The Shaw’s Bridge to Edenderry riverside loop is probably one of the most popular walks in Belfast. This route however adds a number of twists to add variety, interest and less trodden paths. It also only follows the Lagan for 400m so is quite distinct from the popular variant.

The Giant’s Ring is Belfast’s most spectacular ancient site. It may not have the complex raised stonework of sites like Newgrange or Avebury, but the scale and situation of the earthworks commands respect. Almost half a mile in circumference and 12 feet in height this was a massive construction task. When the modern site of Belfast was little more than a marshy river crossing this would have the place to live!

Approaching such sites on foot, allows the head to slow down, the landscape to tell its tale and gives your eventual arrival a little more authenticity. The National Trust car park at Minnowburn therefore makes an ideal start and end point for this excellent walk.

Many Belfast dwellers think of Minnowburn only as a small car park beside the Lagan by a nice old bridge. However, this walk will show this National Trust property is so much more. In a small area there are spectacular views over Belfast, its hills and its wooded parkland peripheries. There are glimpses of past elegant living – the great houses and their lands. Finally the woods and natural interest here are about as good as it gets – and you are free to walk through and enjoy them.

Drum Manor Forest Park is probably the smallest of the Forest Service Parks, but it packs an amazing concentration of forest diversity, path types and landscape history. To find a route which visits all of the areas of interest in a single walk, without retracing itself is a classic ‘Bridges of Königsberg’ style problem. As you can see from the orange route line above, I failed to solve the Drum Manor version and there is a 50m short section where retracing is necessary (marked in purple). Perhaps you can do better!