GBET 14 Letterbox Hybrid
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Girley Bog Eco Trail
This will be a wonderful stroll of approx 6km around the stunning Girley Bog. It is an area of special interest and we have endeavoured to be very gentle with our caches. We have put out 24 and all will be in and around the pathways around the bog. No climbing trees etc, just good family fun. All should be easy finds. Now something about the bog...
Leaving the trailhead, the trail follows a forestry track for 600 metres to a crossroads from where the loop proper begins. Turn right here. The loop travels another 1km to reach the end of an old bog road. Here it turns left onto a woodland trail. Now the loop passes through deciduous woodland and coniferous forestry to exit onto a forestry roadway. Turn left here.
Follow the forestry roadway for 1km before turning left and joining an access road to bogland. Climb a stile at a gateway and follow a grassy track for 300 metres before turning left, and crossing a short section of bog before joining a bog roadway where you turn right at an interpretive panel. After a short distance the loop turns sharp right and follows a track through a line of trees.
Exiting the trees, the loop turns left onto an old bog road again and for the next 2km circles a raised bog area. The loop rejoins the outward section at the crossroads mentioned at B above, where it goes straight and covers the final 600 metres to the trailhead. Throughout most of history Irish bogs were impassable. To cross the wet, boggy terrain people built bog roads or ‘toghers’. In the 20th Century, as the bogs were exploited for fuel, thousands of important archaeological finds were made, including swords, jewellery, trumpets and human bodies (preserved by the acid nature of the bog). Another interesting use of the bog was to keep butter cool during summer and there have been many finds of butter kept in wooden container called ‘methers’. Girley Bog is a site of considerable conservation significance as it comprises raised bog, a rare habitat in Europe and one that is becoming increasingly scarce and under threat in Ireland. The loop covers a variety of landscape of forest and bogland and has been developed as an eco-walk with interpretive panels throughout. The early section traverses coniferous forestry planted on high bog, the trees are fast growing species (sitka spruce and lodgepole pine) that originate in North America. The main element of the loop is within the bogland where there is a wonderful variety of birdlife, plants and animals.
Ascent 20 metres Distance 6 kilometres Estimated Time 1 hour and 30 minutes - 2 hours Grade Easy Minimum Gear Hiking boots, raingear and fluid Services Kells (7.5 kilometres) Terrain Bog roads, forestry tracks and woodland Theme Nature Trailhead Drewstown Woods, near Kells, Co Meath, OS Sheet 42, N695 711
This a letterbox Hybrid, there is a small stamp in the cache, if you would like to use it, please take your own ink pad....
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ba evtug orgjrra 2 cbfgf , qrrc