This lovely route through part of Glenveagh National Park is a great stand-alone walk, or it can be combined with the Bridle Path route to take in the best of the national park in on great days walking. (See Route 8 for details)
The starting point is at the little gatehouse near St Colmcille’s Cross. Navigate to the Glebe House and Gallery, go past the gallery gates, across a small bridge and stay on the ‘main’ road to veer right. After about 300m you will see a sign pointing left up a small road. (Look for gate posts with stag’s heads). Follow this road for about 250m and you will see the gatehouse with a small car park in front of it. Go through the gate to the right of the cottage and the trail takes you over the hill, through the deer fence, past Lough Insagh and downhill to the shore of Lough Beagh where it meets the pedestrian path from the Glenveagh visitor centre to the castle, three km to your left.
There are options at this stage. The castle tea rooms beckon before retracing the rout back to the gatehouse. If you have a driver who dropped you at the start, you can turn right and walk to the visitor centre itself for pickup, or, if feeling energetic, you could proceed past the castle and up the bridle path to a pickup at the top of the glen on the Churchill-Doochary road!
- Trailhead: At gatehouse near St Colubmcille’s Cross.
- Length: 8 km to Glenveagh Castle. 16 km round trip.
(Return from Castle to Visitor Centre for pick up is 3.5km) - Time: 2 hours 30 min walking time to the castle and back.
- Ascent: Moderate descent/ascent from L. Insagh to the lakeshore path.
- Facilities: Toilets and tea rooms at the castle. For opening times see
the Glenveagh National Park web page.
