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Lunch at Bohatch Dolmen for Heritage Week

Bohatch Dolmen, Mountshannon, East Clare

15 walkers headed off from Mountshannon Harbour last Saturday for a 12km looped walk to Bohatch Portal Dolmen, said to be the burial place of local chieftains over 3,000 years ago.

We followed quiet roads with a upward climb to start but the views were well worth the climb – lough derg and over towards Tountinnna and Keeper Hill in Tipperary.

We had a lovely refeshment stop at the dolmen, sitting in lovely sunshine, admiring the views below.

For details of our upcoming walks, check out www.clarewalks.ie/events. We hope you will join us for a ramble some time soon.

 

 

 

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Walkers head to Whitegate

Dromaan Harbour, Whitegate, East Clare Way

38 “Ramblers” hit the trails recently in Whitegate for an 8km looped walk taking in Williamstown Harbour, Hollands Quay, Dromaan House and returning to Whitegate, and the good old reliable Half Barrel Bar & Restaurant for some fresh scones and a well earned cuppa!


Thanks to Tom Holland and Michael Ryan for providing us with some fascinating history and great local stories on route!

If you didn’t get to walk with us, or you would like to do this walk again, please see route map here. For best map results click walker icon and satellite.

Our next walk will take place on Thursday 29th August at 11am – check out route here. 

We hope to see you then!

 

 

 

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Sunshine and Sausages….

Ardboula, Tulla, East Clare Way

What a fantastic day we had for our monthly “Ramblers” walk in Tulla. The sun shone down on our 23 walkers as we headed off from Ardboula House for a 6km looped walk taking in unspolit surroundings and the beautiful Clondorney Lake.
On our return, we dined Al Fresco in a stunning shaded area beside Ardboula House, where our chef Brendan, treated us to cooked sausages, fresh rolls, scones, tea and coffee all prepared outdoors.
A great ending to a fab morning of walking.

Thanks to Christine and Willie O’Brien for the use of Ardboula House as our base for this months walk.

Our next walk will take place on Thursday 25th July at 11am from the Half Barrel in Whitegate – full details here.

We hope to see you then!

 

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A Ramble through Cloontabonniv

Cloontabonniv Bog Walk, Conolly, Mid Clare Way

15 eager walkers travelled to Connolly last Thursday for a 6km guided looped walk around the newly developed Cloontabonniv Bog Walk, which was developed by Connolly Tidy Village and will be maintained by Clare Walks Ltd. maintenance staff.

A few showers along the route didn’t put our walkers off and thankfully it kept the midges at bay!

This is a stunning walk with an abundance of scenery, nature and bird song, so it is definitely worth adding to your agenda.

If you would like any further details of this, or any of our walks, drop us a line – info@clarewalks.ie.

Our next walk will take place on Thursday 27th June at 11am from Ardboula House in Tulla. Hope you can join us!

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Active Agers “Shut up and Dance”

Although the forecast was not looking good, 26 eager Active Agers joined us in Ogonelloe last Thursday for our monthly Guided Walk. Surprisingly we experienced only warm and sunny weather throughout the walk and it was so enjoyable to be out.

We started at the Ogonnelloe Hall/Exchange, which is the recently renovated Ballybran School on the main road between Scariff and Killaloe. The building and the facilities are absolutely fantastic and there is huge credit due to the committee and the community who made this happen. There is a fab Community Cafe open here every Saturday from 11am, so if you are passing make sure to pop in for a cuppa.

Before we headed off walking, we did a quick warm up to the song “Shut up and Dance”. We organised this in conjunction with Today FM’s Dare to Care/Be a Dancer for Cancer campaign and all donations from the day will be going to the Irish Cancer Society. We are delighted to have raised €178 on the day! Thanks and well done to everyone who donated. Thanks to Concepta for leading the warm-up.

Although this was a moderate walk of approx. 8km with one or two steep climbs, it was well worth it! We passed through forestry paths parallel to the lake and had to stop to admire the blanket of bluebells. We had fantastic views of Lough Derg to Holy Island,  Mountshannon and to Tipperary on the far shore and Ballyloughnane on the Clare side, and the unexpected beautiful weather greatly added to this.

Thanks to Antoinette for the great photo (above).

On our return to Ogonnelloe Hall/Exchange, we had a well deserved cuppa, scones and biscuits (but nobody was counting calories….)

If you missed this walk, or you would like to walk it again, check out the route details here (Don’t forget to click on the walker at the top)

Our next walk will take place on Thursday 30th May at 11am – see details here!

We hope to see you then!

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What a day to hit the trails…….Active Agers head to Tiermaclane!

What a beautiful day it was to hit the trails on our third Guided walk for Active Agers this year.

On Thursday last, 40 eager Active Agers gathered in Tiermaclane (just outside Ennis) to head off on a 7.5 guided looped walk passing Cragbrien, Ballyea and returning to Tiermaclane.
We had a few inclines on the walk but as one walker said “What goes up, must come down” so it wasn’t too challenging for us!
The walk was on quiet local roads passing forestry and a stunning waterfall and we were accompanied by beautiful birdsong all the way. 

Shortly before we reached the finish point, we passed the impressive ruins of the old Woulfe Estate, which has been unoccupied since the 1870’s.

Thanks to one of our new walkers, Nathalie Lauze, for sharing some of her photos.

Making our way back to Carrig’s Costcutter in Tiermaclane, we treated ourselves to tea/coffee and an array of fresh pastries and some of us even sat outside soaking up the sunshine – a real novelty for this time of year!

If you missed this walk, or you would like to walk it again, check out the route details here (Don’t forget to click on the walker at the top)

Our next walk will take place on Thursday 25th April at 11am – see details here.
We hope to see you then!

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Sampling the delights of Mountshannon

42 eager walkers headed off from Mountshannon Harbour last Thursday for our second Active Agers walks of 2019 for a 7km looped walk following quiet roads. There were a few hills at the start but the views over Mountshannon, Holy Island and Lough Derg on the way back were worth the climb!

We luckily arrived back to Mountshannon just before the first rain shower of the day.

The newly opened Seasons Restaurant was a welcome stop for hot drinks, home baking and home-made soup. Thanks to Geraldine for welcoming us in to her beautifully decorated restaurant and we wish her the very best for the future.

If you missed this walk, or you would like to walk it again, check out the route details here (Don’t forget to click on the walker at the top)

Our next walk will take place on Thursday 28th March at 11am – see details here. We hope to see you then!

 

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Great weather for the first Active Age walk of 2019

We couldn’t have asked for better weather on Thursday last when 45 eager walkers joined us for the first Active Agers walk of 2019.

We left Newmarket-on-Fergus, walked through the town towards Kilnasoolagh and then headed for the remains of the late Bronze Age Hillfort at Mooghaun. From here we continued on our 7km loop back to Newmarket-on-Fergus, where we stopped in the Weavers Inn for a welcome cup of tea and a delicious (but not so healthy) snack.

For anyone who missed this walk, or anyone who fancies doing it again, please see map of the route here.

Don’t forget to join us for our next walk on Thursday 28th February at 11am in Mountshannon. Hope to see you then!

 

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Guided Heritage Walk & Mince pies go down a treat!

It looked like it was going to be a wet day, but despite that, 18 eager walkers turned up last Thursday for our 5km Guided Heritage Walk for Active Agers in Tulla, and we actually managed to stay relatively dry!

The walk was guided by Jane Halloran, an accomplished Genealogist and Local Historian, who provided some fascinating information on some of the historical residences and some stories from the townlands we walked through, including Cragg House, Cloondorney More, Cloondroney Lake, Annagh and the Bog Road.

Thanks to Jane for sharing her wealth of knowledge with us.

As always, we finished off the day with a welcome cup of tea, some scones and gorgeous home-made Mince pies which were made especially by one of our walkers Mary Carmel. Whatever calories were burnt off during the walk were certainly put back on by the time we had finished our mini-feast.

We would like to say a big thanks also to Mike Hoey and the Tulla United Soccer Club for the use of their club house on the day. All were in agreement that this was a fantastic facility and great credit is due to the committee/club for their dedication to providing such a great facility here in Tulla.

We will probably take a break for Christmas now but we will be back walking again at the end of January 2019 so get ready to come along and walk off the extra Christmas pounds………..

This Guided Heritage Walk was kindly supported by

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A beautiful Autumnal morning in Mooghaun

26 of our Active Age group, along with some new members, joined us in Quin last Thursday for an 11km guided looped walk. Yet again, we had beautiful weather – a clear, crisp morning with the most fantastic autumnal colours.

This walk started at Quin Community Centre and up to Mooghaun Hillfort, which was built at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age around 950 BC. The largest and most spectacular hoard of prehistoric gold in Western Europe was found at Mooghaun Lough 1km north of the hillfort. This demonstrates the enormous power and authority of the hillforts occupants. The Mooghaun gold hoard is now on display in the National Museum of Ireland Dublin – Source: Discover Ireland.

Thanks to Brendan Cooney for providing some great history on the old Dromoland Estate, Mooghaun Hillfort and the Mooghaun gold hoard as we passed by the site where this was found.

After a quick break to admire the scenery in Mooghaun, we started on the 5km walk back to Quin Community Hall where we had some very welcome tea/coffee and scones waiting for us.

Our next Active Agers walk will take place at the end of November in Tulla – details will be confirmed soon!

Kindly supported by: