Walking

The Foxford Walking Festival is the perfect opportunity to take in some of the breath taking sites of the west of Ireland with 3 walks each day.

Step away from the whirl of the modern world. Take the grassy tracks, little more than boreens, dating back to pre-famine times, which radiate into the unspoilt hills and valleys around Foxford, Co. Mayo. You will enter a magical place of tranquillity and peace, which will soothe the soul and restore the spirit.

Situated on a long bend of the River Moy, the town of Foxford itself, famed for its woollen mills and the fact that it was the birthplace of Admiral William Browne, founder of the Argentinian Navy, is a quaint, friendly, oasis.

Above the town to the east rises the great bulk of the Ox Mountains, home to a herd of feral goats whose ancestors were probably running wild over rocks and crags at the time of Saint Patrick. The Ox Mountain Spur and Larganmore Loop are just two of the half a dozen well mapped out walking trails that make up the 86 km Foxford Way.

Every summer some of the goats that walkers encounter on their rambles in the area are herded to the goat fair which is held annually in the town on the 15th May. The colour, excitement and general atmosphere of the fair is to be enjoyed by young and old. Recreational trails criss cross the valley and radiate high into the Ox Mountains. They are all graded for degrees of difficulty which means all categories of walkers, from the serious athletic type to the Sunday stroller, are catered for.