Western Ireland abounds in wild natural beauty

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This article was published 10/09/2011 (5311 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The dramatic landscape of west Ireland has provided inspiration to some of the country’s greatest writers and continues to lure travellers eager to experience its rugged beauty.

Then as now, whether your destination is County Mayo, Galway or Clare, the best way to experience the remarkable diversity of this area is by taking a cycling or hiking tour.

The Connemara region, dotted with mountains and lakes, straddles both Mayo and Galway. Once heralded by Oscar Wilde for its “savage beauty,” the area features vast expanses of ochre-coloured bogs, violet heather, velvet-green grasslands where ponies graze, ancient castles and abbeys, quaint villages, sheltered inlets with sandy beaches and, thanks to the Gulf Stream, even palm trees.

The Twelve Bens mountain range is the dominant feature of the region. Rising above the horizon to only 730 metres, these twelve peaks offer the best hiking in the area, particularly for the Sunday walker. The most accessible routes are in Connemara National Park, a diverse expanse of 2,957 hectares of protected land. Diamond Hill is the most popular trail, leading to a 400-metre-high quartzite peak.

Much of the park used to be part of the Kylemore Abbey Estate. Originally the private home of an English politician, the 70-room castle on the estate became an abbey in 1920 when Belgian Benedictines were seeking a refuge after the First World War. It was a private boarding school until 2010 and has been open to the public for many years. The Gothic-style church built in 1877 is a miniature cathedral decorated with coloured marbles from the four corners of Ireland and features stained-glass tracery windows depicting the five graces: Fortitude, Faith, Charity, Hope and Chastity. The walled garden has been under restoration since 2000 and includes geometrically shaped flower beds and 21 antique greenhouses.

Another popular route to either hike or cycle is the 220-kilometre coastal trail of Sli Chonamara that starts in Galway City and continues north through small villages famous for their music. Many offer home stays with Irish-speaking families, a popular option with people wanting to rediscover their roots in the country. The trail eventually links up with the Western Way that takes you inland to Lough Corrib, one of Ireland’s longest lakes and noted for its abundant freshwater trout and salmon.

On an isthmus in the lake is the village of Cong. On its outskirts is the stunning 13th-century Ashford Castle, now a five-star hotel. In the village itself, visitors can wander through the beautifully preserved ruins of a 13th-century abbey, an Irish national monument.

An alternative route is the Sky Road that hugs the Atlantic coast, offering spectacular views of the ocean and the windswept islands of Inishturk and Turbot.

The northern loop out of Clifden, the unofficial capital of Connemara, leads to Ireland’s only fiord. Carved from the landscape by glaciers, Killary Harbour is flanked by the magnificent Mweelrea and Ben Gorm Mountains. At its tip are the wide sandy beaches of the Renvyle Peninsula. On the south side of the harbour is one of the most gorgeous roads in the area. The historic Famine Road, built in 1846 as part of a relief project, passes through abandoned cottages and potato ridges where Irish peasants once struggled to survive at the time of the great potato blight.

Many of the visitors who come to this lush countryside today are descendants of the people driven to emigrate to North America and elsewhere during the Great Famine of 1845-52.

To the south are the picturesque villages of County Clare, such as the market town Ennistymon and the boating town Ballyvaughan in the southeastern corner of Galway Bay. Both are gateways to the Burren plateau, a terrain dotted with curious limestone land formations. The 123-kilometre Burren Way takes you past ancient burial sites such as the Bronze Age Poulnabrone Dolmen, as well as historic ring forts, castles and caves.

— Postmedia News