Route at a Glance

Start: Glangevlin Hall & St. Patrick's Church
Views: Playbank Mountain, Bencroy, Slieve Anierin
Early section: Past the old parochial house, left up Eshveagh Lane
At ~1.5 km: Join the Sean Eamonn Ruairi Trail (Irish language & folklore heritage)

Along the way:

• Old farmsteads and rural mountain community traces
• Sweathouse (ancient sauna-type structure)
• Memorial sculptures tied to culture and language
• Hawthorn & blackthorn hedgerows
• Chance to spot the wild Irish hare

Landscape Features:

• Rivers flowing from Cuilcagh (right-hand side toward Gowlan)
• Shannon lowlands to the left (river in its infancy)
• Boleybrack Hills toward Manorhamilton

Heritage points:

• Vernacular farm buildings
• Former Irish-teaching schoolhouses
• Lakes and forest
• Pre-Famine settlement history

Optional detour:
At the Cavan Way junction, turn left for the Shannon Pot Interpretive Centre
(source of the River Shannon) or continue to Gowlan.

Car parking is available at the start/finish point at St Patrick’s Hall, Glangevlin. The route is a self-led 32km walk and must be undertaken at your own risk, so please use your own judgement, assess the conditions, and take appropriate care at all times.

Full Route Description

"There and back again!" JRR Tolkein
"Ann agusaraisarís" JRR Tolkein

Stage 1: The trail leads to the left form Glangevlin hall, passing St. Patricks church and leading up into what once was a local rural community in West Cavan, following along the Seán Éamonn Ruairí trail. Named after one of the last native Irish speakers in Counties Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh, recordings of him area valuable source for folklore, dialect and speech of the early 20th Century.The trail takes you through a landscape of old farmsteads, a sweathouse, weavers cottage and memorial picnic spot with stunning views over Glangevlin.

Stage 2: As you descend from the Seán Éamonn Ruairítrail onto the road, you turn right. This road winds through the West Cavan Countryside with hedgerows of Hawthorne and Blackthorne on either side. Wild Irish hare and Fallow and Sika deer have been known to frequent this route. As you follow the road, crossing rivers flowing down from Cuilcagh, the view out over the valley and the Boleybrack hills is not one to be missed. To your left, the Shannon rises. The route takes you past farm buildings and old schoolhouses as you approach Gowlan.

Stage 3: As you approach Gowlan, the camino route merges with the Cavan way. At Gowlan you pass multiple other trails in the area leading you to Garvagh Lough and the Burren park where you can discover prehistoric stone age art and the Cavan Burren park interruptive centre. The Camino routed continues straight on, look out for the place marked Caves and lime kilns.

Stage 4: The view then as you begin to descend the hill towards Blacklion at Cornagee viewpoint is nothing but breathtaking. Here you will see all of upper and lower Lough McNeane, the hills of Boho in Fermanagh (film locations for The Game of Thrones), the towns of Blacklion and Belcoo, and the hills of Donegal in the far off distance towards the North West. There is a steep decline as you continue down the hill at Cornagee, toward Blacklion, at the bottom of the hill as you approach a main road please exercise caution as you will be taking a hard right hand turn here onto the what is known locally as the old coach road.

Stage 5: Here you will once again join up onto the Cavan way, boasting views down into Blacklion,as you enter the town. As you approach the mainstreet, turn left passing Maguires pub and the Go Filling station (both are stamp locations and a source of toilet facilities and refreshment!). After the filling station, turn right onto the River path walk, notice boards along the path provide information about the local area and wildlife. As you exit the river walk you are right on the border between the North and South of Ireland. Turn right, past the local coffee shop and the Tourist centre to get your last stamp.

Stage 6: This out and back route takes you back up the hill, along the Old Coach Road and up the hill to the Cornagee view point. As you descend back along the Gowlan road, towards Glangevlin, you’re reward for completing this spectacular walk is the views of Mighty Cuilcagh standing guard over the Ancient Kingdom of Glan, the last Gaeltacht in Cavan.