Two of these six sit within a few kilometres of each other in the far west of the county, on the limestone around Blacklion. Cavan Burren Park at Cornagee spreads more than 10km of marked trails across a plateau holding over eighty archaeological monuments, the Calf House Dolmen and Bronze Age wedge tombs among them, with an interpretive centre and free admission inside the Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark. The Cavan Way crosses the same karst on its way from Dowra to Blacklion, a mostly-a-day linear walk taking in the Shannon Pot and linking the Leitrim Way to the Ulster Way.
The rest are spread through the drumlins. Killykeen Forest Park covers 240 hectares of woodland around Lough Oughter, free to enter, with four waymarked walks, a family cycle trail, a short wheelchair-friendly loop, and Clough Oughter Castle standing in the water within sight of the shore paths. Bailieborough’s walk starts from the town itself, looping Castle Lake through the old demesne past the castle ruins and Rebel Hill. Munterconnaught, on the southern shore of Lough Ramor near Virginia, is a scattered parish rather than a walk with a car park.
Bréifne is the older frame around all of it, the Gaelic kingdom whose castles and round towers are still strewn across these drumlins, and where the Beara-Breifne Way ends.
A limestone plateau above Blacklion with more than eighty monuments and over 10km of marked trails, free to walk and the county's deepest archaeological ground.
Free 240-hectare woodland on Lough Oughter with four waymarked walks, a wheelchair-friendly loop and Clough Oughter Castle offshore, which makes it the most flexible day here.
One of the highest towns in Ireland, where the Castle Lake loop runs from the town through the demesne of a castle demolished in the 1940s.
The old Gaelic kingdom behind much of this landscape, its castles, round tower and caves scattered through the drumlins where the Beara-Breifne Way finishes.
A moderate day's linear walking from Dowra to Blacklion by way of the Shannon Pot, joining the Leitrim Way to the Ulster Way.
6 of 6 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Cornagee, cavan
A limestone plateau above Blacklion holding more than eighty archaeological monuments, from the Calf House Dolmen to Bronze Age wedge tombs and prehistoric rock art. Over 10km of marked trails, an interpretive centre and free admission, all within the Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark.
cavan
Killykeen Forest Park spreads over 240 hectares of woodland around Lough Oughter, part of the Upper Erne system in County Cavan. It is free to enter, with four waymarked walks, a family cycle trail and a short wheelchair-friendly loop, and the 13th-century tower of Clough Oughter Castle rising from the water within view of the shore paths.
Bailieborough, cavan
Bailieborough sits at 146 m, one of the highest towns in Ireland, a Plantation market town founded by the Bailie family in the 1600s. Its best walk loops Castle Lake through the demesne of a castle demolished in the 1940s, passing the ruins, a memorial to the 1798 rebels of Rebel Hill and the graves of the Marist brothers who once lived in the castle.
Northwest Ireland, leitrim
Bréifne was a Gaelic kingdom that split in two after the 1256 Battle of Magh Slecht, becoming the modern counties of Leitrim and Cavan. Its remains are scattered across the drumlins: Clogh Oughter Castle on a crannog, Parke's Castle on Lough Gill, Drumlane's round tower, the Marble Arch Caves. The 500 km Beara-Breifne Way ends here, and Cuilcagh's 'Stairway to Heaven' boardwalk climbs the mountain.
cavan
A moderate, mostly-a-day linear trail from Dowra to Blacklion, passing the Shannon Pot – the traditional source of the River Shannon – and crossing the limestone karst of the Cavan Burren. It links the Leitrim Way to the Ulster Way and forms a leg of the Beara-Breifne Way.
Virginia, cavan
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