Hiking Wild Atlantic Way - A Taste

Arrival in Westport and check-in to your accommodation. Take the opportunity to visit Westport House or head to a local pub to listen to traditional Irish live music. 

After breakfast, a transfer will take you to today's hike at Murrisk. Croagh Patrick, a place with ancient history, is Ireland's holy mountain and a rich vein of archaeological heritage. This dazzling quartzite pyramid (764m) even has a small chapel on its summit. It's a challenging climb but the 360-degree views you'll be rewarded with make the effort worthwhile. When you return down to sea level again, a transfer will take you to Leenane. 

Today you hike along the "Famine Trail". So called because it was built as a relief project during the Great Famine of the 1840s. As you walk along the trail, you can't help but feel the history and life of all those who have walked this path before you. With mountains rising from the water on both sides and few signs of civilization along the way, this is a true escape and a rare find in the modern world. A transfer to the start of the hike is included and your day will again end in Leenane. 

A transfer takes you to the starting point for today's hike which follows an old pilgrimage trail to Maumean (translated from Gaelic as "the pass of the birds"). The summit of Maumean at an elevation of 320m is marked by a small chapel and other religious features associated with Ireland's patron saint, Patrick. There are many rituals and myths connected to this place and it will give you a fascinating insight into religious practice in Ireland over recent centuries. You will then follow the Western Way, a marked hiking trail, to the tranquility of Inagh Valley where you will stay tonight.

You take the ferry back to Cleggan Pier where you are met and driven to the start of today's hike on the Renvyle Peninsula and Connemara National Park. An easy hike with wonderful views awaits. From the summit you have views over the entire peninsula, the islands of Inishbofin and Inish Turk as well as the Mamturk mountains and Ben Choona. After the hike ends, a transfer takes you to Cleggan, from where you take the ferry onwards to Inishbofin Island. Bofin or "Inis Bo Finne" (the white cow's island) lies about 11 km off the coast of Connemara in the Atlantic.

Today you have the opportunity to explore Inishbofin Island on foot. There are several circular walks on the island to discover. During or after your hike, you might be drawn into a cozy pub by the traditional music you can hear from inside. 

The trip ends with breakfast and ferry back to Cleggan (not included).