Walking Weekend
With Northern Ireland’s highest mountains towering above it, and with beaches, forests and nature reserves aplenty, Newcastle is one of the premier walking destinations west of the Irish Sea.
LINED WITH FABULOUS bars, Newcastle makes a great base for exploring both coast and mountains. This seaside town is on the edge of the Mourne Mountains, home to Northern Ireland’s highest summits. Nearby Tollymore Forest Park was a filming location for Game of Thrones and any Thrones fans finding the much-visited locations too crowded with coach-trippers should walk here instead, where gnarled beeches arch over shining cobbles and towering pine trees whisper in the breeze.
Our first walk follows a trail into the foothills of Slieve Donard, Northern Ireland’s highest peak, and descends via several waterfalls. The Granite Trail passes reminders of the area’s industrial heritage like the recreated shoddy hut of a kind that once sheltered granite workers or stone-men, breaking rocks by hand on the weather-beaten hillside. Granite quarried here was used to build the docks in Belfast and pave the streets of Lancashire.
The second walk, from 12th-century Dundrum Castle along the coast, will take you through the marshes and dunes of Ireland’s first nature reserve and on beside the Irish Sea, heading towards the granite mountains. There are good chances to spot gulls, waders and other birds, including curve-necked egrets, coral-legged redshanks and plaintive curlews.
