A fantastic day on one of our newest Looped Walks

It’s not often in this country that we are worried about walking 7km in such heat but this happened us recently with our Guided Walk for Active Agers from Tulla on 28th June.

Despite the heat, even at the early start time of 10:30am, 12 brave walkers joined us at our office in Tulla armed with sun-cream and bottles of water to walk the Cloondorney Looped walk. This loop took us from Tulla along the banks of Cloondorney Lake and we returned  to Tulla on a track which was previously only used to get access to the bog.

Up until recently this track was waterlogged and impassable by foot in some parts. However, with grant funding through the Outdoor Recreation Scheme administered through Clare County Council, we were able to do some repair work to this route which has now created a fantastic 7km looped walk which follows quiet county roads, forestry and bogland. We were glad of the gentle breeze while walking along the banks of Cloondorney Lake, which is 40 acres in area and holds most species of coarse fish.

Welcome cups of tea & coffee and some fresh baked scones from Flappers Restaurant in the Clare Walks office on our return gave us a great opportunity to have a chat and cool down.

The next Guided walk for Active Agers will take place on Thursday 26th July @ 11am (Route TBC).

 

 

Beautiful weather, beautiful scenery and tea & scones for €3.50!

What a beautiful day we had for our Active Agers walk yesterday in the lovely village of Whitegate in East Clare.  22 walkers took off from The Half Barrell following the Auld Road, a 7km looped walk, towards Dereney Bridge, with a brief stop at the ancient burial ground here, which was used up until 1943.

Continuing on from here, we were out of the shade previously provided by the trees and we were starting to get hot. But it was well worth it to be out on such a beautiful day. We concurred that we have seen enough rain this year to give out about the heat.

We were treated to tea/coffee and scones in the Half Barrel on our return which was very welcome, and we all agreed, was great value – a cup of tea or coffee (including a top up) and a scone with jam and cream, all for €3.50. I think we’ll be back to Whitegate for another walk soon.

Thanks to the staff in the Half Barrel for allowing us to use their facilities before and after the walk.

The next walk is planned for Thursday 28th June in Tulla.

See you then!