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Why wild walking may grow your brain
The sea squirt starts life as a free swimming animal with a tail, an eye, a spine and a primitive brain. However, after a time it attaches itself permanently to a rock and undergoes ‘retrogressive metamorphosis’ losing its eye, spine and brain to become a water-pumping filter-feeding ‘blob’. Free movement requires brain power, static existence does not!
Continue readingEly and Carrickreagh Woods
Maps and photos note: click or tap to see any maps or photographs below as a high resolution version.
| TYPE | Lakeside and deciduous woodland walk with views over Lough Erne and Green Turlogh |
|---|---|
| DISTANCE | 6.1 miles / 9.8 km |
| SURFACES | Mostly well made woodland tracks with some less defined path walking |
| HEIGHT GAIN / LOSS | 530 feet climb |
| HAZARDS | Major road crossing, proximity to water and disused quarry |
Walking in lakeland sounds attractive, but is actually very difficult. Lower Lough Erne alone has well over 125 miles of shoreline – but only a minute fraction of this is available to walkers. Also the best ‘lakeland’ walking is often on hills with views over the water – think of the English Lake District. So a good lakeland walk needs actual lakeside paths and hills with lake views. Ely and Carrickreagh Woods have both! In addition, this walk passes through some glorious semi-mature beech and larch wood and visits a beautiful hidden valley with Turloughs (vanishing limestone based lakes!)
Continue readingBlackslee Waterfall and Glimpses of Erne
Maps and photos note: click or tap to see any maps or photographs below as a high resolution version.
| TYPE | Largely circular forest track walk through conifer plantations with some excellent views, vistas and a short path section to visit a waterfall. |
|---|---|
| DISTANCE | 3.9 miles / 6.2 km |
| SURFACES | Mainly well made forest tracks with short section on good quality path with some climb and steps |
| HEIGHT GAIN / LOSS | 820 feet climb |
| HAZARDS |
This is a fully waymarked walk which already has a description and map available on the Marble Arch Geopark website. Like many of the Geopark walks it is contained within conifer plantation and largely confined to forestry vehicle tracks. However, it features great panoramic views and framed glimpses of the loughs and hills of Fermanagh. There is also a short forest path section which leads through an intriguing rock valley to to Blackslee waterfall – an abrupt hidden drop almost totally shrouded by encroaching woodland.
Continue readingThe Oaks of Crom Estate
Maps and photos note: click or tap to see any maps or photographs below as a high resolution version.
| TYPE | Circular walk through the estate visiting mature oak woodland, oak parkland and a wooded island with mixed woodland. |
|---|---|
| DISTANCE | 5.2 miles / 8.2 km |
| SURFACES | Mostly well made compacted surfaces with gentle slopes. Inisherk section and parts of Culliaghs wood soft underfoot in places. |
| HEIGHT GAIN / LOSS | 400 feet climb |
| HAZARDS | Some walking on estate roads. Some walking on difficult soft ground. |
We are told that Ireland was once an island covered in great forests and in those forests the mighty oak was the dominant tree. Today this is hard to envisage with oaks a rarity, generally confined to rocky ravines like the Ness Woods or Roe Valley Country Park. Even in these places they tend to be small with limited canopies. This walk in glorious Crom estate looks at alternative oak woodlands which hint at the possible true ancient landscape of Ireland.
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