National Waymarked Trails

When I’m not hiking, I’m usually either thinking about or planning my next hike. I have found that the Ireland’s National Waymarked Trails are always a good starting point for these big dreams. There are currently 45 walking routes in Ireland that are classified as “National Waymarked Trails”. The variety in distances on offer means that there is something to suit everyone. Each trail needs to meet certain criteria to be classified as a National Waymarked Trail. The criteria is set out by Sport Ireland and gives a level of comfort to walkers about the standard of the trail.

What Makes a National Waymarked Way?

Some general rules that the National Waymarked Trails need to adhere to are:

• There should be an opportunity to stop for food/drink every 20 – 30km along the route. This is classified as a service provider (shop, pub, café) within 3km of the trail.
• Where possible, rest areas or picnic areas to be made available at appropriate intervals.
• There should be accommodation options at the start and end of the trail and where possible every 20-30km on longer trails.
• The target is to have at least 80% of the trail not on public roads.
• Parking should be available at the trail starting points.
• Signs or waymarking information is provided at any junction along the trail (e.g. if not clear which direction the trail takes) and reassurance waymarkings should be in place every 500m to 1km along straight stretches of the route.

The Sport Ireland site is a good resource for anyone interested in planning to hike any of the 44 trails. They have details about distance, difficulty level, total ascent and a brief description/map for each route. However, they don’t seem to publish a full list of all National Waymarked Trails. Which is a pity because there is a lot of conflicting information out there as to how many National Waymarked Trails there actually are!

The trails themselves range in distance from the Multeen Way in Tipperary which is 23km to the Ulster Way which is a massive 1,000km!

Complete List of National Waymarked Ways

I have set out a table below which lists each of the 44 National Waymarked Trails in order of distance:

Number	Trail	Km	Start Point	End Point
1	Multeen Way	23	Milestone, Tipperary	Tipperary Town
2	Leitrim Way	56	Leitrim Village	Manorhamilton
3	Cavan Way	26	Dowra, Cavan	Blacklion, Cavan
4	Westmeath Way	33	Kilbeggan, Westmeath	Mullingar, Westmeath
5	Nore Valley Way	34	Kilkenny City	Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny
6	Offaly Way	37	Cadamstown, Offaly	Lemanaghan, Offaly
7	Táin Way	40	Carlingford, Louth	Carlingford, Louth
8	Dublin Mountain Way	42	Tallaght, Dublin	Shankhill, Dublin
9	Slieve Felim Way	43	Murroe, Limerick	Silvermines, Tipperary
10	North Kerry Way	48	Tralee, Kerry	Ballyheigue, Kerry
11	Slí Gaeltacht Mhúscraí	50	Kealkill, Cork	Millstreet, Cork
12	Slí Na Finne	51	Fintown, Donegal	Fintown, Donegal
13	Monaghan Way	54	Clontibret, Monaghan	Inniskeen, Monaghan
14	Western Way – Galway	55	Oughterard, Galway	Leenane, Galway
15	Tipperary Heritage Way	56	Vee Gap, Tipperary	Cashel, Tipperary
16	Croagh Patrick Heritage Trail	61	Balla, Mayo	Murrisk, Mayo
17	Bluestack Way	65	Donegal Town	Ardara, Donegal
18	Slí Cholmcille	65	Ardara, Donegal	Ardara, Donegal
19	Slí Na Rosann	65	Dungloe, Donegal	Dungloe, Donegal
20	Duhallow Way	67	Bweeng, Cork	Mallow, Co. Cork
21	Lough Derg Way	68	Limerick City	Dromineer, Tipperary
22	Slieve Bloom Way	71	Glenbarrow, Laois	Glenbarrow, Laois
23	East Munster Way	75	Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary	Clogheen, Tipperary
24	Slí An Earagail	77	Dunlewy, Donegal	Dunlewy, Donegal
25	Sligo Way	80	Lough Talt, Sligo	Dromahair, Leitrim
26	Ballyhoura Way	89	St. John’s Bridge, Cork	Limerick Junction, Tipperary
27	Hymany Way	90	Portumna, Galway	Ballygar, Galway
28	Avondhu Way	94	Clogheen, Tipperary	Bweeng, Cork
29	South Leinster Way	104	Kildavin, Carlow	Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary
30	Suck Valley Way	105	Castlerea, Roscommon	Castlerea, Roscommon
31	Burren Way	114	Lahinch, Clare	Corrofin, Clare
32	Grand Canal Way	117	Adamstown, Co. Dublin	Shannon Harbour, Offaly
33	Barrow Way	120	Robertstown, KIldare	St. Mullins, Carlow
34	Western Way – Mayo	124	Aasleagh, Mayo	Ballycastle, Mayo
35	Miner’s Way and Historical Trail	129	Arigna, Roscommon	Dowra, Cavan
36	Wicklow Way	129	Marlay Park, Dublin	Clonegal, Carlow
37	Royal Canal Way	146	Dublin City	Cloondara, Longford
38	Mid Clare Way	148	Newmarket on Fergus, Clare	Newmarket on Fergus, Clare
39	Dingle Way	162	Tralee, Kerry	Tralee, Kerry
40	Sheep Head’s Way	175	Bantry, Cork	Bantry, Cork
41	East Clare Way	180	Killaloe, Clare	Killaloe, Clare
42	Beara Way	206	Glengariff, Cork	Glengariff, Cork
43	Kerry Way	214	Killarney, Kerry	Killarney, Kerry
44	Slí Chonamara	220	Galway City	Oughterard, Galway
45	Ulster Way	1,000	N/a	N/a

Further Notes

Some points of clarification are needed for the above table:

• The Westmeath Way is incomplete. The trail goes from Kilbeggan to Mullingar. However, there is a section in the middle (between Dysart and Ladestown) where walkers are not permitted on the route. As such, walkers will need to complete Westmeath Way in two separate stages.
• The Nore Valley Way is incomplete. There are three sections to the Nore Valley Way. 1) Kilkenny to Bennetsbridge 2) Bennetsbridge to Thomastown and 3) Thomastown to Inistioge. The second section from Bennetsbridge to Thomastown is under development so similar to the Westmeath Way, this trail will need to be completed in two stints.
• You will note that 13 of the above National Waymarked Trails are looped walks that start and end at the same location. These are that little bit easier to organise as you can base all your planning around this main location.
• According to monaghantourism.com, the Monaghan Way is currently closed.

Larger Routes

To add a little complication to the above list of 44 National Waymarked Trails, a number of the trails combine to form larger routes. There are:

• The Blackwater way combines the Dunhallow Way and Avondhu Way routes.
• The Slí Dún na nGall is made of 4 looped National Waymarked Trails.
  • Slí Na Finne;
  • Sli Cholmcille;
  • Slí Na Rosann; and,
  • Slí An Earagail
• The Beara-Breifne Way is a 500km route from the Beara peninsula in Cork to the Breifne area of Leitrim/Cavan. It more or less follows the march of 17th century Cork chieftain O’Sullivan Beare. It includes the following 12 trails:
  • Beara Way
  • Slí Gaeltacht Mhúscraí
  • The North West Cork Way (not a National Waymarked Trail)*
  • The Ballyhoura Way
  • Multeen Way
  • Ormond Way (not a National Waymarked Trail)*
  • Hymany Way
  • Suck Valley Way
  • Lough Gara Way (not a National Waymarked Trail)*
  • Miner’s Way & Historical Trail
  • Leitrim Way 
  • Cavan Way

*While the above routes are well signposted, they have not been designated as a National Waymarked Way.

• As you can see, the Ulster Way is a mammoth c. 1,000km route. It is made up of 16 “Quality Sections”. These are well marked out trails predominately off road. These are joined together by “Link Sections” which are not waymarked and mainly on public roads. More information can be found at walkni.com

Happy Planning

Finally, my personal experience of looking for information on each of the National Waymarked Ways is that it can be confusing. The Sports Ireland website generally gives the best and most detailed information. Be careful when looking at tour operators overviews of trails as they can sometimes only include information on the specific sections of trails that they cater for. So they are not always the best if you are looking for information on the full route.

Anyway, happy planning and happy hiking. I hope this post will be of some help!