Looped Walks

A-B. Starting from the mapboard in the car park of the church follow the purple arrow around the back of the church and up the steps out of the grounds. Follow the path for 200m to join Union Lane and turn right. Pass the Vocational School on your right and St Colman’s Nursing Home on your left before reaching a 3-way junction with a sandy lane on your right. Veer right here.

B-C. Follow this lane for 200m to reach a gate/stile on your left. Pass through the stile and veer right to reach the Famine Graveyard. Pass to the right of the monument and follow the line of trees to reach a wooden kissing gate. After the kissing gate continue straight across the field (following the line of an old Mass Path) to reach a wooden stile/footbridge which takes you into Ballygannon Woods. After 100m you reach a high fence and wooden stile. Do not cross the stile - instead turn left onto a narrow path.

C-D. This path takes you on a crircuit of Ballygannon Wood - approx 2km later you join the R755. Cross the road carefully and veer left to join a forestry roadway which takes you downhill and, eventually, onto the bank of the Avonmore River. Enjoy the 1km along the bank before entering the grounds of the local Rugby Club. Follow the edge of the pitch to join a sandy roadway. After 100m pass the gates of the local caravan park and 100m after that, enter the village at the bridge. Turn right here.

D-A. After 50m you keep right at a Y-junction and climb briefly before turning right onto the old Mass Path. Pass St Michael’s Well on your left (pop in if you have a moment!), before passing through a little wooden gate and climbing for 50m to reach a stone stile which takes you onto the main road opposite the church and trailhead.