Walk of the Week: Savouring nature’s bounty on Lough Hyne

SKIBBEREEN/BALTIMORE: LOUGH HYNE

LOUGH HYNE was Europe’s first Marine Nature Reserve. The tides filling the lake twice a day create a habitat of relatively warm, well-oxygenated water supporting a great diversity of marine plants and animals, including 72 fish species. Scientists come from all over the world to study its unique environment.

To scuba dive beneath Lough Hyne’s waters would be a truly remarkable experience; we, however, must be content with exploring the singular landscape that surrounds it. The adventurous may climb a hill to overlook the famous tidal race.