Wild Atlantic Way Archives

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival 2020

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival takes place this year from 13th-15th March 2020. The entry is €20 a day or €50 over the 3 days. It is a great opportunity to see the amazing scenery of Mayo. Starting points are:

10th March – Car park across from Ballintubber Abbey

11th March – Aughagower Community Centre

15th March – Murrish Carpark (Base of Croagh Patrick)

Full details below and find out more at http://www.croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com or email info@croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com

Also take a look at our post on Croagh Patrick itself here.

Day 1: Friday 13th March 2020 17km

0830 hrs sharp Meeting Point at car park across from Ballintubber Abbey. Transport provided to starting point.

0900 hrs Registration Balla Community Centre. Tea/Coffee Refreshments provided.
0930 hrs Commence Walk from Balla to Ballintubber (17km)
Refreshment stop – Clogher Community Centre – Tea / Coffee sandwiches provided.
1500 to 1700 hrs Finish Day 1 in Ballintubber.

Day 2: Saturday 14th March 2020 27km
0830 hrs sharp Meeting Point at Aghagower Community Centre. Transport to starting point.
0900 hrs Registration at Aghagower Community Centre before walkers take a free bus to Ballintubber to start the walk. Tea/Coffee Refreshments provided.
0930 hrs Commence Walk from Ballintubber to Aghagower (27km)
Refreshment Stop – Killawalla -Tea / Coffee sandwiches provided.
1600 to 1800 hrs Arrive at Aghagower Village.

Day 3: Sunday 15th March 2020 19km
0830 hrs sharp Meeting Point in Murrisk – Car park at the base of Croagh Patrick. Transport to starting point.
0900 hrs Registration Aghagower Community Centre. Tea/Coffee Refreshments provided.
0930 hrs Commence Walk from Aghagower to Murrisk (19 km)
Refreshment Stop – Brackloon – Tea / Coffee sandwiches provided
1600 to 1800 hrs Arrive at Murrisk.

Benbulben Forest Walk

The Benbulben (or Benbulbin) forest walk is a great way to get up close views of the majestic Benbulben. The walk is about 5.5km around the base of the mountain and takes about an hour and a half to complete. For more details on this forest walk, check out https://sligowalks.ie/walks/benbulbin-gortarowey-looped-walk/

Killarney Mountain Festival 2019

Following on from a hugely successful inaugural festival in 2018, Killarney Mountain Festival 2019 will take place on the weekend of the 8th, 9th and 10th March 2019! This exciting spectacle and celebration of everything mountain and adventure- related will be run in close association with the hugely successful and world-renowned Kendal Mountain Festival in the beautiful lake district of the UK, of which Killarney is twinned.

Killarney Mountain Festival is sure to inspire and invigorate visitors with its jam-packed programme of events, some of which are free, such as live musical entertainment across the weekend including Friday and Saturday night, film screenings, family-fun activities, and well known inspirational guest speakers.

Venues for the various events taking place include Basecamp, the hub of the festival, located in a large festival tent just behind The Killarney Plaza Hotel, St. Mary’s Church of the Sloes, The Killarney Plaza Hotel, Cinema Killarney, as well as pop up events in various venues, all located in Killarney Town Centre.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to attend free talks by Motivational Speaker and Writer – Nikki Bradley, Adventurer and Long Distance Hiker – Olive McGloin, Mountaineer, Explorer and Adventurer – Mike O’Shea and British record-breaking Adventurer, Author, Keynote Speaker, and sustainability campaigner – Adrian Hayes.

Killarney Mountain Festival, 8th – 10th March 2019.

For more information, visit www.killarneymountainfestival.com or check them out on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival 2019

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival takes place this year from 8th-10th March 2019

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival takes place this year from 8th-10th March 2019. The entry is €20 a day or €50 over the 3 days. It is a great opportunity to see the amazing scenery of Mayo. Walks start each day at 8:30am sharp. Starting points are:

8th March – Corleys Pub Ballintubber

9th March – Aughagower Village

10th March – Murrish Carpark (Base of Croagh Patrick)

Full details below and find out more at http://www.croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com or email info@croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com

Also take a look at our post on Croagh Patrick itself here.

See below exciting footage from last year’s Heritage Trail.

Route & Distance:

Friday 8th March – Balla to Ballintubber (18km)

8.30am Sharp – Meeting point at car park outside Corleys Pub Ballintubber across from The Abbey.

9am Registration Balla Community Centre. Tea/coffee refreshments provided.

9.30am Commence walk from Balla to Ballintubber (18km).

Refreshment stop – Tuffys Pub – Tea/coffee and sandwiches provided.

3pm – 5pm Finish day 1 in Corleys Pub Ballintubber.

Saturday 9th March – Ballintubber to Aghagower (27km)

8.30am Sharp – Meeting point Aughagower Village (rear of church). Transport to start.

9am Registration Corleys Pub Ballintubber. Tea/coffee refreshments provided.

9.30am Commence walk from Ballintubber to Aghagower (27km).

Refreshment stop – Killawalla – Tea/coffee and sandwiches provided.

3pm – 6pm Finish day 2 at Aughagower Village.

Sunday 10th March – Aghagower -Murrisk (19km)

8.30am Sharp – Meeting point Murrisk – Car park at base of Croagh Patrick. Transport to start.

9am Registration Aughagower Community Centre. Tea/coffee refreshments provided.

9.30am Commence walk from Aghagower -Murrisk (19km).

Refreshment stop – Brackloon – Tea/coffee and sandwiches provided.

3pm – 6pm Finish day 3 at Murrisk.

Refreshments provided each day.

Transport will be provided each morning to ferry walkers from the Meeting point to the Starting point. This means that your personal transport will be at the end of your destination on arrival each day. Register online. For more details call 094 9030687 or email info@croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com. You can also visit www.croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com for information.

Beachwalk : Inchydoney Beach, Clonakilty, Cork

Inchydoney Beach is a beautiful blue flag beach just 10 minutes from Clonakilty Town in Cork. Inchydoney itself is a small island, long connected to the mainland by two causeways.

This is a lovely beach to take a short walk on, anytime of the year. As the beach is quite sandy, it would not be very buggy friendly for a walk.

The Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa (link) also overlooks the beach, so this is a great option for a walk for its residences.

There is a car park a short walk from the beach ( location shown below).

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival takes place this year from 9th-11th March. The entry is €20 a day or €50 over the 3 days. It is a great opportunity to see the amazing scenery of Mayo. Walks start each day at 8:30am sharp. Starting points are:

9th March – Corleys Pub Ballintubber

10th March – Aughagower Village

11th March – Murrish Carpark (Base of Croagh Patrick)

Full details below and find out more at http://www.croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com or email info@croaghpatrickheritagetrail.com

Also take a look at our post on Croagh Patrick itself here.

Connemara National Park – Diamond Hill Walks

The Connemara National Park is 2,957 hectares of scenic mountains, expanses of bogs, heaths, grasslands and woodlands. It has a visitor’s centre located in Letterfrack and from this center you can easily do a number of walking trails of Diamond Hill. This allows you to enjoy the scenery of part of this fantastic national park. Not all the trails are buggy-friendly so ask at the centre.

Along with the Diamond Hill trails, the visitor’s centre also has a children’s playground, picnic areas and a tea room. It is also only about 10 minutes drive from Kylemore Abbey, another fantastic place to visit.

For more information, see http://www.connemaranationalpark.ie

The carpark to the visitor’s centre is in Letterfrack at the location below.

Map of Walks & Hikes

Loads to be added to this map. Any suggestions are welcome. Email takeahike.ie@gmail.com

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail

Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail is a 60 km national way-marked walk which begins in the village of Balla in east Mayo and ends at the village of Murrisk at the foot of Croagh Patrick on the shores of Clew Bay. http://www.clogherheritage.com/cpht_dev/

If you are looking for a good opportunity to do this trail, the 9th Annual Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail Walking Festival on Weekend March 10th, 11th & 12th 2017.

All funds raised will go towards Mayo Roscommon Hospice. Register online at:

https://www.iregister.ie/…/e…/croagh-patrick-heritage-trail/

Great Western Greenway (Westport to Achill)

This 42km Greenway from Westport to Achill (through Newport and Mulranny) offers a fantastic way to enjoy the Mayo countryside. This walk or cycle gives you the chance to enjoy amazing views of Clew Bay and the track is very well maintained (http://www.greenway.ie/index.html).

While we concentrate on walking and hiking at takeahike.ie, cycling is also highly recommended and bikes can be rented from a number of companies such as Clew Bay Bike Hire. The great thing is if you are based in Westport, they will shuttlebus you to Achill and you can cycle from Achill back to Westport (http://www.clewbaybikehire.ie/bikes/bike-packages/).