The remote Bangor Trail, Mayo
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of accompanying freelance journalist Lenny on The Bangor Trail. We had beautiful weather for our walking trip, especially considering it was the middle of winter.
The Bangor Trail is a centuries old stock-moving track, allowing travllers to come down from the north of the county (around the modern village of Bangor) to the west coast, exemplified by Newport village. There they might buy or sell some livestock.
Reproduced below is Lenny’s lovely article from the Irish Times. I’ve had to remove both the map and accompanying photograph, as the paper unfortunately printed the wrong one on both counts.
Let me know if you’d like to undertake this Bangor Trail hike. At nine hours walking from beginning to end, it’s easily Ireland’s longest linear off-road hiking trail. Traversing vast blanket bog landscape and travelling beneath the Nephin Beg mountains, with not a house or home in sight, it’s also the very loneliest place – but in a wonderful, positive and serene sense.
Irish Time article, part 1
Irish Times article, part 2
