Northern Ireland 7 – Down

 Wednesday 23rd July 2025

Annoyed by my bent wheel I find a local bike repair man online and set off early to get there as he opens. Unfortunately he works from home and doesn't have the stock to replace my wheel in the time available.

So, abandoning that plan I return to plan A and head for Castlewellan on the edge of the Mourne mountains.

This country park has suffered from recent storm damage and several trails are closed by fallen trees. There are two open trails, the longer one 3 1/2 the shorter a mile and a bit, both circling a lake. I follow both and with a further stroll find my steps add up to 14,000 or about 6 miles.

So that's it! Six counties, minimum of 5 miles in each, total counties in the UK 92!

But now it's starting to rain again (it never did while I was walking, only while driving) so my thoughts of a gentle drive along the Strangford coast are abandoned. However I find that Dundrum Castle is nearby and that is worth a visit.

I drive back to Craigavon with a sense of satisfaction - and a desire to find somewhere I can put my feet up in warm sunshine.

The ferry from Larne to Cairnryan beckons and possibly some touring of Northumberland, though actually I've done enough driving for the time being. 

Apart from confusion over the number of places called Bally something or using the word Glen in the name, I've been disappointed in the weather which has been mainly overcast, surprised by not having visited more pubs (it's not worth packing up the van for a short trip down the road in the evening) and I notice the large numbers of union flags on lamp posts and across roads (some shouting "No Surrender"!). I've taken a simple formula of 5 miles a day, each day a different county, usually an hour's driving each way, walking mainly in country parks for their convenience though I've lacked the adventurous spirit of hiking in the mountains. I've done what I set out to do. What next?

Final note: total mileage 1252 miles from Cambridge.

Northern Ireland 6 – Armagh

 Tuesday 22nd July 2025

Pack up early - though with an embarrassing delay as I fail to get the pop up roof down: I'd left the small radio on the shelf and the roof wouldn't move down until I'd realised.

Down south through Omagh and further south of Armagh to Gosford Country Park which, for £5 provides walks, cycle paths, a playground and basic refreshments. I'm growing used to these country parks. This one has an arboretum too.

I follow two different walking trails, with a coffee break between, adding up to a little over five miles (12,500 steps), so County Armagh tick! and I can now drive on to my final campsite, two nights at Craigavon Lakes. The site is called Kinnego Marina and is on a bay which is part of Lough Neagh the largest lake in the province. It does have a suspicious number of barriers and doors requiring keys (my entry key fob has a £20 deposit) which makes me wonder what unwanted activities have been going on, but the facilities are well maintained and it's pleasant to be next to water.

This site is part of the Oxford Island National Nature Reserve. I walk to the end of it and boost my day's steps to 19,000 as I reach the shores of Loch Neagh.

Today also I discovered that my bike, so far unused on this trip, has a badly bent rear wheel. No idea how that happened but it's unusable.

Northern Ireland 5 – Fermanagh

 Monday 21st July 2025

Rain overnight and some early drizzle but I seem to have dodged the serious weather predicted for the eastern counties. I drive south through Omagh to the south side of Enniskillen where the National Trust property Florence Court has a house and woodland walks in extensive grounds. 

I book myself in for a guided tour of the house and set off on the 5 1/2 mile red trail. This is quite strenuous for me and takes a good two hours to complete but with an extra sprint at the end I'm back in time for the guided tour. 

My guide is excellent and I'm the only visitor on the one hour tour of a surprisingly modest house (though one with pretensions of greatness). There are only four bedrooms for the family, while staff stay in other buildings like stables and laundry blocks. 

There is a very fine compact library while below stairs it is Downton Abbey cum Wimpole Hall with a separate room for everything (housekeeper, butler, bottling, preserving, boots ...).

Nearby there are famous caves which are a general visitor attraction but I feel I've done my task for today and return to Glenpark after a genuinely interesting visit.

Northern Ireland 4 – Tyrone

 Sunday 20th July 2025

Set off from my extra night in Glen Park just up the road to Gortin Glen Forest Park. 

This is all slightly confusing for me and for Google Map, but if I think of the Forest Park as the walking area plus trails and huge playground while Glen Park is the caravanning site, then add on a restaurant / wedding venue and a dinosaur park, then it all seems to make more sense.

The trails are good and well away from the car park and playground. I choose one marked "strenuous" and though I feel it on the slopes the woodland areas are calming and the walk satisfying. On return to the café I find I'm not far short of my 10,000 steps / 5 mile target and I'm bound to reach it by walking back to the van. My shift away from Swatragh has proved a winner and today is my first day without driving as the campsite is virtually within the Forest Park.

And so a restful afternoon, reading, content that I've ticked off 5 miles in Tyrone. And as a treat I indulge in a bar meal at the restaurant, washed down with the obligatory Guinness.

Northern Ireland 3 - Derry

 Saturday 19th July 2025

Wake up on the building site which now has ten vans in total which means the limited loos and showers are undergoing intense use but at least the number of vans makes the place look slightly more of a camp site. It's an unloading low loader that wakes me.

Off at 8am aiming for Ness Country Park to do today's walk. Taking a scenic cross-country route I eventually arrive at this woodland area bordering on a river and featuring a waterfall. 

Again I am one of the first arrivals and I stride out heading for the waterfall on one of the well surfaced trails. The whole place is well tended yet feels natural. I see the biggest waterfall in Derry then return to the van for coffee.

As the first trail was short of three miles I head off on a second trail which is a circuit on the other side of the park.

It's remarkably warm and my shirt is soaked but now it's time to head for Londonderry and its famous city walls. 

Derry Walls

A leisurely stroll around the walls is completed in under an hour then back to the van and head for my final destination for the day - Glenpark.

Derry Girls, mural

Some confusion in my mind between Glenpark Caravan site and Glenpark estate but at length I find my pitch, well organised on a leafy site, separated from each other by twee little fences. This is quite different from last night's car park cum building site. I've chosen well by abandoning my second night at Friel's and booking the extra night here.

On the other hand the few campers in the tent area have dinosaurs and their roaring to deal with! There is a dinosaur park right next to their field and the roaring animatronic monsters roar from 9 in the morning until 6 at night. Bonkers!

However there is a restaurant and bar just down the road and I may avail myself of that tomorrow.

Northern Ireland 2 - Antrim

 Friday 18th July 2025

I'm up at 6am and away by 7.30 as I've been told the key to enjoying Giant's Causeway is to arrive early. The weather looks stormy but so far merely showers. It's what makes Ireland so green ....

Along this coast there are several "Airs" where a camper could stop over for free. One is called Portaneevey, with grand views of the rugged Antrim Coast.

I stopped in to see the famous rope bridge out to a sea stack, but it's too early to be open. I might have walked to see it from a distance but my mission is to walk on the Giant's Causeway so I press on. I arrive at 8am and there's not much action so I park in the heritage railway car park and walk up the hill. The Causeway entrance is a tunnel with a car park on one side and a large glass reception building on the other. Drivers must run the gauntlet of the National Trust car park but as a pedestrian I simply stroll through, which is quite liberating.

Down the hill and after twenty minutes here I am on the causeway itself. Not as sensational as some of the heavily treated photographs suggest but certainly unusual, dramatic and appealing. 

So having walked between in and on the pillars I return to the car and find that in my absence they've erected a sign saying I have to pay £10 for the day's parking. As there was no such sign or suggestion on my arrival, and I've only had an hour's parking, I drive off and up to the NT car park, now staffed, where I can make use of my National Trust membership.

Parking up, I go to the reception building for a coffee and while drinking it I hear that a free guided tour is about to begin. Wondering what I might have missed on my self guided wander, I join a group lead by a jolly chap who informs and amuses all the way back to the stones. Our leader also points out where the trail continues around the coast, so this is a great opportunity to extend my walk and to see some of the "organ pipes" which also comprise the stones.

By the time I eventually return to the van, satisfied with my visit, I have exceeded my five mile minimum in Antrim. I drive on to Bushmills, famous for its whisky, and though the tours are booked up, a bottle finds its way into my store cupboard.

My next stop is Friel's Bar and Restaurant. at Swatragh. 

This is a bit of an error on my part. First I drive straight past, not recognising it as a camp site, then eventually realising I find it's a cross between a car park and a building site. Loos and shower are in a portacabin and there is no washing up space. The surface is black gravel and workmen may well be improving the place but currently they are driving noisy machines around the car park. This is not what I was looking for. However it is next to a perfectly good restaurant and bar so I suppose the caravan site is just a poor relation for the time being. Though they could have warned me ....

However, making the best of it I do visit the bar, which seems a good place for a pint of Guinness, and I also visit the adjacent Dr Mooney's House which is a museum to the good doctor who with his wife provided nourishing soup to local people during the famine years. A very good little museum.

Dr Mooney's Famine Pot

A whisky still at Bushmills

Northern Ireland 1

 17th July 2025

It has been hot and sunny for a month or more but the rain begins as I arrive in Cairnryan for the ferry to Larne in Northern Ireland. The ferry takes two hours and I drive off in drizzle looking for the coastal route to the Giant's Causeway. It's an attractive drive in good weather and dramatic even in drizzle. There are cliffs on one side and stray rocks on the other. Some are the remains of old sea stacks thrusting stiffly from the grey sea.

I arrive in my chosen camp site, a CL in Armoy, just in time to choose my pitch ahead of some garrulous French folks in two large motorhomes. An hour and a half later they have moved four times and held endless discussions very loudly while I have set up, cooked my evening meal and washed up before they have even started.

I'm here to walk for at least five miles in each of the six counties of Northern Ireland. This is to add to the 86 counties of England, Wales and Scotland I have already walked. More Details here.

This first day was to get into position, the campsite being only a few miles from the coast where I plan to walk tomorrow. Here's the overall plan showing my route from Larne generally anti clockwise.