“The Irish countryside offers tremendous opportunities for walking and hiking. Magnificent scenery with a diversity of landscape and physical features all contribute to an excellent walking landscape........” from A Guide for Planning and Developing Waymarked Walking Trails in Ireland.
As Ireland increasingly promotes itself as a walking destination for tourists through a growing number of long distance trails and looped walks, it is unfortunate that the majority of these in the Mid West of Ireland (especially the long distance trails) are for the greater part of their length on tarmac road surfaces. Research would indicate that in successful trails - roads should not exceed 20% of the overall length, but with less than 1% of land in Ireland designated as National Park Land, confusing rights of access, and few rights of way except on roads, it is probably not surprising that access to open land and off road walking is limited.
Based in the Mid West of Ireland and with a love of off road walking it is my intention to build a website based around my search for the best of these trails and loops. As a keen hill walker I propose to begin my walking adventures in the hillier regions of the Mid West and where better to start than in the Burren.As this website will always be a work in progress I would be interested to hear from anyone who has a favourite walk that they would like included if they feel it fulfils the following guidelines:
- That it should be enjoyable to walk.
- Should try to avoid easily eroded surfaces and excessively boggy land.
- The majority of its length should be off road.
- It should protect the heritage and landscape whilst maximising the scenic potential of its location.
For a list of walks select this link or "Walks" from the menu above
Latest Walk: Ballycruggan to the top of Moylussa - the highest mountain in Clare