Walking
Around the Loughs
 Lough
Navar Forest, Co Fermanagh, 8 miles
The wide variety of landscapes in Northern Ireland makes
it a wonderful place for walking, and the scattering of villages
and towns across this rolling scenery means the trails through
forests, along cliffs and up mountains are on everybody's
back doorstep. Forming the backbone of many walks is the 560-mile
Ulster Way; this excursion in Co Fermanagh takes in just a
tiny part of it.
A - Starting along the A46 Enniskillen to Belleek road, from
the car park on the south side of Lower Lough Erne, you begin
with an energetically steep climb up a wooded scarp of some
600 feet - rewarded at the top with wonderful views of the
Atlantic, Donegal and the Sperrins. The first quarter of a
mile of the Ulster Way is through deep heather and grass and
can be boggy in wet weather: a dotted alternative on the map
shows a less soggy first section.
 B
- Follow the Ulster Way along to Meenameen Lough, then Lough
Navar. The way skirts the edges of both, and anywhere along
the banks would be a lovely place to sit and have a picnic.
Keep a look out for a hen harrier and russet-coloured Irish
hares.
C - After Lough Navar, the sharp descent brings you down
through natural hardwoods, birch and rowan trees with their
flaming red berries, to the bridge which crosses the Sillees
river.
D - Continue up to a rocky outcrop on the right called Melly's
Rock and on to the stone sweathouse. From early Christian
times this was where ill people could literally sit and sweat,
an Irish equivalent of a Turkish bath or sauna. Return to
the bridge, and turn right up the scenic drive route, following
the course of the river - after a while you will see Lough
Achork to the left. The path then starts to veer right and
brings you back to the first viewing point, completing your
circuit.
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