Connemara National Park is situated in the heart of the West of Ireland in Galway and covers over 2000 hectares of majestic mountains, vast grasslands and peatlands and patches of woodland. The park is open all year round, but the visitor’s centre and tearoom are only open in the summer.
I have been out to the park in every season and it is just and beautiful in all of them, but only the really hardy or insane should visit in winter because it can become a very harsh environment then.
The park is very well maintained and tidy and many picnic areas and public toilets are provided. There is even a rudimentary kitchen for campers to use. The tearoom serves simple but tasty sandwiches and soup, as well as gallons of tea and coffee and slices of tasty cakes . . . all at reasonable prices (around 3 euro for a toasted sandwich and less than 1.50 euro for tea or coffee).
The Visitors’ Centre has an informative education centre outlining the history of the usage of peat in Irish life. I found this all fascinating, as being foreign (if only from Wales) the whole concept of using what is essentially mud as a fuel was alien to me. There is also a section on the flora and fauna to be found in the park.
Outside of the Visitors’ Centre, the Park is more for the energetic than the lazy, although you don’t have to be an expert rambler. There are two trails in the Park Centre itself; the Ellis Wood Nature Trail and the Sruffaunboy Trail. The Ellis Wood Trail takes about 30 mins to walk and is not difficult, although there are some steps. The Sruffaunboy route is much more challenging and there are some very steep sections of the path; although, after talking to a Park employee, it turns out that once a little 90-year-old lady walked the trail, zimmerframe and all with hardly any trouble! This trail takes about an hour to walk.
There is also a trail that leads right to the top of Diamond Hill, the mountain that towers over the Park Centre. However, at the moment and for the near future its shut to the public due to erosion damage on the paths.
Away from the Park Centre there are plenty of challenging mountains to climb; although the challenge may come more from the irate landowners than the steepness of the slopes!
Connemara National Park has to be visited while in the west of Ireland. The views are spectacular, especially from the slopes of Diamond Hill. This part of the country is so wild and untamed, and although it rains a lot, this is sometimes no bad thing as the rainbows bouncing off the mountains is a site to see.