Explore Louth, Monaghan and Cavan
The Cooley Peninsula is Louth’s most hyped tourist destination – though all told it doesn’t quite match up to the glories often claimed in its name. It’s true that the mountains and surrounding rich verdure offer great walking territory and many a stunning seascape, but the countryside lacks the raw, rugged and often downright exhilarating feel of the Mournes over the other side of Carlingford Lough. That said, there’s still plenty here to delight, even if Carlingford village itself has somewhat meretriciously cashed in on its waterside location and, like much of the coast road, features unattractive modern housing developments. From Dundalk, off the N1 Newry road, the R173 skirts the southern slopes of the mountains, taking in flat, dull countryside on the way, while the approach from Newry on the same road, runs first beside the canal, before meeting the lough shore itself, with the peninsula’s mountains ascending to the south.
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Carlingford
Carlingford
Set a short distance back from the lough’s southern shore, the trim and charming former fishing village of CARLINGFORD is by far the best base for exploring the peninsula. Its tight and tortuous streets reflect its medieval origins and house a host of places where you can eat, drink and sleep. However, this is not a place for the light of purse or pocket: prices here are significantly higher than elsewhere in the county or across the water in Down.
Carlingford’s name is Old Norse in origin, deriving from “Kerlingfjörthr” (the fjord of the hag-shaped rock), and indicating that this was once a Viking settlement. By the lough shore stands the ruin of King John’s Castle, which served as an Anglo-Norman sentinel over the lough’s entrance. The village itself contains some impressive later buildings, including the fifteenth-century Mint, a fortified townhouse just off the main square. To learn more about Carlingford’s history, visit the Heritage Centre, housed in the restored medieval Holy Trinity church, whose displays document the village’s development from Norman times.
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Walks on the Cooley Peninsula
Walks on the Cooley Peninsula
The varied terrain of the peninsula offers a range of opportunities for walking, whether in the hills, offering often sumptuous views across the lough to the Mournes, by the shore or along lush valleys. The longest waymarked walk is the 26km Táin Trail, which takes a circular route around Slieve Foye (587m), up to the west above Carlingford village and includes much of the higher ground. Undertaking this requires proper walking equipment and clothing, and supplies of food and drink, as well as Ordnance Survey of Ireland Discovery map #36. However, there are plenty of less arduous walks, some of which, such as the eight-kilometre round-trip to Maeve’s Gap, are easily accessible from Carlingford village. For others you’ll need to head northwest to Omeath or east to Greenore.
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Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley)
The location of many an Irish legend is still immediately identifiable thanks to a wealth of extant place names, and perhaps no more so than in the case of the Táin Bó Cúailnge. Set around 500 BC, many of the events in perhaps the greatest of the Celtic epics clearly take place in the mountains of the Cooley Peninsula. The villainess of the tale is Medb, the great Queen of Connacht, who so envies her husband Aillil’s White Bull (Finnbenach) that she determines to capture the Brown Bull of Cooley (Donn Cúailnge). Drawing Aillil into her campaign she begins a war against the east of Ireland, targeting Ulster in particular. All the Ulster men are rendered immobile by a curse except the tale’s hero, Cúchullain, who is left to confront Medb’s armies single-handedly. Much of the plot concerns his feats and victories, often achieved in bloodthirsty fashion, and the text is also brought to life by vivid topographical detail. The first known written version of the saga was included in the twelfth-century Book of the Dun Cow, and Thomas Kinsella’s twentieth-century English translation encapsulates much of the vivacity of the Irish-language version. In 1973 the legend formed the basis for one of Ireland’s most successful concept albums, The Táin, by the traditional-rock pioneers Horslips.
