Another borderline case

Fermanagh is an area that has been overcast since records began. In this most westerly outpost of the Six Counties it rains two days out of every three. Trouble is, you can never tell which two it’s likely to be. Sometimes you can have a month of fine soft days, one after the other.

Small wonder that Enniskillen, the county capital, is one of the few towns in these islands  that is actually on an island. 

Should you find yourself on holiday there, and the grey clouds from the Atlantic lock into place above Trillick, Ballinamallard or Lisnaskea, fear not. You’ll be able to visit a place that is (almost) independent of the weather — the Marble Arch Caves. 

Spectacular walkways allow access to this underworld where seeping acid water, lime and carbon dioxide have interacted since the Ice Age to produce chambers of silent beauty. Powerful, brilliant lighting reveals huge caverns and shimmering white terraces in all their undisturbed splendour. Unsurprisingly, then, this mesmerising world of rivers, waterfalls, winding underground passages and lofty subterranean chambers has been awarded UNESCO status.

Just a word of warning, though — the Caves are occasionally closed if the water table has risen too much. Yes, sometimes it rains so much in Fermanagh that you’re not even safe underground. 

This limestone extravaganza is also the very first UNESCO site that straddles an international border because the caves, no respecter of the Treaty that partitioned Ireland, extend into Co. Cavan in the Republic. You’re still in Ulster, of course, just under (literally) a separate international jurisdiction.

Now with Brexit here, border controls are due to restart in this neck of the woods. Logically, there will have to be a customs post underground here in the Marble Arch Caves. Which seems a shame.