Plans for its future include the remaking of forest roads as walking trails as well as the provision of sustainable camping huts to allow hikers time to be absorbed in this impressive wilderness project which covers 16,000 hectares and which includes a substantial section of Ballycroy National Park. The Nephin forest covers close to 5,000 hectares. The blanket bog, rivers, lakes and mountain peaks offers walkers completely unspoilt wilderness.
The vastness of the landscape was described by the naturalist Robert Lloyd Praeger in 1937, when he described Nephin Beg as “the very loneliest place in this country, for the hills themselves are encircled by this vast area of trackless bog.” Its seven peaks which tower above the 600m mark include Slieve Carr, Nephin Beg, Nephin, Birreencorragh, Bengorm, Corranabinnia and Glenamong. From many a lonely spot within the range views of Clew Bay and Clare Island open up, as do sights of the stunning cliffs and mountains of Achill. Several trails and loops are mapped out and graded according to their challenge level and the most notable ones are The Bangor Trail and The Letterkeen Loop.
The Bangor Trail (37 km), once referred to as the ‘old and only road into Erris’ with its rocky path turning and twisting over hills and through valleys, is one way of discovering the beauty and isolation of the Nephin Beg mountains. In the past this trail was more often used by farmers driving cattle between Bangor and Newport (a 103 km route) but in recent times has been rediscovered as ambitious trekkers enjoy the challenges of its stony path and wet, boggy mountainous terrain.
The Letterkeen Loop offers a shorter trail (12 km) and lies in the southern part of the Nephin Beg and offers great views of Bengorm and the mystical Glennamong mountains as well as the bogs of Bellacorrick to the north. Among the forty or so loop walks in Mayo, the Letterkeen Loop is rated as ‘hard’ in the Failte Ireland’s West Pocket Guide.
A singular landscape populated with diverse flora, fauna and wildlife this remote bogland is a spectaular place to escape from the hum and buzz of a busy modern life and tune into the timeless sounds of nature in a truly unspoilt wilderness.