Overview
If you have one afternoon and a car, make it Benbulben. The flat-topped ridge is the postcard of north-west Ireland, and its lower slopes carry the range’s most accessible walk. The Sligo mountains – properly the Dartry Mountains, straddling the Sligo–Leitrim border – are a limestone plateau cut into ridges and sheer faces, running from Benbulben through the myth-heavy dome of Knocknarea up to Truskmore, at 647m the highest point in both counties. The uplands of Ben Bulben, King’s Mountain, Benwiskin, Truskmore and Tievebaun are protected as a Special Area of Conservation, a patchwork of grassland, blanket bog and cliff.
History and myth
The shape of these hills is glacial work. Benbulben’s flat top and steep sides were carved by moving ice during the last Ice Age, and the horseshoe valley at Gleniff is a textbook glacial trough. Layer human history on top and it goes back further still: the massive cairn on Knocknarea is over 5,000 years old, and the passage tombs of Carrowmore sit at its foot. Legend names the Knocknarea cairn as the tomb of Queen Maeve, the warrior queen of Connacht.
The range gave W.B. Yeats his landscape. He chose to be buried at Drumcliffe in Benbulben’s shadow, and ‘Under Ben Bulben’ fixed the mountain in print. Older folklore puts the Morrígan, goddess of war and fate, in the limestone caves of Keshcorran. Truskmore, the high summit, wears a modern intrusion by contrast: a telecommunications mast at the top, reached by a paved service road.
The walks
- Benbulben Forest Walk – The one most people should do. A waymarked loop of about 5.5 km around the mountain’s base, past Dún Cúra Lake, on good forest track. Allow 1.25 to 2 hours. Suitable for families.
- Gleniff Horseshoe – A ridge walk with close views of Benbulben’s north face across the Dartry range. Reckon on 4–5 hours over uneven ground.
- Knocknarea summit – A well-marked climb to Queen Maeve’s cairn and a 360° coastal panorama. Allow 2–3 hours.
- Truskmore summit – The least demanding way onto a major peak, up the paved service road. The final stretch to the cairn is uneven underfoot. Allow 1–2 hours.
Serious rock climbers head for Benbulben’s sheer gullies, but that’s technical ground for experienced parties only, and the exposed plateau turns nasty fast in bad weather.
Mountain biking
The marked single-track around the Ox Mountains and the Coolaney foothills, south of the main Dartry summits, runs from gentle family loops to technical rock-garden descents. Check current conditions at the mountain-bike information point in Coolaney before you set off, and keep to the marked trails – the bog either side is fragile.
Wildlife
The cliffs and blanket bog hold a good range of upland birds. Red-billed choughs work the cliff edges in spring and early summer, and peregrine falcons nest on Benbulben’s faces. Red deer, Irish hares and badgers turn up in the quieter valleys, and the limestone flora is the real prize – mountain avens in spring, heather through the summer.
Practical information
- Getting there – A car is by far the easiest way to the trailheads. Buses run between Sligo and villages like Drumcliffe, but none reach the higher car parks.
- Parking – Free parking at the Benbulben car park near Dún Cúra Lake and at the Knocknarea trailhead off the R284. Both fill early on summer weekends; arrive before 10am.
- Weather – The single biggest thing to plan for. Conditions change quickly on exposed ground, so carry waterproofs, a map and compass, and tell someone your route. Snow can sit on the tops in winter.
- Accessibility – The Truskmore summit road is paved and manageable for wheelchair users, bar the final uneven stretch to the cairn. The other routes are not.
Nearby attractions
- Benbulben – The flat-topped mountain and, at Drumcliffe below it, Yeats’s grave.
- Caves of Keash – Limestone chambers on Keshcorran linked to old myth.
- Ballygilgan Nature Reserve – A coastal reserve with bird hides and walking trails.
- Glencar Waterfall – A cascade Yeats wrote about, a good post-walk stop.
- Strandhill – A surf town in the foothills, handy for coastal walks and an evening meal.
Start early to catch the morning light on the limestone, take real boots, and give yourself the time to wander off the main track into the quiet bogs and valleys that give the range its character.