We took the opportunity to do a hike in the Slieve Bloom mountains while visiting Johnnys relatives in Banagher. We had previously bought a map of the area and marked out a 14km route starting in Cadamstown. We parked the car in a small car park that marked the beginning of the Slieve Bloom Way and made our way towards Paul's Lane. Luckily Paul's Lane was signposted as we would have walked straight by it otherwise. It is basically a small lane on your right hand side. As it is summer, it is quite overgrown in parts and easy to miss. We began to walk uphill through the lane. Quite surprisingly, the lane is deceivingly long. Because of the trees it is shaded and as a result, very muddy. The longer the lane went on, the more pleasant it became; less muddy and less overgrown. After a short while, we were slightly confused as to where we were on the map. We were looking out for a left turn but couldn't seem to find it. We continued walking until we came to two waymarkers; one pointing straight on and one pointing left. It didn't seem to match our map but we knew we wouldn't get too lost once we were following way markers so decided to take the left turn into the woods.
We continued through the woods following the way markers, all the time trying to figure out where we were on the map. From the beginning we had met no people so couldn't run it by anyone. As we were not substantially elevated, we weren't concerned about getting lost. The worst that could happen us would be a longer walk back to the car. There was no danger of engulfing cloud or walking off the edge of a cliff or mountain. We just kept following the markers. After a little while we left the woods and were faced with crossing a field full of cows and a very large bull!!!!!. Johnny said he felt like he had just walked into a pub down the country. All the cows just turned and looked at us.
After crossing the field, with no interference from the bull, we had a lovely walk along a river. What was really nice was that the farmer had put down some materials for you to walk on where the terrain was very muddy. He had also covered any barbed wire fences with a plastic pipe at the crossing points. It just shows that some landowners have no issue with you crossing their land once you respect it. During this part of the walk we had to cross the river twice; the second crossing being the most beautiful one.
Two tall trees bordered the bridge like an entrance. Once again we continued by following the way markers until we reached a road. The way markers that we were following was pointing across the road. We stopped to have lunch and referenced the road to the map. For the first time during the hike, we knew where we were and we weren't following the route we had marked out in advance for ourselves. Rather than go completely off track by continuing to follow the way markers, we decided to turn right and follow the road back to Cadamstown and the car. If I was to guess the distance, I would say it was about 2/3 km. Back at the car, we went on the Internet on our phones to see where we had gone wrong and would you believe it, we went wrong at the very beginning. We were meant to walk past Paul's Lane and take a track about 200m past it. We had mistaken Paul's lane on the map for the track we were meant to take. No wonder, we had trouble following the map from the beginning. In total the hike was only 11km and not very challenging. The Slieve Bloom mountains are an ideal place for a nice woodland or hill walk. They are low level and offer a very different experience than Munroe hiking. In saying that, I found the hike very enjoyable. The only reason I would suggest hiking boots for this hike would be to avoid you ruining your trainers from the mud. Other than that, it could be done in trainers.
We took the opportunity to do a hike in the Slieve Bloom mountains while visiting Johnnys relatives in Banagher. We had previously bought a map of the area and marked out a 14km route starting in Cadamstown. We parked the car in a small car park that marked the beginning of the Slieve Bloom Way and made our way towards Paul's Lane. Luckily Paul's Lane was signposted as we would have walked straight by it otherwise. It is basically a small lane on your right hand side. As it is summer, it is quite overgrown in parts and easy to miss. We began to walk uphill through the lane. Quite surprisingly, the lane is deceivingly long. Because of the trees it is shaded and as a result, very muddy. The longer the lane went on, the more pleasant it became; less muddy and less overgrown. After a short while, we were slightly confused as to where we were on the map. We were looking out for a left turn but couldn't seem to find it. We continued walking until we came to two waymarkers; one pointing straight on and one pointing left. It didn't seem to match our map but we knew we wouldn't get too lost once we were following way markers so decided to take the left turn into the woods.
We continued through the woods following the way markers, all the time trying to figure out where we were on the map. From the beginning we had met no people so couldn't run it by anyone. As we were not substantially elevated, we weren't concerned about getting lost. The worst that could happen us would be a longer walk back to the car. There was no danger of engulfing cloud or walking off the edge of a cliff or mountain. We just kept following the markers. After a little while we left the woods and were faced with crossing a field full of cows and a very large bull!!!!!. Johnny said he felt like he had just walked into a pub down the country. All the cows just turned and looked at us.
After crossing the field, with no interference from the bull, we had a lovely walk along a river. What was really nice was that the farmer had put down some materials for you to walk on where the terrain was very muddy. He had also covered any barbed wire fences with a plastic pipe at the crossing points. It just shows that some landowners have no issue with you crossing their land once you respect it. During this part of the walk we had to cross the river twice; the second crossing being the most beautiful one.
Two tall trees bordered the bridge like an entrance. Once again we continued by following the way markers until we reached a road. The way markers that we were following was pointing across the road. We stopped to have lunch and referenced the road to the map. For the first time during the hike, we knew where we were and we weren't following the route we had marked out in advance for ourselves. Rather than go completely off track by continuing to follow the way markers, we decided to turn right and follow the road back to Cadamstown and the car. If I was to guess the distance, I would say it was about 2/3 km. Back at the car, we went on the Internet on our phones to see where we had gone wrong and would you believe it, we went wrong at the very beginning. We were meant to walk past Paul's Lane and take a track about 200m past it. We had mistaken Paul's lane on the map for the track we were meant to take. No wonder, we had trouble following the map from the beginning. In total the hike was only 11km and not very challenging. The Slieve Bloom mountains are an ideal place for a nice woodland or hill walk. They are low level and offer a very different experience than Munroe hiking. In saying that, I found the hike very enjoyable. The only reason I would suggest hiking boots for this hike would be to avoid you ruining your trainers from the mud. Other than that, it could be done in trainers. 
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