Arcadia Ireland

On a bitterly cold but beautiful Saturday morning in November students from Trinity College Dublin, University College Cork, Maynooth University and the Dublin Parliamentary Internship, departed Dublin city to travel North, don capes and stand in the exact locations where Kit Harington (aka Jon Snow) and all the other well known characters stood and where cameras captured one of the most popular and most downloaded series of all time. Game of Thrones has become such a phenomenon and there are multiple companies who run tours to the filming locations of Game of Thrones in Northern Ireland. However, ours was different as our tour guide has been a part of Game of Thrones from the very beginning as an extra who has received much face time on the screen! Eric was able to tell us insider stories and comment on the most well known characters and actors but he would not, no matter how much persuading some student could do, reveal anything about the next series!

Our first stop was at the stunning Tollymore Forest at the foot of the Mourne Mountains in Newcastle County Down. All students wanted to put on the ankle length capes with fur collar to feel in character but they also doubled as blankets to keep them warm in the freezing temperatures. We walked through parts of the 630 hectare forest and stopped at places where significant scenes, such as Will seeing the dead Wilding girl pinned to the tree and the moment the Starks discover the direwolves, were filmed. Our tour guide recounted the scenes, showed us images and even played the scenes on a tablet for us to watch as we stood in the very spot where it was all filmed. The nail hole can still be seen in the tree trunk.

After Tollymore forest we continued north to the village of Strangford for a delicious hot lunch to warm up. We were told there was a surprise waiting for us after lunch and the students were very excited to discover it was an opportunity to meet the direwolves! They are Northern Inuit dogs, a domestic dog breed closely resembling a wolf, and their names are Odin and Thor. Their owner, his brother and Father feature in the series as extras.

Our next stop was the Castle Warden Estate which has nine different filming locations on site, these include Strangford Lough, a 16th century castle and stable yard and a 15th century tower house. Our final stop was just as the sun was setting at Inch Abbey, where Robb’s bannermen pledge fealty to him as the ‘King in the North’. We had taken a GOT quiz on the bus that morning and the winner, Maggie, was donned the ‘Queen of the North’ and we all draped our capes over us one last time, held up swords and shields, let out our best war cry and bowed down to her in front of the ruins of the 12th century Cistercian Abbey - perfect photo opportunity!

On the return journey to Dublin we watched the first two episodes. However, by this point the students were very tired and as it was pitch dark they fell asleep. So I admit I have never watched GOT before going on this tour, and although I was tired I was enthralled from the first scene as I had just stood in the exact spot the action was unfolding. I watched and became drawn in and as the second episode finished in suspense and intrigue I realised we were back in Dublin already and I would have to wait to watch episode three. A great trip and a special mention to Kristin who took a 3am bus from Cork to Dublin that morning and returned on the 8pm bus that evening - that is some dedication from a serious fan to travel from almost the bottom to the top of Ireland all for the love of Game of Thrones!