West Ireland
Galway | Mayo
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The west is a blend of hills and sea. Climb Mweelrea, the highest mountain of the West, and the sea is on two sides of you; climb Croaghaun on Achill Island, and it is as if you are on a ship pointing to America, with sea on three sides. This blend ensures that counties Galway and Mayo have some of Ireland's finest scenery, especially around Killary Harbour, a long, narrow, deep fjord that penetrates far into the mountains. To the south of Killary, in County Galway, are the Twelve Bens and Maumturks ranges. The Bens are bare rocky mountains, rising only to 600 or 700 metres, but impressive because they rise directly from sea level and every metre has to be climbed on foot. The similar Maumturks offer perhaps the best long mountain walk in Ireland.

North of Killary in County Mayo, there is an abrupt change to sandstone mountains with rounded ridges edged by dark, rocky cirques. Mweelrea itself, the Party Mountains, the Nephin mountains north of Clew Bay, offer easier walking than in County Galway. Rarely frequented, they give a magnificent wilderness experience. There is also superb walking on the high cliffs of the north Mayo Coast. Centrally, overlooking Clew Bay, is the 764-metre cone of Croagh Patrick, Saint Patrick's holy mountain, scene of a huge pilgrimage each July. If you prefer a waymarked trail, the Western Way winds its way amongst all these hills, never rising above 300 metres, from Oughterard near Galway City to the north Mayo coast, before turning back east towards Sligo, and a junction with the Foxford Way which circles the farming country of East Mayo.