Overview
Sheskin is roughly 25 km of the Western Way with no shop, no reliable phone signal and nowhere convenient to turn back – a large Coillte conifer forest laid over the blanket bog of north County Mayo, running from near Ballycastle south to Bellacorick. There is no habitation for miles. Coillte’s own name for it is Ireland’s ‘big sky country’, and the sky really is the point: with the ground so flat and empty, the weather overhead does all the work.
The forest itself is mostly Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine, some of it clear-felled, threaded by forestry tracks and the Western Way. This is not a casual walk. The Sheskin section of the route racks up close to 1,700m of aggregate ascent over moorland paths and forest road, and it needs a map and compass and the skill to use them.
Sheskin Lodge
The one built landmark on the route is a ruin. Sheskin Lodge was a hunting lodge tied to the Jameson family of whiskey fame, who used it as a shooting station out in this emptiness. It is not reachable by car – you walk in, about forty minutes from the nearest road – and it is slowly going back to the bog, walls under moss and fern. The oddest thing near it is a monkey puzzle tree, an obvious planted survivor that has no business in a landscape like this and marks the spot from a distance.
The bog
Much of the walk skirts the Knockmoyle Sheskin Nature Reserve, an intact lowland blanket bog of about 1,198 hectares, designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance in 1987. Because it has largely escaped the burning and overgrazing that scarred other Mayo bogs, its plant life is unusually rich: black bog rush, bog cotton and the rare marsh saxifrage among it. The clean, wet Atlantic air suits the mosses and lichens too.
One caveat on the wilderness feel: it is no longer untouched. The Sheskin Wind Farm was under construction here in 2024 and due to come on line around 2025, and a wide gravelled access road built for the turbines has replaced some of the old narrow path. The turbines stand against the peatland in stark contrast; whether that reads as intrusion or interest is up to you.
Walking it, and getting there
Because it is so remote, Sheskin is not for casual walkers or families with young children. Be self-sufficient:
- Navigation – phone coverage is non-existent across much of the forest. Carry the OS Discovery maps (Sheets 23 and 31) and a compass, and know how to use them.
- Footwear and layers – waterproof boots, proper rain gear and warm layers. The surface runs from hard wind-farm road to wet, muddy forestry track and saturated bog, and the weather turns fast.
- Supplies – no shops, cafés or safe water on the whole stretch. Bring all your food and water, or a reliable filter if you’ll draw from streams.
- Midges – the bog breeds them on warm, still days. Repellent, and a head-net if you feel the cold about your face.
Access is from the northern trailhead near Ballycastle or the southern one near Bellacorick. Bus services from Ballina and Castlebar to these villages are sparse, so a pre-arranged taxi or a two-car drop is the practical way to walk it one-way.
Nearby
- Wild Nephin National Park – the adjacent wilderness, with dark-sky viewing and more rugged walking.
- Aasleagh Falls – further south on the Western Way, a waterfall on the Erriff where Mayo meets Galway.
- Ballycastle – the coastal village at the northern end, and a warm meal within reach of Downpatrick Head.
Go with a map, a compass and a plan to get back – ideally a second car at the far end. This is a fine walk, but not one to improvise.