Category: History/Heritage

What a fantastic day for a walk, and what a fantastic walk we had!

46 walkers came out in force today for our Blackshore Guided Walk in Killaloe. As many people will know, the recent RTE series, Blackshore was filmed around Killaloe and East Clare.

Starting at Two Mile Gate (where plenty of filming took place), we walked into Killaloe along the boardwalk with fabulous views, that were also regularly seen throughout the series.

We made our way to the stunning 13th century St. Flannan’s Cathedral and visited the graveyard where “the Lucey family” were buried.

We then had the opportunity to visit Kincora House on Church Street, which was the home of Dr. James Whelan and his deeply religious wife (their daughter had gone missing 20 years ago). A huge thanks to Deborah Dudgeon for allowing us to take a peek inside.

Our final stop was The Lakeside Hotel in Ballina where much of the filming took place, as it belonged to murdered victim Roisin Hurley.
And the icing on the cake … or the cream on the scones …. was when we were treated to complimentary tea, coffee and fresh scones, kindly supplied by Eoin Little, Manager of this stunning hotel situated on the banks of Lough Derg.

Our next guided walk will take place on Thursday 11th April Ballinruan
(route details to follow).

On Thursday last 35 walkers came along to take a stroll through Killaloe and learn a bit about it’s ancient history.

Starting at St. Flannan’s Catholic church at the top of the town, which was the former site of Brian Boru’s Royal Palace of Kincora, we walked down the historic main street, along the Canal boardwalk stopping at the Pier Head and Tobermurragh. It was at this Well that Brian Boru’s son Murrough was said to be baptized.

From here we continued to Beal Ború (Brian Boru’s Fort), the homestead of Brian Ború, who became High King of Ireland in 1002. Breaking with tradition he chose to rule the country from Killaloe, making it the capital of Ireland for a period of 12 years.

This 5km looped walk was held in association with the College of Further Education, Scariff – “Researching Sacred Sites along the East Clare Way”, a part-time course for adult learners was run through the College of Further Education in 2021 & 2022. Tobermurragh and Beal Ború were two sites that were researched during this course, the findings of which were presented at the sites on the day.

Thanks to Colette and Cora for the great photos from the day.

We had a fabulous walk yesterday for the last Ramblers walk of 2019.
Twenty two walkers arrived in Whitegate to a beautiful bright morning  – perfect for a walk.

While we had initially planned a 6km looped walk, we decided that we couldn’t miss the opportunity to extend our walk a little and make our way to Williamstown Harbour.

On return to Whitegate village, we were welcomed in The Half Barrel Bar & Restaurant for beautiful homemade scones and numerous cups of tea and coffee.  We would like to thank the Half Barrel for looking after us so well.

We would also like to thank all our walkers and we hope you enjoyed it.

Our guided looped walks will start back again in January 2020 and we look forward to seeing you then!

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.

 

 

 

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!