Our 2026 Irish holiday was in the Sperrin Mountains of Tyrone and Derry. Our base was the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown which turned out to be top class for both its leisure centre and its food. Our excellent drivers Feargal and Conor were supplied by J and K Coaches. Walks were at the west end of the range (Gortin Forest Park) the north end (Banagher Forest) and the east end (Slieve Gallion and Moneyneany Hudys Walk)
On our day off Conor brought us to the Moravian village Gracehill close to Ballymena and then to the delightful Carnlough village on the Antrim coast and then we visited some viewpoints on the Causeway coast. The day was very fine and the views were spectacular.
Highlights of the walk included the giant overlooking Gortin, the ancient forest at Banagher in its beautiful glen and a very rain sodden trek over the top of Slieve Gullion, with the discovery of the very welcome if primitive “Cafe Gullion” on the summit.
We were privileged to have the assistance on two days of Patricia and Ann from the local walking group.
All 24 of us thoroughly enjoyed our visit to an unfamiliar part of Ireland. We would strongly recommend it to all walkers.
Brendan Heneghan
