Tourism \ Activities \ Walking \ Slieve Gullion

Slieve Gullion

Slieve Gullion Forest Park is well signposted on roads around Newry and South Armagh. You eventually reach a large car park beside the Slieve Gullion Courtyard Centre. If you need any information about Slieve Gullion and the Forest Park, then check out the displays at the Courtyard Centre. The building includes an exhibition area, craft workshops, restaurant and self-catering accommodation. A looped forest drive runs round the southern and western slopes of Slieve Gullion, and a short ascent can be made from a small parking space at the top of the road. The hill crops up regularly throughout 2,000 years of legend and history. Cuchulainn, the Red Branch, Fionn Mac Cumhail and other heroes trod its slopes. There is a rich cultural tradition in the area, and a number of little visitor centres in the surrounding countryside.

The walk
Leave the car park and follow the road marked "Exit". Walk down to a crossroads and turn left. Follow a minor road to Clonlum, where you can see a chambered cairn just off the road. You'll also catch a glimpse of the large house known as Killevy Castle. Look uphill to the left to spot the whitewashed St. Bline's Well on the rugged slopes of Slieve Gullion. More obvious are the ruins of Killevy Church; which are actually two churches of different ages joined together.

The road forks beyond Killevy church. Keep left and follow a minor road uphill on a forested slope. As you climb, views open up across a wide area of tiny fields surrounded by rugged little hills. The road forks again and you keep left to climb uphill more steeply for a short while. Continue to the highest stretch of this road.

Go through a gate on the left, where a clear track leads through a large field. After passing through another gate, the track is like a green ribbon of grass up a slope of deep, darker heather. You pass a metal arrow welded onto a bar set in the ground. This is one of a handful of waymark arrows you will spot, leading you up the rugged slope ahead.

There should be no problem following the grassy track uphill, but it does expire in deep heather on a steep slope. You have to pick a way uphill without a clear path, passing a couple of low rocky outcrops as the ground steepens. You reach a burial cairn known as the North Cairn. There is a much clearer path along the crest of Slieve Gullion, passing a lonely pool called the Calliagh Berras Lough.

The huge burial cairn on top of Slieve Gullion is known as the Calliagh Berras House. It bears a trig point and view indicator at 1,894ft (573m). You can crawl into the burial chamber via a passageway in the side of the cairn. A skylight allows light to enter, so you don't need a torch. There's a clear path away from the summit, trodden down rugged slopes of rock and heather. You pass a shelter built into the side of the hill, then you continue downhill until you reach a fence.

Turn left and cross a stile over the fence, then walk down a clear track into the forest. Turn left along the tarmac Slieve Gullion Forest Drive. When the Forest Drive descends through a clear felled area, look carefully to the right and you'll spot another narrow road running roughly parallel at a lower level.

Watch carefully and you'll spot a very short path dropping down to the lower road. You can go down this path and then turn left along the lower road. The lower road runs more steeply downhill and eventually swings left to return to the centre. This is also part of a short woodland nature trail that you can explore.