6 Outdoors- Other to Explore in Offaly
Checkout places to visit in Offaly
County Offaly is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Midlands Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It contains approximately 9,000 hectares of forest and woodland area. This county welcomes the visitor to vast tracts of wilderness, expanses of bogland, esker hills and rivers including the majestic Shannon River and so more.
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Outdoors- Other to Explore in Offaly
Clara Bog is the finest remaining example of a raised bog in Ireland today. The nature reserve is home to many protected wildlife species. The site is protected under a number of national and international designations including National Nature Reserve, a Special Area of Conservation, Ramsar Wetland Site, Natura 2000 site, and Natural Heritage Area.
Clara Bog is the finest remaining example of a raised bog in Ireland today. Raised bogs once covered 310,000 hectares in Ireland but today just 7% remains intact. This forms over 50% of the remaining area of uncut raised bog in North West Europe. The nature reserve is home to many protected wildlife species. The installation of a 1km-looped timber boardwalk with interpretive panels at Clara Bog has provided for local recreation and tourism.
This is the remains of an extinct volcano and rises from the Bog of Allen in County Offaly. The mound at the summit Croghan Hill is thought to be a bronze age burial place. It is believed that a Bishop MacCaille had his church there and lived around the time of St Patrick in the fifth century. Though only 232 m high it commands extensive views of the surrounding midland counties.
Durrow is the site of one of the earliest and most important monastery founded by St Columcille about 550. Largely undisturbed, the site is an early medieval monastic complex of ecclesiastical and secular monuments, visible and sub-surface. The extant monuments at the site include a large ecclesiastical enclosure, five Early Christian grave slabs, a fine mid-ninth century high cross and so more.
Mongan Bog is an excellent example of a midland raised bog. It is a valuable addition to the growing network of peatland reserves. The bog is believed to be 9,000 years old and has formed in a basin between two east-west trending eskers. A larger area is protected for its birdlife as a Special Protection Area: Mongan Bog SPA covers 1,843 ha and is also an Important Bird Area.
The Offaly Way is a linear route of 38km linking the Slieve bloom Way (at Cadamstown) to the Sli Mor and crossing en-route the Grand Canal Way. It includes sections of riverbank, stretches of bogland, green mass paths and quiet country roadways. The trail provides a link between the Slieve Bloom Way and the Grand Canal Way.