker’s uplifting tale of inner-city musicians, The Commitments; and, more recently, as a fun-loving vibrant town in About Adam, starring Kate Hudson.Moving south from Dublin, the wild and untamed landscape of the Wicklow hills has played host to its fair share of stars. Laurence Olivier filmed Henry V here, Mia Farrow shot Widow’s Peak and Kevin Spacey worked on Ordinary Decent Criminal. John Boorman used a breathtaking valley known as Luggala, near Sally Gap, in his film Excalibur.Ryan’s Daughter and Far and Away are not the only films that have required the construction of entire villages.