What Portumna lacks in challenges it more than makes up for with beauty, writes JOHN G O'DWYER
AFTER A SUMMER and autumn of discontent, the weather forecast is at last promising. The weekend prediction is mountain snow, night frost and daytime sunshine.
Winter walking is, of course, all about seizing the moment and so Evelyn Cusack has hardly disappeared from the screen when I am discretely packing my sack for an assault on the Galtees, while covertly suggesting a Saturday shopping expedition for the other family members.
But they have also seen the forecast and my cunning plans are soon outed. Then the inevitable happens – my pleadings for Galtymore are quickly overruled in favour of a more “family friendly” outing to Portumna Forest Park.
After coffee in the Shannon Oaks Hotel, our excursion begins along the evocative Yew Walk from the hotel car park to the gates of the recently restored Portumna Castle. This imposing fortified house, built by Richard De Burgo, was the family seat of the Clanricarde earls for two centuries, and it is well worth taking a diversion here for a guided tour of the castle during its summertime opening period.
We follow the trail along the exterior castle walls, leading to a picturesque marina where young people are enjoying the rare novelty of sliding stones over ice-crusted waters. Continuing along the trail we encounter an area of cleared forest, which is being carefully restored to oak, ash and hazel woodland as part of an admirable native-trees preservation scheme.
Then a right fork in the path leads to the main trailhead for the forest park, where there are map boards, toilets, car parking and picnic tables. On this morning, the place is already busy with an assorted collection of walkers, bikers, buggy strollers, joggers and amblers – all enjoying a weekend reconciliation with nature.
We opt for the Bonaveen Trail, which is is billed the longest and most picturesque loop walk, and is denoted with red arrows. This kicks off with a narrow woodland path, which now crunches icily beneath our boots.
This trail is well maintained by Coillte and there is an absence of those vertigo-inducing tubular metal stiles that are now common on many Irish walkways. Instead, there are wooden swinging gates – which allow our footprints to remain firmly grounded – along with boardwalks and tiny, well-constructed bridges that fit snugly into the landscape.
The trail takes us past Portumna Golf Club and continues through pleasant mixed woodlands before passing near a forest-enclosed turlough. Eventually, we return briefly to a forestry road before heading off again on a series of narrow trails leading to Bonaveen Point. This is undoubtedly the highpoint of the walk, with the quicksilver waters of the Shannon sparkling vividly through leafless trees creating an evocative theatre of landscape. Clearly this area would ooze with stay-a-while charm in summer, which forces me to reluctantly admit that this scene is comparable with the best on offer from the Galtees.
Soon after, we come to a clearing where a large herd of fallow deer are grazing nonchalantly, apparently unconcerned by our presence. We tarry awhile before continuing under a tree-lined canopy inhabited by noisy squirrels. Totally involved with our surroundings, time vanishes and so, in what seems no length, we suddenly emerge at the trailhead.
From here, it’s just a matter of retracing our steps to the carpark of the Shannon Oaks Hotel. Here I am forced to admit, under intense cross-examination, that this has indeed been a worthwhile outing and a return visit is now required during the (hopefully) languid days of the coming summer.
Getting thereThe walk start point is from the car park of the Shannon Oaks Hotel and Country Club, which is situated just outside Portumna, Co Galway, close to the junction for the N65 to Loughrea.
TimeAllow three hours to complete the full circuit.
SuitabilityThis is a low-level walk containing almost nothing in terms of hills and no special skills are required to complete it. Just follow the directions, left, from the Shannon Oaks Hotel to the trailhead. Then be led by the red arrows denoting the Bonaveen Loop.
MapThe appropriate Ordnance Survey map is Discovery Sheet 53, but you won't really need it as the circuit is clearly marked.
Accommodation/food
The Shannon Oaks Hotel (090-9741777, shannonoaks.ie) offers weekend winter accommodation packages for €99, which includes two nights BB and one evening meal. Food is available in the bar of the Shannon Oaks and from the cosy Ferry Inn (090-9747139), which is located on the Tipperary side of the River Shannon.
Owing to an error in the editing process some text was omitted from last week’s walk at Beenaunmore in Co Kerry. The full text is now available on irishtimes.com