Travel Tales

Gerry Oates got in touch about a venue for an alternative walking experience

How long is it since you have taken a walk through a bog? For many, a day in the bog is but a distant memory, for others it’s an otherworld experience.

In the past, generations of Irish people were well acquainted with the bog and spent long back-breaking hours there in the turf-cutting season. Now they, and those who are unfamiliar with this world, can experience it in the Peatlands Park, Co Armagh.

The park, which lies on the southern shore of Lough Neagh, comprises two national natural reserves: Annagarriff, 77 hectares of wooded drumlins interspersed with extensive areas of regenerating cut-over bog and Mullenakill, another 22 hectares of uncut bog about 8,000 years old with layers of peat reaching down nine metres.

There are 16km of pathways which take the visitor through the many and varied habitats to enjoy the rich array of wild plants and bogland creatures: butterflies, dragonflies, wood ants and carnivorous plants, which trap and eat insects. Wetland birds, jays, long-eared owls, hen harriers, wood pigeons and several species of warbler also frequent the fens and glades of the park.

For children there is one-and-a-half kilometres of narrow-guage railway track through leafy tunnels and open bog, and both young and old can enjoy the sites of the park riding in the open carriages of its new locomotive.

For long-term planners keen to check out the flora and fauna, why not make a note in your diary for International Bog Day, on Sunday, July 25th, when the park hosts the sixth Northern Ireland Bog Snorkelling Championships? Thirty or more hardy hopefuls will vie for the honour by swimming 200m in a bog drain equipped with snorkel and flippers – and swimming trunks, of course. There are competitions for men, women and children, as well as team races.

It’s something the traditional turf-cutter would never dream of, but it certainly makes an exciting spectacle.

peatlandsni.gov.uk

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