Carlingford Commons Loop

This loop walk starts in Carlingford Town and can be taken in either direction. The Commons loop is the smaller of three loop walks at the end of the ancient Tain Trail when Queen Mabh of Connacht marched with her warriors in a cattle raid on the Cooley peninsula in pursuit of the Great Brown Bull as told in the ancient Irish epic about Cu Cuchulainn the hero. A bigger loop, the Slieve Foy, and bigger still, the Barnavave, start and finish at the same place. At the end a city loop can be added on to see the mediaeval town. At the start there is a gentle slope rising through the town that gets steeper and steeper as one climbs high above the town through the bracken and sheep common land before going downhill through rocks and mountain stream to end up back in town. It is signposted and very scenic, quite hard because of the gradient. The city walk at the end is much easier and can be done on its own .