Two places anchor this list. The mile-long circuit of Derry City Walls, finished around 1618, is free and open at any hour, looking down on the Bogside and the Foyle past 24 restored cannon, and it starts in the middle of the city. Out at Limavady, Roe Valley Country Park runs three miles through the steep gorge of the River Roe, past ruined linen mills and the 1896 hydro-electric station, with the café and museum at the Dogleap Road car park.
The rest of the Lough Foyle shore is flat and open. Ballymacran follows about nine kilometres of sea wall built 170 years ago to drain the shore for the Belfast to Derry railway, and the Broharris Canal, a failed 1820s kelp cut, carries part of the eight-kilometre Lough Foyle Trail past a bird hide. Both are Ramsar wetland and at their best in winter when the wildfowl are in. Myroe sits on the same reclaimed levels north of Limavady.
For trees, Ervey Wood climbs above the Burntollet River at Killaloo and links to Ness Wood and its waterfall, with bluebells in late spring, while the Faughan Valley Woodlands just south of Derry hold more than 35 km of trails through ancient oak. Springhill at Moneymore is a drive from the rest, down in the south of the county; its snowdrop walk is a late-winter event. The Ulster Way passes through, though only its Quality Sections are properly off-road.
The only complete circuit of city walls in Ireland, a free mile-long rampart walk open at any hour above the Foyle and the Bogside.
Three miles of steep wooded gorge along the River Roe, with linen mill ruins, an 1896 hydro-electric station and a café at the main car park.
A 17th-century Drapers' Company plantation town whose main draw is Springhill, a National Trust manor with estate walks toward Slieve Gallion and Lough Fea nearby.
Roughly nine kilometres of flat sea wall along Lough Foyle, built to drain the shore for the railway and now a Ramsar bird site.
A failed 1820s kelp canal now forming part of the eight-kilometre Lough Foyle Trail, flat and free, with a bird hide over wintering flocks.
11 of 11 shown — tap a pin for the place.
Derry, londonderry
Completed around 1618, Derry's walls are the only complete circuit in Ireland and have never been breached – the reason the city is nicknamed the Maiden City. The mile-long rampart walk is free and open at any hour, with views over the River Foyle, the Bogside and St Columb's Cathedral, and 24 restored cannon including Roaring Meg.
Limavady, londonderry
Roe Valley Country Park runs for three miles along the steep-sided gorge of the River Roe near Limavady. Woodland trails link the ruins of 19th-century linen mills and Northern Ireland's first hydro-electric station of 1896, and the main car park at Dogleap Road has the café, museum and toilets. Free to enter.
Moneymore, londonderry
The Drapers' Company of London laid out Moneymore as a model plantation town in the 1600s, and its grid of streets still holds. Most people come for Springhill, though – a whitewashed 17th-century manor kept by the National Trust, with a costume collection, a reputed ghost, and estate walks running toward Slieve Gallion. Nearby Lough Fea adds a flat four-kilometre lap of the lake.
londonderry
The River Roe runs 55 km from the Sperrins to Lough Foyle, and tightens into a wooded gorge at Limavady that forms Roe Valley Country Park. The park has firm riverside walks, the ruins of the linen mills, Northern Ireland's first hydro-electric station, and one of the few disabled-angler's jetties in the North.
Limavady, londonderry
londonderry
Killaloo, londonderry
Myroe, londonderry
londonderry
Moneymore, londonderry
Belfast, antrim
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