Annaloughan Loop

The walk

The signed Annaloughan Loop is 5.9 km, but nearly every walker clocks closer to 8 km. The difference is the approach: the official figure counts only the loop proper, not the walk out to it from the car park and back, which adds the best part of two kilometres. Budget about two and three-quarter hours and roughly 250 m of climbing, and treat it as a moderate half-day on the Cooley Peninsula rather than a quick leg-stretch.

From the car park at Fitzpatrick’s, turn left and follow the purple arrow onto a minor road, then a narrow laneway on the left that runs past a farm shed. Right at the T-junction, on to a forestry barrier, and right again onto the forest road that climbs to the three-way junction where the loop itself begins. The first stretch goes up steadily through conifer and scattered broadleaf, ferns and bracken thick on the floor.

The one part worth coming for is the open shoulder of Annaloughan Mountain. For about a kilometre and a half the trees fall away and the whole of Dundalk Bay opens up below, with the town across the water and the Cooley hills behind. The forestry on either side is pleasant enough but ordinary; this is the bit you’ll remember. On the way round you pass the Rockmarshall court tomb, a Neolithic burial monument tucked into the hillside. Then a stile drops you back into the forest and a stony track leads down to rejoin the outward path.

One honest warning

That open shoulder is exposed, and the forestry tracks drain badly. After rain, or any time in winter, the ground turns to soup and the views vanish into low cloud, so this is a fair-weather walk – save it for a clear day and wear boots with proper grip. Navigation is the other catch: the waymarking is purple arrows on white, but a few of the forestry forks are easy to miss. Download the official map before you set out, and if you lose the markers, backtrack to the last arrow rather than pushing on. There are no toilets or facilities on the trail.

Practical information

The loop was laid out in 2009, alongside the nearby Barnavave loop, as part of a push that turned the Cooley Peninsula into one of the east coast’s main walking hubs.

Getting there and parking

By car, leave the M1 at Dundalk and take the R173 coast road towards Carlingford, then follow the local signs for Jenkinstown and Fitzpatrick’s, which sits just off the main route. Local buses run between Dundalk and Carlingford with stops in Jenkinstown, but timetables change with the season, so check before relying on one.

The pub car park is free and big, which is the catch on a dry weekend – it fills by lunchtime. Arrive before midday or after 4pm and you’ll usually find space. Starting and finishing at a pub is the trail’s other bonus: Fitzpatrick’s does food, and it’s the obvious end to the walk.

Nearby

The trailhead is well placed for the rest of Louth. Slieve Foye, the county’s highest hill at 589 m, gives a stiffer climb and a view over Carlingford Lough to the Mournes, while the medieval town of Carlingford has the flat, traffic-free greenway towards Omeath if the legs want something gentler. Inland, Castle Roche is a 13th-century ruin on a rock outcrop northwest of Dundalk, and Monasterboice, near Drogheda, holds two of Ireland’s finest high crosses – including the 5.5 m Muiredach’s Cross – beside a round tower of around 35 m.

If it’s been raining hard, skip Annaloughan and do the Carlingford greenway instead; the forestry here won’t be worth the mud.