You will find a couple of different variations of the Mweelrea Loop. The Wild Irish Walks version outlined here starts off at the Delphi Resort and takes in 2 of Ireland’s highest mountains – Ben Lugmore and Mweelrea. Then circles back to Delphi via stunning views of Killary Harbour.
The below guide details the full 16km route of the Mweelrea Loop. The hike is quite difficult and strong levels of fitness are required.
We completed the trail with heavy cloud cover for much of the upper slopes of the mountains. Strong navigation skills are key here as the clouds can roll in quickly from the Atlantic.
What You Need to Know About the Mweelrea Loop
Location: The Mweelrea Mountain Range is made up of the highest mountain in Connacht (Mweelrea) and its subsidiary mountains. Located in County Mayo, the trail area enjoys stunning views out over the Atlantic coast. Two of the mountains in the range make the Highest 40 Mountains in Ireland list – Ben Lugmore (803m) and Mweelrea itself (814m). Both of these are summitted as part of the Mweelrea Loop.
Like the dedicated athletes that we are, our prep climbing the Mweelrea Loop was planned to perfection. We had a feed of pints the night before in nearby Louisburgh. We were based in Louisburgh for a weekend’s hiking. Having completed the nearby Barrclashcame hike the day before, our bodies were tired as we sampled the pints and pizza on offer in McNamara’s Bar. Nonetheless we stuck to the pints manfully.
Distance: 16km
Type of Walk: Looped walk starting and ending in Delphi Adventure Resort.
Time Required: We took nearly nine hours. Poor visibility really delayed us. In addition, the loop has sections without any obvious trails which also slowed progress significantly.
Elevation Gain: 1,113m
Grade: Difficult due to both the fitness levels and navigational skills required.
Preparing for the Mweelrea Loop
We probably would have had a few more pints only we got talking to some of the people around us. The man and woman at the table next to us actually worked at the Delphi Resort and were experienced on the mountains. While the advice from the woman about Mweelrea proved insightful and valuable, the man’s input was less helpful. He seemed to want to scare us more than he wanted to help us.
Look, Mweelrea can be dangerous and there are plenty of sheer drops. When the clouds roll in, visibility can be quite reduced. In that scenario, I’d advise only climbing Mweelrea if you have experience in similar conditions.
For us, the reduced visibility made navigating the route tricker. Luckily, we had lots of experience in the group dealing with these type of situations though. All sections of cliffside walking allowed us sufficient room to be a few metres away from the steep drops of the cliff face. If we hadn’t felt safe at any point we would have turned around.
Map of the Mweelrea Loop
You have a number of little variations or options when completing the Mweelrea Loop. We chose to start at Delphi Resort and head for the Mweelrea Horseshoe trail via the Tawnynoran spur. Then anticlockwise around the horseshoe taking in the summits of Ben Lugmore and Mweelrea. We closed the loop by cutting across the valley to a forest trail that leads back to the Delphi Resort.
You can see an online version of the map here.
Starting the Mweelrea Loop
We had four hikers altogether for this trip. Myself, Dave and Kevin from the Barrclashcame hike the day before were joined by my cousin David who met us at the carpark of the Delphi Resort. Normally, we would ask permission for parking at a place of business like this. However, the car park had plenty of room so we decided not to on this occasion.
Leaving the car park we turned left out on to the R335. After 100m we turned left before the bridge and up a little boreen.
After passing a farmhouse, we crossed a bridge over the Owennagloch river.
From there, we went through the gates beside a stone farm building. The first challenge of the Mweelrea Loop lay directly in front of us.
Climbing to Tawnynoran along the Mweelrea Loop
After another 500m or so of flat soft boggy walking, we started to move upwards. While the ground firmed up as we ascended, we had no obvious trail to follow. With long grass for more or less the entirety of the ascent, we found this section tough going. We averaged about an hour a kilometre!.
We stuck close to the stream (Sruhaunprampoge – meaning stream of the small stones) as we made our way upwards. While I can’t advise if this is the best option, we did get there in the end!
The Ben Lugmore Ridge
Thankfully, the ground continued to improve the higher we went. The Ben Lugmore ridge came into view. Well kind of, clouds rolled over the top and the summit of Ben Lugmore unfortunately could not be seen at all.
We continued in a north westerly direction. While this was the most direct route, we could have tacked more north to gain additional views from the ridge over Doo Lough.
We reached a small trail which runs along the start of the ridge after about 3km of walking. I found it reassuring to have an actual trail to follow – despite how faint it was in places.
Maps denote this trail starting from where the Owengar River meets the most southerly point of Doo Lough. I can’t comment on the quality of this route but do know it would be extremely steep.
With amazing views of Doo Lough to our right, we continued along the trail steadily rising as we went.
After 500m of the trail, we finally reached the most dramatic section of the Mweelrea Loop – the Ben Lugmore Ridge.
With sheer cliffs dropping down to our right, thankfully the slope to our left proved more gentle. As we travelled south west we approached Ben Lugmore East Top and entered into the clouds.
While visibility became poor (we could see 20-30 yards in front of us), we felt safe continuing along the route and turned West North West towards Ben Lugmore itself.
We reached Ben Lugmore having taken just over 3 hours to complete the first 4.8km.
Continuing Through The Clouds
After Ben Lugmore, we continued along the ridge (a safe distance from the edge) and passed Ben Lugmore West Top (5.5km). We turned left (west) a couple of hundred metres after. Continuing straight would bring you to Ben Bury.
We took the turn west earlier as the trail is easier to follow – we were now in thick cloud and really relying on our expert navigator Kevin.
The Approach to Mweelrea
The trail turned south after about 7km. The next kilometre would bring us to the summit of Connacht’s tallest mountain. We just needed to make 150m of elevation gain over the course of that kilometre.
While the ascent proved difficult, the fact the trail became a lot more obvious made it a lot easier. We converged on the route from Silver Strand to Mweelrea (probably the best option if you just want to climb Mweelrea itself) and the path became much busier. We even saw a trail running competition taking place!
After just over 8km of walking we finally (5 hours) reached the summit of Mweelrea. We got a great sense of achievement but no beautiful views – which would have been spectacular on a clear day.
Starting the Second Half of the Mweelrea Loop
It felt strange to be only halfway through the full distance of the hike after 5 hours of walking. However, we would be going downhill for the second half and have full visibility again once we got out of the clouds.
It took us about 20 minutes of ridge walking to get under the clouds. Finally, we spotted the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of Killary harbour. We then turned south east and parallel to the harbour – with the ocean at our backs.
Options for Returning to Delphi
The next target appeared clearly in front of us. We were aiming for the valley forest. Once through the forest track we would be back at the Delphi Resort.
We considered both options for reaching the forest. In the end, we decided on continuing along the ridge and over Mweelrea SE Spur. The views to our right of Killary Harbour were simply beautiful and we wanted to get as much of them as possible.
The other option would be to descend into the valley and reach the forest via a rough path alongside the Sruhaunbunatranch stream. We weren’t confident of what the underfoot conditions would be like for this option so that factored into our decision too.
Getting to the Forest
We made our way up and down the now broad ridge and admired the views of Killary as we went. Again, no clear tracks meant a lot of tramping through thick grass.
We moved towards the fence once it became visible. We stayed outside the fence and felt grateful that the ground underfoot became more manageable. My advice here is to keep your eyes out for stray bits of wire.
Approaching the forest, we needed to cut across a small field to get to the forestry road in front of us. This would be our last stretch through rough grass.
I think we were all glad to make it to forestry road. Even though we were all tired, it felt good to be able to stretch the legs out a bit and walk at a more normal pace.
Finishing the Mweelrea Loop
We followed the road back to the Delphi Resort and to the waiting cars. After 16km and nearly 9 hours of walking, we were all fairly wrecked but still in good spirits. We all rued the fact that the clouds had taken away the glorious views from us. We will just have to complete this Mweelrea loop again?