Best Walks in Ireland [Paperback]

The hikes are very hard to follow, since there are frequently no distances given between landmarks nor are these shown on the map. Is the grove or pile of rocks 100 m or 6 km from the starting point? Frequently there is a detailed description of a fork, ending "Do not go this way." It would be clearer if the author said "your way is to the right- do not take the....etc."

Of course no one suggests that you should set out on a cross-country mountain hike relying on a 4" by 6" sketch map like the ones in this book. But these maps would be much more helpful in following the text if the junctions and the variations were indicated on them. There is no scale of distance on the maps either. Maps of this size could contain much more detail.

Many of the landmarks are vague or uncertain. Especially without a hint of the distance before you reach it, will I be sure this is the right side trail (are all of them really counted?) "A little south of E you may see a shale heap blighting the line of evergreen trees; this is... your objective." (p. 181) I MAY see this? It seems important that I really WILL be able to see it, since the next instruction is to "walk or swim across the open bog" to to. "Walk OR SWIM?" There is no hint of how deep or how wide the water may be.

Most alarming is the apparent confusion about east versus west (found in Walk 11). Can this be, especially in a second edition? Yet we are going north on R344 in Glen Inagh when we are asked to admire the view of "the Twelve Pins (left/east) and the Maumturks (right/west)..." (p. 177). Surely, when you are facing north, east is on your right. The Twelve Pins are west of the Maumturks, not east. To stay on Walk 11, the directions warn against taking the main Twelve Pins route "east toward Mam na bhFonsai" (p 180) but that mountain is west of the area of Walk 11. So to stay on the right path you SHOULD in fact go east.

Though it would be dangerous to rely on this book for directions in the walks, it contains a good introduction (e.g. on "right of way"), a good selection of really nice places to hike, lots of interesting asides on local history and nature, and really fine photos. I'd actually recommend it as a means to select a place to hike, I'd just be very careful to work out the hike on a real map ahead of time.

What a waste of good information! With better narrative directions and less crude maps, this could be an excellent source.

After having just returned from Ireland on a 16-day hiking holiday, this entertainingly written book is useless for actually completing any of the hikes available to us in the Southwest and South-central Ireland. Things such as, turn southeasterly at the red barn (for a book published over 10 years ago) is, to say the least, outdated. We couldn't use it for any of our hikes. Don't buy this one.

The directions and walk descriptions given are vague and confusing at worst; and there is a consistent lack of distances in the descriptions! The few sketches are fair at best but it is very hard to tie the walk descriptions to the sketches. Proper maps would have been much, much better. Also the book has little on the issue of some of Irelands really good lang-distance walks, such as e.g. the Wicklow Way. All these things aside, this book does provide a good overview of the different parts of Ireland with regards to interesting walks - but you definitely want to pick up some OSI maps and a better guide book before you actually set out. All in all, not really recommended.