Rinmaher Walking Trail, Co Galway

Suits: Tweens

Hike: A vast and magnificent forest flanking Lough Derg, Portumna Forest Park is ripe for adventure. Tweens will love galavanting here with mixed terrain to explore and countless trees to climb. Native and exotic species tower above fields and marshes, over scrubland, shoreline and wide-open spaces. Sixteen species of wild mammal call this haven home, and 85 species of bird, so you can spy everything from squirrels and fallow deer to swans, cormorants and wildfowl. There are four looped trails in the park: follow the Rinmaher Walking Trail, a long single-track loop along the Northern shore of Lough Derg, stopping to enjoy the viewing platform overlooking the lake, and straying off the track at Rinmaher Point to get the best views across Lough Derg. – JB

Start and Finish at: Portumna Forest Park, St Joseph’s Road.

Level: Easy.

Length / Time: 10km; 2 hours.

Pack: Sketchbooks and pencils are handy to produce when energy lags — keep it simple; spontaneity can be half the fun of a forest walk.