The fishing village of Cleggan in Connemara, Ireland, is about as far west as you can go in Europe without getting your feet wet. Start the walk at the harbour where you might see the daily boat to Inishbofin loading up with crates of cauliflowers, bananas and packages ready to chug out into the Atlantic. Pause for a moment at the nearby memorial to the Cleggan Disaster of 1927, when 25 local fisherman perished in a freak storm, before turning east on to the road out of the village. Take the first left, which brings you down past a beach where you can look across to the boats bobbing in the harbour.

Stay on the same road, passing standing stones on your right, until majestic Ballynakill Lough creeps into view. On a fine day, the curious conical peaks of the Twelve Pins loom brown and higgledy-piggledy in the distance as if jostling to get the best look at you; on a day when the Atlantic clouds boil over them they are rather more menacing.

Follow the road along the lough until you see an ancient ruined chapel on the right. Behind it is Ballynakill churchyard, which slopes towards the lake facing the hills beyond, for one of the finest views in the afterlife. Here you’ll find the grave of the famous poet, author, wit and surgeon Oliver St John Gogarty.

Continue straight on at the crossroads until the main road. Turn left, taking care, as traffic can be quite busy. You’ll pass an incongruously huge, lone souvenir shop, the village of Letterfrack and the entrance to Connemara National Park. Eventually you’ll reach Kylemore Abbey, one of Ireland’s most famous landmarks, whose turrets and towers huddle close to a lakeside at the base of a tree-covered hill, for a magical end to a rewarding walk.

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The details
From wild ocean to tree-shrouded lake

Start
Cleggan (L 391 569) to Kylemore Abbey (L 747 588), Connemara. OS Ireland Discovery Series Map 37.

Length of walk
8 miles

Walkers’ pit stop
Oliver’s Bar, Cleggan +353 (0)95 44640

Website
www.connemara.ie

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