1. Callan Kells Priory Loop (23.7 km. 77 mins cycling. Rise and fall: 115m)
Kilcoran, Kells Loop Walk, Kells Priory,Callan Famine Graveyard
This route brings you past the ancient Kells Priory on the banks of the King’s River, one of Ireland’s largest and most impressive medieval settlements with its stunning series of tower houses.
You can also visit Callan’s Cherryfield Famine Graveyard, named for the many cherry trees that blossom so beautifully and poignantly over this final resting place for the hundreds of inmates of the nearby Callan workhouse who died during the Great Hunger.
2. Callan Killamery Loop (29.8 km. 96 mins cycling. Rise and fall: 119m)
Callan Famine Graveyard, Kilamery High Cross, Mullinahone (Killaghy Castle) and Bowers Wood.
Stop at Killamery Graveyard to view the spectacular 9th Century Killamery Cross, with its ornate carvings of marigolds, snakes, dragons and Biblical figures and its inscribed dedication to Máel Sechnaill, High King of Ireland from 846-862.
You’ll also pass through historic Mullinahone, nestling beneath the mythic peak of Slievenamon, and its magnificently restored Killaghy Castle, an original Norman motte-and-bailey augmented with tower and longhouses during Tudor times. And you’ll glide through the magnificent tranquillity of one of Ireland’s Millennium Forests.
