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| ADVENTURES IN IRELAND WALKING THE LOUGH DERG WAY
—PAGE 1—
"O Ireland,
isn’t it grand you look—
Like a bride in her rich adornin’?
And with all the pent-up love of my
heart
I bid you the top o’ the mornin’!"
—John Locke, The Exile’s Return |
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With few exceptions we North Americans are exiles longing to return to homelands of the
heart and the imagination. One of these dreamed-of homelands is IRELAND. Ireland challenges the notion that we cannot go
home again. Walking in rural Ireland brings you to the Ireland of your heart and
imagination.
Take the Lough Derg Way. It’s gentle. The
light over the lough has a Vaseline sheen to it. Along the way are dairies and pastures
and thatched cottages and friendly pubs and a couple of hills posing as Irish mountains.
You may see sun and rain and both at the same time, set between parenthetical rainbows.
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BASIC ROUTE
INFORMATION:
The lower third of the route runs ten miles from Limerick city north along the Shannon
River to its exit from Lough Derg at the twin villages of Killaloe/Ballina. The upper
two-thirds of the path parallels the eastern shore of Loch Derg for roughly half its
length twenty miles to the lakeside village of Dromineer. A third section—from
Dromineer north to Portumna where the Shannon enters at the top of the lake—is under
development but is not yet under construction.
THE LOUGH DERG WAY
TO BALLINA:
Because twenty miles is enough, and the lakeside scenery is varied and beautiful,
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MUCH OF
THE LOUGH DERG WAY FOLLOWS
LITTLE USED ROADWAYS, MOST PAVED.
PARTS OF THE ROUTE FOLLOW
UNPAVED
FARM LANES AND RUGGED FOOTPATHS,
ESPECIALLY IN THE ARRA MOUNTAINS. |
this guide describes the
Killaloe/Ballina to Dromineer section of the Lough Derg Way only. The
walk can be done in one long day (7-8 hours), two medium days (4 hours
each), or three short days (3 hours each). This guide will divide the
route into three sections, permitting walkers the opportunity to enjoy
the route at a leisurely pace with a minimal chance for wet weather
interruptions.
Lough Derg is one of three major lakes on the
waterway of the River Shannon, Ireland’s longest river. Starting at the south
end—at the twin tourist towns of Killaloe/Ballina (map point 1)—the lake leads
north-northeast about 19 linear miles to its upper end at Portumna. Counties Clare and
Galway hug its western banks; County Tipperary is on the eastern shore. For our purposes,
the route of the Lough Derg Way begins in Killaloe village in County Clare, then
immediately crosses the Shannon east to Ballina on the Tipperary side before taking a
generally northerly—albeit meandering—route. And, although the route can be
easily followed in either direction, we arbitrarily have elected to follow it northbound
in this guide.CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE |
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More about HOME AT FIRST’s travel program to: CENTRAL IRELAND. |
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