Meet the Ireland tour guide: John Walsh, the geologist with a rock-solid punchline
4 MINUTE READ
Spend five minutes in the company of Ireland tour guide John Walsh and you’ll quickly see why we rave about him at GeoCultura. This is a man who wears many hats: esteemed professor, geology pioneer, stand-up comic (yes, really!). This is a man who can inject life and laughter into even the driest of landscapes!
Get ready for a long list of accolades. A native Dubliner, John is Professor of Structural Geology at University College Dublin – where he also studied for his degree – and Co-Director of the internationally renowned Fault Analysis Group. He’s published countless scientific papers, won prestigious awards, and served on editorial boards for several major geological journals. He was also the first Irish Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of London.
But the awards and titles don’t convey the essence of John. Don’t come on a small group tour of Ireland with him expecting a lecture. He’s known for making geological stories sing. You might even find yourself LOLing at the limestone!
John’s passion for geology was sparked in childhood – and it’s never left him. Today, he channels that early wonder into every tour he leads, showing guests how to read the landscape like a novel that stretches back hundreds of millions of years.
We caught up with John to chat about his love of landscape, what makes Ireland such a special place to explore. And along the way, we find out exactly why guests on his tours spend even more time laughing than they do learning – although we reckon the two should always go hand-in-hand!
Glean na Deor Inishmor
John, where did your love of geology come from?
I’m a native of Dublin and as a child, I used to play along the northern coast of Dublin. In fact, the cliffs of Loughshinny in north county Dublin are still one of my favourite geological sites. The exposed folds here, arising from the formation of the super-continent of Pangea, are so stunning that they appear in the leading US undergraduate geology textbook.
You’ve got quite the CV: professor, award-winner, Ireland tour guide, stand-up comic… How did the comedy come about, and do you ever sneak a bit of it into your tours?
I do tend to become fairly animated – sometimes even theatrical – in my delivery! It’s a characteristic I attribute to a family history in theatre.
Storytelling is important in many aspects of life, including art and science. I’m very enthusiastic about geology and the landscape, so telling stories that link our history to the surface and subsurface processes that have shaped the earth comes naturally to me. In all seriousness, it’s a privilege to reveal the history and wonders of geological time.
Poll na b Peist Inishmore
What makes Ireland such a special place to visit, especially from a geological perspective?
For such a small country, Ireland punches well above its weight, geologically. Its rich geological history is recorded within its stunning landscapes, and the history of Ireland’s recent past is often inextricably linked to the subsurface geology. On my GeoCultura tour of Ireland’s east and west, we explore aspects of the archaeological, geological and human history of some of the most famous landscapes of Ireland.
Poulsallagh Burren Atlantic View
You lead GeoCultura’s Ireland tour of the Burren, Galway Bay and the Cliffs of Moher. What do guests find most surprising on this tour?
Just how rich in stories the west of Ireland is, from the historical through to the ancient geological past. And that these histories are intertwined through the landscape and the subsurface.
If you could take a first-time visitor anywhere in Ireland, where would you go and why?
I would take them to the Burren and Connemara, two of the most scenic areas in the west of Ireland. Between them they host the Burren and Cliffs of Moher UNESCO Global Geopark, and the Joyce Country And Western Lakes Geopark.
How do you make the geology of Ireland accessible for tour guests who might not know their basalt from their Burren?
My approach is to keep things fun, interesting and, dare I say, even entertaining. There’s no need to over-complicate things!
What do you enjoy most about tour guiding?
Conveying the wonder of our geological and historical past within the stunning landscapes of the west of Ireland is a privilege. I cannot think of a better way to spend a week!
Aill na Briste Inishmore
What do you hope guests take away from their time with you in Ireland?
That Ireland is a country of wonderful stories, from the historical to the geological, in which its landscape and subsurface have played a leading role!
And finally – tell us your favourite geological joke!
Here’s one of my almost-geological jokes: What’s the difference between people from Dubai and from Abu Dhabi? People from Dubai don’t like the Flintstones, whereas the people from Abu Dhabi do!
Boom boom! If you’d like to see Ireland’s geological wonders with John, join him on our West Ireland tour: Galway Bay & Cliffs of Moher, departing from Dublin in May and September 2026.