Peaceful and quiet forest walks - where?

Simon_K

Hi everyone,

I really like forest walks, so I recently visited Glendalough and was very impressed by it.

What I'm looking for now are suggestions for a weekend trip - I'd like to go somewhere peaceful and quiet to spend a weekend and have a day or two just walking around the forest.

I'll have a rental car so I can stay somewhere further away and drive to the location.

NOS3

Hi Simon,

I may be biased but I would suggest West Cork. With the nature reserve in Glengarriff and large forests with walkways near Balineen and Lough Hyne I believe there is a lot to do. You are about an hour away from Killarney with its national park also. Killarney and Glengarriff are busy with tourists but there is plenty of quiet accommodation very close to these areas.

FishOnABike

Check for suitable walks on www(dot)walkingroutes(dot)ie/WalkingTrails

You can search by county / min /max length, loop walks. Should give you plenty of ideas.

dogmatix

NOS3 wrote: »

Hi Simon,

I may be biased but I would suggest West Cork. With the nature reserve in Glengarriff and large forests with walkways near Balineen and Lough Hyne I believe there is a lot to do. You are about an hour away from Killarney with its national park also. Killarney and Glengarriff are busy with tourists but there is plenty of quiet accommodation very close to these areas.

Very much agree. Just back from a week in west cork - Glengarriff forest park is a gem and the hill behind lough hyne is covered in beech and oak with various paths up and around it. Gougane Barra is worth a visit also.

dogmatix

I'd also recommend "Stopping by Woods - A Guide to the Heritage and Recreational Forests of Ireland By Donal Magner " - this lists all of the public forests county by county (north and south) with suggested walks and routes.

duckysauce

dogmatix wrote: »

Very much agree. Just back from a week in west cork - Glengarriff forest park is a gem and the hill behind lough hyne is covered in beech and oak with various paths up and around it. Gougane Barra is worth a visit also.

+1 on Gougane Barra it's beautiful and for more varied and bigger walks than Glengarriff forest park

BarryD

Plenty of forested valleys in the Slieve Bloom hills which are not too far from Dublin. Good deal of conifer but mixed trees in places. You'd hardly scratch the surface there in a weekend in terms of such walks. Quite unlikely to meet people too!!

NOS3

dogmatix wrote:

Very much agree. Just back from a week in west cork - Glengarriff forest park is a gem and the hill behind lough hyne is covered in beech and oak with various paths up and around it. Gougane Barra is worth a visit also.

duckysauce wrote:

+1 on Gougane Barra it's beautiful and for more varied and bigger walks than Glengarriff forest park

Completely forgot about Gougane Barra. It is definitely also worth a visit.

allthedoyles

Mount Leinster have loads of forest walks , and a visit to South Carlow / Graignamanagh will be well remembered .

You could do the river walk / cycle from St Mullins to Graignamanagh , and even further upriver .

You have a forest all along the riverbank .

Have a look here :

http://carlowtourism.com/the-south-leinster-way-2/

Carawaystick

I'd say Killarney probably has the largest deciduous forests in Ireland, they're always more attractive than spruce/fir.

Avondale has lots of walks through forests of various trees, but 3 hours would see you cover almost all of it.

BarryD

allthedoyles wrote: »

Mount Leinster have loads of forest walks , and a visit to South Carlow / Graignamanagh will be well remembered .

You could do the river walk / cycle from St Mullins to Graignamanagh , and even further upriver .

The Barrow is a great amenity alright - very much undervalued in modern times. Ireland's second longest river (excluding the lake maze of the Erne) and nicer than the Shannon in many aspects.

Donalinger

Simon_K wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I really like forest walks, so I recently visited Glendalough and was very impressed by it.

What I'm looking for now are suggestions for a weekend trip - I'd like to go somewhere peaceful and quiet to spend a weekend and have a day or two just walking around the forest.

I'll have a rental car so I can stay somewhere further away and drive to the location.

south Tipp is one of the best.
Glen of Aherlow, Galtee Mountains, River walk from clonmel to carrick on suir, Knockmaeldown mountains, walk up slievenamon. Comeragh mountains is waterford but not far from clonmel.
all very good and all within short enough drives.

Simon_K

Hey everyone, thanks for all the suggestions! I'm going south through Kilkenny to Cork and the surrounding areas

allthedoyles

This is Kilkenny heading South towards Graignamanagh , and if you had time , no better place to go for a quiet river/forest walk / cycle .

The only interruption you will have is the birds singing

Simon_K

Yes! Where is it exactly? Anywhere I can rent a bike? This is exactly what I'm looking for

allthedoyles

Simon_K wrote: »

Yes! Where is it exactly? Anywhere I can rent a bike? This is exactly what I'm looking for

You can hire bike at Graignamanagh here :

http://www.watersideguesthouse.com/bike--hike-page.html

duckysauce

allthedoyles wrote: »

You can hire bike at Graignamanagh here :

http://www.watersideguesthouse.com/bike--hike-page.html

are there any of those barrow walks that can be done as a loop ?

BarryD

duckysauce wrote: »

are there any of those barrow walks that can be done as a loop ?

If you go into Doran's Supervalue or the new Tourist Office in Graignamanagh or O'Shea's Centra in Borris or Deane's shop/ Easons in Carlow - then you can acquire a copy of my rather excellent map of the Barrow between St.Mullin's and Bagenalstown. Which map is called 'Blackstairs, Mount Leinster & the Barrow Valley'. Several possibilities for shorter loop walks here and there without touching tarmac. Longer routes will need a return via road.

duckysauce

BarryD wrote: »

If you go into Doran's Supervalue or the new Tourist Office in Graignamanagh or O'Shea's Centra in Borris or Deane's shop/ Easons in Carlow - then you can acquire a copy of my rather excellent map of the Barrow between St.Mullin's and Bagenalstown. Which map is called 'Blackstairs, Mount Leinster & the Barrow Valley'. Several possibilities for shorter loop walks here and there without touching tarmac. Longer routes will need a return via road.

is this available to buy online ?

BarryD

duckysauce wrote: »

is this available to buy online ?

Of course Just google EastWest Mapping - rules here prevent me from giving you the URL directly, even though that might be of greater help!

duckysauce

BarryD wrote: »

Of course Just google EastWest Mapping - rules here prevent me from giving you the URL directly, even though that might be of greater help!

:cool: bit daft when you are a very regular poster and your products are quality

duckysauce

BarryD wrote: »

Of course Just google EastWest Mapping - rules here prevent me from giving you the URL directly, even though that might be of greater help!

Got map today , what's that ridge walk like along white mountain - is it nice or views blocked off by forestry ?

BarryD

duckysauce wrote: »

Got map today , what's that ridge walk like along white mountain - is it nice or views blocked off by forestry ?

Well, there's fine views on the west side, down the rocky slopes to the Barrow. In these more enlightened times, I don't think the forestry would be planted to the ridge as was done here in the 1970s and which spoils the Wexford or east side.

Oddly the Wexford side was all commonage once and a 'famous' court battle was fought between landowners who wanted to enclose it and the local small farmers who grazed it and cut turf there - Daniel O'Connell was involved at some stage representing the latter who eventually won the case.