Lisnagra
From 'Country Roads' by Sam Mitchell
Taken from The Inish Times 20th June 2002

A pleasant, relatively short walk which takes you off the beaten track through woodland and hillside below Eskaheen Mountain, and with good views over Lough Foyle. Go through the Village of Muff and turn left onto the minor road just after Harkin's shop. Drive up this narrow, winding road for 1.8km/1.1 miles, where the road turns, sharp left and comes into a small mixed wood. Park on the roadside at the widest point.

Continue to walk straight ahead on this narrow road which passes through attractive woodland (Lisnagra Wood - lios na ghrá, the wood of love) of hawthorn, beech, rowan, fir and pine; with roadside plants of brambles, ferns and wild flowers. You soon come to a Y-junction (1), where take the right fork onto a road which is less well surfaced, with a grass strip down the middle. This road rises gently uphill, still passing through woodland, then flattens out and drops down again, curving to the left. You soon leave the woodland, and the view to the right opens up over a shallow valley to Eskaheen Mountain, while to the left there are occasional glimpses of Greenan Mountain and the hills of north Donegal. The track becomes rougher, drops down into the floor of a little valley, then climbs quite steeply up to the crossroads (2) at Mullanaghy Bridge. Go straight across and continue to follow the track, which climbs uphill directly towards Eskaheen Mountain and alongside a small stream - the headwaters of the Burnfoot River. The road rises through rather marginal farmland, with sheep grazing, and a plantation of conifers over to the left. Gorse, fuchsia and wild flowers on the roadside banks brighten the scene, brambles and wild raspberries are also abundant on each side of the road. As the road climbs towards the 150m contour, land quality deteriorates, merging into mountain pasture except where, as on the left, the farmer has given particular attention to drainage and land improvement. Near the top of the road, the view to the right opens up over Lough Foyle to Binevenagh and the North Derry Uplands. Ahead of you lie the steep slopes of Eskaheen Mountain, covered in gorse, heather and outcrops of bare rock. After the road crosses a small stream, it comes to another crossroads (3) beside a small stand of conifers, where turn left.

This is a straight, gently undulating, well-surfaced road, with a westerly trend. To the front right, your eye can follow the road which goes up to Grania's Gap, between Rocky Hill and Garranbane; to the left, over gorse hedging, in the middle distance, lie the Foyle valley, the mouth of the River Foyle and beyond it. Coolkeeragh power station and the Maydown industrial complex. Livestock graze the rather rushy pasture on either side of the road on this exposed hillside; a thick fuchsia hedge provides an attractive windbreak as you approach the next road junction (4), where turn left in the direction signposted for Burnfoot. A short distance down the road you come to the turn-off (b) for Burnfoot; keep straight on for this walk. You are now heading south-eastwards through a plantation of conifers, the northern margin of which was clear-felled in 1995/96, having suffered considerable storm damage. The view ahead is cut off by tall confers, so the roadside plants of brambles, ferns and wild flowers may attract your attention. The road continues downhill at a moderate gradient, then curves right to take on a course which is almost due south; it emerges from the plantation and the view opens up again before you. In line with the road would be the site of Derry city, beyond which rises a succession of hill ridges and summits, including Slievekirk in County Tyrone. To the left, Lough Foyle comes in to view and the succession of hills beyond it. The road is losing elevation quite rapidly, so the quality of farmland is progressively improving, as is the variety of roadside plants. The dominant plant on one long stretch of the road has the appearance of raspberry, but with small red flowers and some ripened fruit (mid-June) which is light orange in colour. The road is very straight now with a constant downhill gradient. It passes, in quick succession, the ends of two roads, one to the right (d)), then one to the left (e) which is signposted Iskaheen. Keep straight on past both of these roads. At this point, the road drops down more steeply into the valley floor of the upper Burnfoot River. It bridges this river to rise again through rolling farmland. You pass yet another road, joining from the right; take the first road off to the left (5) after this. Just before this turn, Greenan Mountain and part of Lough Swilly are visible over to the right.

The road you take to the left is not signposted, but you soon come to an old school (Carnaffoyle National School), now closed. The road is very straight, heading north-eastwards in a gentle uphill gradient. Ahead of you lies Lisnagra Wood where your car is parked, while in the left is a nice open view across the valley of the Burnfoot River to Eskaheen Mountain and Grania's Gap. Sawel and Dart, in the High Sperrins, come into view directly to the right. At the end of the straight stretch, the road curves right and enters the western margin of the wood. Walk on past a rough road entering from the right, and you soon come to the Y-junction (1), thus completing the walk circuit.

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