Yesterday, I made the very short trip to walk a waymarked ‘National Looped Walk’ from Ballinruan, near Crusheen, County Clare.

The sleepy village (and even by rural Clare standards, Ballinruan is especially sleepy!) is the start point for two trails, the 10km Ballinruan loop (green arrows) and Gortnamearacaun loop (purple arrows and 14km) – the longer route sharing the early sections but adding an extra stretch through the forest at the southern end. The trails also cover some of the Mid-Clare Way, making the signposts quite crowded with symbols of different colours.

The trails are a mixture of (very) quiet boreen, forest road, and a few hundred meters across a blanket bog. It’s August, but don’t let that fool you. This summer has been a complete washout, and there’d been heavy overnight rain (again) before I walked the route. That said, conditions were good underfoot throughout, though waterproof boots would probably be a good idea for the bog section during Winter months.

The views throughout the walk were great with the Slieve Aughty Mountains and the Burren in constant view. From the high point, the Shannon estuary and Aughinish works were also visible. Across the top of the bog, the scars of centuries of turf cutting are everywhere. It seems such a backward thing to still be doing now that the greener alternatives are so readily available, but until wind and wave energy (both available in massive quantities in this part of the world) are available and retro-fitted in these rural areas, the old ways will survive.
What is jarring in such beautiful scenery is the amount of rubbish strewn across the bog from this industry; plastic sacks, smashed pallets, and corrugated iron sheets.

Along the way, I saw precisely no one; however, I did meet plenty of flora and fauna to keep me entertained. Peacock butterflies (and to a lesser extent, Red Admirals) were everywhere, attracted by the prolific Knapweed and Montbretia. Also, surrounding the open bog, the Sitka spruce was mixed with mature and majestic Scots Pine, which always adds to the feeling of remoteness. As I walked, I had a constant supply of tasty blackberries to add to my trail mix.

A highlight was a very close encounter with a Pine Marten who jumped out of a headgerow and into the road, no more that three feet in front of me. I think he may have been more startled than I was, jumping clear into the hedge on the other side of the tarmac…

All in all, an excellent walk with varied terrain, good views, well maintained and marked trails.

You can find more information about the walk on the Sport Ireland website. Make sure that you follow the route shown here rather than that on the Hiiker App. The Hiiker version may seem better as there is less road walking, however, the last section through the forest is completely overgrown.

I actually went back a couple of months later and made a little film of my walk…