Long-distance footpaths in the Republic of Ireland

The "walking man" waymarker used for National Waymarked Trails

Long-distance footpaths in Ireland abound. Forty-three such walking routes are designated as 'National Waymarked Trails' by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council. Many are simple day-walks, while others are substantial, multi-day walks over wild terrain.

The oldest officially designated trail is the Wicklow Way, the first section of which opened in 1980. It was followed by the South Leinster and East Munster Ways in 1984; the Kerry Way and the Táin Way in 1985; and the Dingle and Slieve Bloom Ways in 1987. National Waymarked Trails continue to be developed and there are now over 2,500 miles of routes in the Republic of Ireland. The highest concentration of routes is in the Province of Munster. The most frequented trails are the Wicklow, Sheep's Head, Kerry, Dingle, Beara, Burren and Western Ways.

The 'National Waymarked Trails' trails are inspected annually by the National Trails Office and are maintained by local management committees, local authorities, local development companies and other state agencies. All routes follow woodland paths, grassy boreens, fields, riverbanks and quiet country roads in the lowlands and forestry tracks and mountain paths in the uplands. Each trail is waymarked with square black posts containing an image, in yellow, of a walking man and a directional arrow, a symbol reserved for use only by National Waymarked Trails.

In addition to the National Waymarked Trails, the Heritage Council has developed a series of walking routes based on medieval pilgrimage paths. Two greenway rail trails have also been developed.

History

The impetus for the development of the National Waymarked Trails came about in response to the establishment of the Ulster Way in Northern Ireland. This prompted the appointment in 1978 of the Cospóir Long Distance Walking Routes Committee (now the National Trails Advisory Committee of the Irish Sport Council) to establish a national network of long-distance paths in Ireland. The committee consisted of representatives of various sectional interests, including An Taisce whose nominee was appointed Field Officer of the committee. Malone had done much to popularise walking through a regular column in the Evening Herald newspaper, contributions to television programmes as well as two books on the subject. The first trail to be developed – the Wicklow Way – was based on a series of articles he had written for the Evening Herald in 1966.

Each of the trails to have been developed makes use existing paths, tracks, forest roads, boreens and by-roads but, in the absence of any compulsory powers to include any of these, provision of and access to any such routes is achieved by agreement with local authorities and landowners. Agreement with private landowners has not always been forthcoming. Most of the routes, therefore, are highly dependent on access provided by the state: Coillte, the state-owned forestry company, is the largest single manager of any of the trails with more than 30 National Waymarked Trails making use of its property. Coillte provides and maintains 52% of all off-road walking trails and 24% of the total amount of developed walking trails in Ireland.

Access issues mean that many trails have substantial sections on public roads. Writing in The Irish Times, John G. O'Dwyer summed up the situation as follows: "Trails often tiptoed timidly through the countryside, offering extended stretches of boringly unsafe road topped with boot burning bitumen. These were frequently interspersed with gloomy trails through invading armies of monoculture, including stands of Sitka spruce that were generally as memorable as a motorway median". Trail erosion has also been an issue with some of the more popular routes.

National Waymarked Trails

Name	County	Format	Start	End	Length
Ballyhoura Way	Cork; Limerick; Tipperary	Linear	St John's Bridge	Limerick Junction	55 miles
Barrow Way	Carlow; Kildare; Laois	Linear	Robertstown	St Mullin's	62 miles
Bealach na Gaeltachta – Slí an Earagail	Donegal	Circular	Dunlewey	Dunlewey	48 miles
Bealach na Gaeltachta – Slí Cholmcille	Donegal	Circular	Ardara	Ardara	40 miles
Bealach na Gaeltachta – Slí Chonamara	Galway	Closed
Bealach na Gaeltachta – Slí na Finne	Donegal	Circular	Fintown	Fintown	31½ miles
Bealach na Gaeltachta – Slí na Rosann	Donegal	Circular	Dungloe	Dungloe	40½ miles
Beara Way	Cork; Kerry	Circular	Glengarriff	Glengarriff	128 miles
Blackwater Way (Avondhu)	Cork; Tipperary	Linear	Clogheen	Bweeng	58 miles
Blackwater Way (Duhallow)	Cork; Kerry	Linear	Bweeng	Shrone	41 miles
Bluestack Way	Donegal	Linear	Donegal	Ardara	40 miles
Burren Way	Clare	Linear	Lahinch	Corofin	71 miles
Cavan Way	Cavan	Linear	Dowra	Blacklion	13½ miles
Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail	Mayo	Linear	Balla	Murrisk	38 miles
Dingle Way	Kerry	Circular	Tralee	Tralee	101 miles
Dublin Mountains Way	Dublin	Linear	Shankill	Tallaght	34 miles
East Clare Way	Clare	Circular	Killaloe	Killaloe	112 miles
East Munster Way	Waterford; Tipperary	Linear	Carrick-on-Suir	Clogheen	47 miles
Grand Canal Way	Dublin; Kildare; Offaly	Linear	Lucan Bridge	Shannon Harbour	72.7 mile (117.0 km)
Hymany Way	Galway	Linear	Portumna	Aughrim	34 miles
Kerry Way	Kerry	Circular	Killarney	Killarney	133 miles
Leitrim Way	Leitrim	Closed
Lough Derg Way	Limerick; Clare; Tipperary	Linear	Limerick	Dromineer	40½ miles
Mid Clare Way	Clare	Circular	Newmarket-on-Fergus	Newmarket-on-Fergus	92 miles
Miners Way and Historical Trail	Sligo; Roscommon; Leitrim	Circular	Arigna	Arigna	73 miles
Monaghan Way	Monaghan	Linear	Monaghan	Inishkeen	40½ miles
Multeen Way	Tipperary	Linear	Milestone	Tipperary Town	14 miles
Nore Valley Way	Kilkenny	Linear	Kilkenny	Inistioge	21 miles
North Kerry Way	Kerry	Linear	Tralee	Ballyheigue	28 miles
Offaly Way	Offaly	Linear	Cadamstown	Lemanaghan	23.0 mile (37.0 km)
Royal Canal Way	Dublin; Kildare; Meath; Longford; Westmeath	Linear	Ashtown	Abbeyshrule	49 miles
Sheep's Head Way	Cork	Circular	Bantry	Bantry	56 miles
Slieve Bloom Way	Laois; Offaly	Circular	Glenbarrow	Glenbarrow	52 miles
Slieve Felim Way	Limerick; Tipperary	Linear	Murroe	Silvermines	26½ miles
Sligo Way	Sligo	Linear	Larrigan	Dromahair	48 miles
Slí Gaeltacht Mhuscraí	Cork	Linear	Kealkill	Millstreet	43 miles
South Leinster Way	Carlow; Kilkenny; Tipperary	Linear	Kildavin	Carrick-on-Suir	65 miles
Suck Valley Way	Roscommon; Galway	Circular	Castlerea	Castlerea	65 miles
Táin Way	Louth	Circular	Carlingford	Carlingford	25 miles
Tipperary Heritage Way	Tipperary	Linear	Vee Gap	Cashel	35 miles
Western Way (Galway)	Galway	Linear	Oughterard	Leenaun	34 miles
Western Way (Mayo)	Mayo	Linear	Leenaun	Ballycastle	77 miles
Westmeath Way	Westmeath	Linear	Kilbeggan	Mullingar	20½ miles
Wicklow Way	Wicklow; Dublin; Carlow	Linear	Marlay Park	Clonegal	80 miles

Pilgrim Paths

Main article: Pilgrim Paths of Ireland

The "walking pligrim" waymarker to designate Pilgrim Paths

Influenced by the work done by the Council of Europe on the 'Way of St James' in the 1980s and 1990s, the Pilgrim Paths project was set up by the Heritage Council as its Millennium Project. Its purpose was to develop and support a network of walking routes along Irish medieval pilgrimage paths to raise awareness of natural and built heritage along these routes and to contribute to tourism and community development. Seven pilgrim paths were chosen for the project and, to date, three routes have been completed and are open for walking:

Name	County	Format	Start	End	Length
Cosán na Naomh	Kerry	Linear	Ventry	Mount Brandon	11 miles
Lough Derg	Donegal	Circular	Station Island Visitor Centre	Saint's Island	7½ miles
Saint Kevin's Way	Wicklow	Linear	Hollywood or Valleymount	Glendalough	18½ miles

These routes are waymarked with black marker posts with a yellow pilgrim symbol; an image based on a stone from a pilgrimage site in County Cork which depicts a pilgrim with a Celtic tonsure, wearing a tunic and carrying a staff. Beneath is a directional arrow inset with a cross of arcs, one of the main symbols of pilgrimage in Ireland.

A number of other routes have ben proposed at times for official recognition. The Pilgrim's Road (or Slí Mhór) between Ballycumber, County Offaly and Clonmacnoise has been developed as a cycle way since so much of the route follows roads. Work has begun on the remaining route, Saint Declan's Way between Ardmore and Lismore in County Waterford. Voluntary groups on both sides of the Knockmealdown Mountains began work on the route in 2013, waymarking is expected shortly. The first organised walk of the route takes place on 24 to 28 July 2013.

Greenways

There are also three 'greenway' rail trails in the Republic of Ireland:

Name	County	Format	Start	End	Length
Great Southern Trail	Limerick; Kerry	Linear	Rathkeale	Abbeyfeale	22 miles
Great Western Greenway	Mayo	Linear	Westport	Achill	26 miles
Waterford Greenway	Waterford	Linear	Waterford City	Dungarvan	28½ miles

A project has been initiated to create an 50-mile Connemara Greenway along the route of the former Galway to Clifden Midland Great Western Railway. The Dublin-Galway Greenway has also been initiated. The 174-mile route is planned to be completed by 2020. Sections of the route follow the Royal Canal from Dublin, as well as the disused Mullingar-Athlone rail line.

There is also a campaign to create a greenway on the Claremorris, County Mayo to Collooney, County Sligo section of the Western Rail Corridor.

See also

• Bangor Trail
• Malin to Mizen

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Hiking trails in Ireland)

• National Waymarked Trails on IrishTrails.ie
• National Trails Office

References

• Dalby, Barry (2009) [1st pub. 1993]. The Wicklow Way Map Guide. Clonegal, Ireland: EastWest Mapping. ISBN 978-1-899815-24-1. 
• Fewer, Michael (1996). The Way-marked Trails of Ireland. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-2386-3. 
• Wilson, Peter (January 1989). "The Expansion of Long-distance Walking Routes in Ireland". Irish Geography 22 (1): 48–51. doi:10.1080/00750778909478786.