Into the countryside you go! More cow encounters, rock wall climbing and a peak into the magical mossy forests!
I had the opportunity to take the Wood Loop Trail to walk from downtown Ballyvaughan to the Burren College of Art. The trail starts out on School Road just past the bridge on your left if you are coming from downtown. You will walk down this road for some time until you pass a school on your left. At this point you continue past the school and you will run into some sign posts for The Burren Way and the Wood Loop Trail. Both share the same path for the time I was on the trail.
After these sign post you will find yourself very quickly climbing over a rock wall and emerging into a beautiful pasture. The path is marked by sign posts and orange paint to help you stay on path. For the most part you can also see the path in the grass from wear.
When I was hiking through I climbed a rock wall and found three cows were on my path. They were very interested in me. I took my time and went off the path so as to give them a personal space bubble but they seemed totally fine with my presence.
The next part of the hike had to be one of my favorites. After climbing another rock wall you are immediately submerged into this arch of bushes. As you continue you come out of the bush forest onto some karst landscape where you have to keep a close eye out for the orange markers on the ground to stay on track. After this opening you submerge back into another bush forest but this time it is a magical mossy one. It feels like walking through a fairy tale.
After this magical mossy forest you will come out onto a path along a farmers field. At the end of this path you will run into a road that says the Wood Loop Trail continues to the left and The Burren Way continues to the right. Here I went right until the road ended and turned left and ended up at the Burren College of Art. But if you have the time I would suggest turning left and continuing the Wood Loop Trail as I had a few friends that did it and loved it. The round trip time takes about 2 hours. The little excerpt I did took about 35 minutes.
You can find more information about the Wood Loop Trail here: