My favourite section

Our accommodations in Belcoo

Yesterday was and I am sure will remain my favourite section of the trail.  We traveled from Florencecourt (near Enniskillen) to Belcoo.  The trail included the Cuilcagh Way, it started at the Florencecourt House where we were able to stay just down the road.  The Victorian style manor house, I believe was the recent site of the G8 meetings which Northern Ireland hosted.  The trail weaved around the grounds then went cross country through farm land.  The trail was well marked even if the directions said things like "follow a farm track" which I would interpret as a lane or vehicle track but turned out to be what we would call a cowpath.  Half way through the day we arrived at Marble Arch Caves Geopark, and took the time for a tour down into the caves.  From here our trail took us into the town of Belcoo our final destination for the day from the Republic.  In all it was about an 18 km section which saw us in and out of the Republic.

The next section was supposed to have us walk into Belleek, where I was really looking forward to going but it is not going to work out.  The 42 km section is pretty remote and there is only one place to stay on route and it would mean a 30 km day or so with our packs, and no way to get out of Belleek until Saturday so we are day hiking again and Belleek remains the hardest town in Northern Ireland to get in to or out of.  Only two more days of hiking then we are throwing in the towel and becoming regular tourists for a week.

The trail past Marble Arch Caves

The road into Belcoo looking back into the Republic