Lough Avalla Looped Farm Walk
If you are looking for a mix of limestone hills, green fields and Belted Galloway cattle (the cute cows that look like Oreos) lazily grazing away, the Lough Avalla Looped Farm Walk in the Burren National Park is for you! This walk will also give you the best views of Mullaghmore, a stunning limestone hill, and its surrounding cousins.
Distance + Time needed:
7km return walk from the parking spaces. Calculate about 2 hours to complete the walk.
Difficulty:
Easy to moderate. The walk has a bit of an ascend to the hilltop before it meanders back down.
How to get there (parking)
The trailhead of all the walks in the Burren National Park is Gortlecka Crossroads. You can park your car on the Green Road. This is also the start of the Lough Avalla Farm Walk. Parking is limited and it gets especially busy here when the weather is good or during the weekend.
If you are worried about finding parking, there is a free shuttle bus that leaves from the Burren National Park Information Point in Corofin to Gortlecka Crossroads. The shuttle bus runs daily from May to August. Find out more here.
Follow the purple discs for the Lough Avalla Farm Loop.
Getting on the walk:
The Lough Avalla Farm Loop is marked by purple discs. You will find the first one a stone wall at Gortlecka Crossroads, as you turn into the Green Road. You will be walking on a gravel road from Gortlecka Crossroads for about one kilometre, before the path goes off road.
What to expect from the walk:
The trail is all off-road, so depending on weather, hiking boots are recommended; It gets muddy here when it has rained. You will be walking on both limestone and dirt road. There is one ascend to a hilltop. From here you have gorgeous views of Mullaghmore and the surrounding green fields. The road loops back, passing a lake on its descend and then brings you back to the Green Road.
Public toilets:
There are no public toilets on this walk.
Intrigued by the limestone hills in the Burren National Park? Check out this article on Caher Valley Loop, host to the most impressive limestone mountain I have seen in the area.