Dublin to Denver – new Aer Lingus flights bring Colorado and Rocky Mountains closer than ever

Aer Lingus has launched a new direct route to Denver, leaving the rusty Rockies of Colorado more accessible than ever...

Garden of the Gods

Nicola Brady

The wheel of my jeep is just a few inches from the edge of a red, dusty road. To my right is 8,000 feet of a sheer, bum-clenchingly steep drop, peppered with the skeletons of gnarled pine trees and the remnants of a train wreck from 1920, when this road was a railway track built to transport gold.

The drop may be enough to send a shiver down your spine, but it makes for one hell of a view, the road below curving around tree trunks and giant red boulders. In the distance, the looming mountaintop of Pikes Peak is covered in a thick layer of snow. But, in the other direction, there are rust-coloured rock formations glowing in the sunshine, looking like they’ve been transported directly from the Grand Canyon.