Around Sligo Collooney
Welcome to Yeats Country and East Sligo. This area is famous worldwide for the heritage-loving traveler. Housed in east Sligo are spectacular monuments of historical interest such as the court cairns in Creevykeel near Cliffoney and Deerpark, passage graves and portal dolmens at Carrowmore, and Parkes Castle on the shores of Lough Gill near Lissadell. There is no excuse to miss the Yeats country drive, a 160 km signposted tour encompassing all the major places associated with world-renowned poet, William Butler Yeats and his artist brother, Jack. The tour begins west of Sligo town through Carrowmore around Knocknarea where there is an ancient cairn associated with Queen Maeve, a warrior queen of Connacht. There is a car park on the R292 road with pedestrian access to the summit, which has a magnificient panorama of the Sligo coast and countryside. The tour goes through Strandhill and then along the lovely peninsula facing Benbulben which leads you into Drumcliffe, where you must visit the grave of W. B. Yeats. The tour then goes northwest to Lissadell via Carney where there is a wildlife fowl reserve between the road and the sea. From Lissadell, you travel north via Grange and Cliffony to Mullaghmore, a popular spot for deep-sea angling. The tour goes along from the beaches and dunes west of Grange onto Mullaghmore. North from Mullaghmore, you will see Creevykeel Court Tomb signposted just before Cliffony. The road then takes an irregular circuit of the Gleniff Horseshoe, beneath the breath-taking sides of Truskmore, Kings Mountain and Benwiskin. Heading south to Glencar on the main road, be sure to take in the tranquil beauty of the waterfall and the lake. There are various spots around here associated with Yeats such as Dooney Rock, Slish Wood, and Dromahair. The tour ends at Hazelwood with a lovely romantic forest walk and a stroll around Half Moon Bay along the shores of Lough Gill.
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