The Trail Map:- OSI Map Series 24
UPDATE: Dogs are not permitted on the off road sections of the trail as it crosses open farmland.
This walk traces the shores of Lough Easkey, a peaceful and scenic lake surrounded by forest plantations. The blanket bog on this route is designated a special area of conservation boasting rare types of moss and threatened bird species like the Greenland white fronted goose and Irelands only native reptile the common lizard has also been spotted here.
The Route
Starting from the carpark on the left, this remote nature trail crosses blanket bog with a combination of of forest tracks, laneways and minor roads, leading walkers into the Ox Mountains, offering stunning lakeshore views from part of the Sligo Way.
Did You Know?
The name ‘Easkey’ means ‘Plentiful in Fish’, and the lake is fittingly abundant in salmon and trout.
A great lake walk
Did this a couple of days ago – nice and dry and a few weeks without any rain – lovely walk, including an abandoned village (now occupied by sheep)
Best to do it anti clockwise for the purple signage
An impressive number of maintained planks to cross streams – but you can see how some sections would be wet in normal weather!
Very quiet – we encountered just one (Breton) couple in the 100 minutes it took us to walk the 6.6km
An absolute joy ! Stunning scenery and a good test for your waterproof hiking boots ?
No dogs allowed. I won't visit.
I was planning to go, but now it is off the list. I do not understand why dogs on a leash are not permitted.
If you went and did the walk, you would understand why dogs are not permitted. There is sheep everywhere on the route and road and although the dog might be on a leash, there is not much space to pass the sheep to run on the road
Plenty of places for walking dogs around Sligo, this is one of the very few places that it just doesn’t suit
So you would give this amazing location a one star rating, having never even visited it. Wow. Another selfish dog owner who doesn’t get it. Sheep are easily spooked by dogs on a leash too – it’s not all about dogs chasing after them. This is a real problem during lambing season. There are sheep EVERYWHERE on this route, including on the trails.
The scenery here is just amazing, I would take the drive just to see it. The loop is very marshy right now, if you want you test just how waterproof your boots are try this walk! The fact that a lot of the loop is so wet its not the easiest walk, maybe it will be dry in the summer… also the route is shared with a lot of sheep!