These four walking trails will change the way you see Ireland

Dan MacCarthy selects four walking trails that stay long in the memories of all who explore them

For generations pilgrims have assembled here to walk to St Finbarr’s Hermitage at Gougane Barra. Picture: Larry Cummins

The Pilgrim’s Way part of St Finbarr’s Way, Co Cork 

This is a spectacular walk starting in the village of Drimoleague in West Cork and is part one of the saint’s pilgrimage undertaken to the famous Gougane Barra in the sixth century. The story goes that the unhappy saint reprimanded the inhabitants for turning away from god before marching over the mountains by way of an ascetic lesson.  From the vantage point of the Top of the Rock, where a purpose-built hiking centre has been established, there is a mouthwatering view of the first half of this walk. The valley of the River Ilen runs east to west above which the almost 500m peak of Mullaghmesha Mountain can be seen. This is where the Ilen River, which flows on to Skibbereen and Baltimore, rises. The mountain is the watershed for another river system, that of the Mealagh, whose river valley of the same name is encountered after a few hours of walking.