The boardwalk
Ireland’s first floating boardwalk runs 600 metres across Acres Lake, just outside Drumshanbo. Waterways Ireland built it in 2017, floating a timber walkway on concrete-anchored pontoons – a workaround for the land-ownership and environmental tangles that had ruled out a shoreline path – and in doing so created the first continuous water-based section of the Shannon Blueway. The deck sits barely above the surface, so it feels closer to walking on the lake than beside it, and the see-through railings keep the view open. It is dead level the whole way: fine for wheelchairs, buggies and dogs on leads.
It is also free, open in daylight hours all year, and short. In summer the lake fills with lily pads, and early morning or late afternoon gives the best light for photographs, when the low sun catches the water and the hills behind.
Walking and cycling on
The boardwalk is the trailhead for a flat, traffic-free 6.5 km walk north along the canal to Battlebridge Lock, with panels on the local ecology and the old canal navigation along the way. Looped walks of up to 14 km branch off through riverbank and old workings if you want a longer day.
Cyclists use the lake as a stop on a 20 km traffic-free loop from Leitrim Village through Drumshanbo and back along the towpath – though you have to dismount and wheel the bike across the boardwalk itself, where cycling isn’t allowed. Electric Bike Trails hires adult e-bikes, hybrids and children’s seats from Leitrim Village, with free delivery to accommodation within 8 km (info@electricbiketrails.ie, +353 87 738 6439). The alternative is the Jackalope Cycle Tour: 3.5 to 5 hours with storyteller Seamus Gibbons, covering canal history and wildlife and finishing with a tasting at the Shed Distillery – Gunpowder Gin and Drumshanbo Single Pot Still whiskey.
The visitor centre
The Sliabh an Iarainn Visitor Centre beside the lake takes its name from the mountain above Drumshanbo – ‘Mountain of Iron’ – and tells the story of a century of iron-ore mining, narrow-gauge railways and the Shannon–Erne Canal in a 45-minute audio-visual exhibition. Worth an hour if it’s open; the catch is that it runs seasonally, so call +353 71 9641851 before building plans around it. The boardwalk doesn’t need an appointment.
Families and swimmers
The lakeside amenity area has a playground, picnic benches, toilets and – the bit first-timers don’t expect – a heated open-air swimming pool, open from June to the end of August and a local institution on a warm day. Birdlife is reliable: mute swans, mallards, and the odd kingfisher if you’re lucky. Pine martens and foxes keep to the woods and mostly to themselves.
Getting there
The lake sits just off the R280, a short walk from Drumshanbo centre, with free parking at the water’s edge. For coffee and cake afterwards, Jinny’s Bakery and Tearooms in the village is the local default. And if the iron-mining story takes hold, the Arigna Mining Experience – an underground tour of a real mine – is the natural next stop, with Carrick on Shannon downriver for lunch or a boat trip.