We are now in the second half of June and facing the Summer Solstice so you have missed this beautiful time of the year to be here in Ireland with us but now is the time to start planning your visit here to Ireland for this time next year.

The days are long – with daylight from about 04.30am until about 10.30pm and not fully dark until after midnight. Even if it is not warm in the evenings you can sit out, wrapped in a warm sweater or jacket and enjoy these great long evenings wherever you are.

I took a walk by Lough Gur last Sunday morning and was it was such a joy. Though only a few miles from home it is some months since I was there and the place looked just splendid. The lake was very still and calm and two swans and their cygnets drifted to the lake front when they saw me there, in the hope of some food I suppose but we have been asked not to feed them.

Then I took the walk down by the side of the lake and the Bolin Island Crannog. This path is lined with trees such as birch, horse chestnut, ash and sycamore – to mention just some of them, ‘and so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees’ (from The Great Gatsby) I was in a truly beautiful place. The yellow flag iris added such colour to the edge of the lake and the birds were busy in and out of the bushes and trees and there was a kestrel also being chased by some rooks.

The spectacular blossom display of the whitethorn is now almost gone but this pure white (though sometimes tinged with red) is now replaced by the elder blossom – which I must shortly go about collecting to make some delicious elder cordial.

So now is the time to start making arrangements to be with us in June 2014. For those of you wanting to enjoy some literary treats you should arrange to be here from June 13th – the birthday for W.B. Yeats. Celebrate this date in Sligo with sausage and wine – as Yeats celebrated on the day that he won the Nobel Prize for literature (and a tour of nearby Connemara can also be included)

Once you have enjoyed the W. B. Yeats birthday celebrations you then travel on to Dublin City to celebrate Blooms Day on June 16th. On this day James Joyce’s novel, Ulysses is celebrated throughout the city with many people around the streets in period dress for the morning.

Once you have finished these celebrations it is time to travel south to Co. Limerick and celebrate the Summer Solstice in Lough Gur where you will enjoy story telling, historical walks, good food and drink with lots of music and dance.

This is National Bike week here in Ireland as will this week in 2014. So a fun, or serious cycle, can be included for some or many of you. By next year the canal bank cycle route should be complete and this will be a traffic free and very scenic route. Also why not partake in a fancy dress cycle parade through Limerick City and many other fun, but healthy and family friendly events.

Once you have enjoyed a day and a night around this area your itinerary will probably take you south to Co. Kerry into Killarney and Dingle and here, as throughout the rest of Ireland, almost every town and village will be celebrating some local tradition or putting on a carnival, summer festival, fete or a gathering of some sort.

Check back with me next week on celebrations and events happening around mid June here in Ireland.