Lough Ramor Walks
This walk visits the expansive Lough Ramor in County Cavan.
The walk starts in the town of Virginia which is located on the northern side of the lake. From here you can follow footpaths down to the lakeside where there is a park and a picnic area.
Additional amenities include a small fishing/viewing pier and a boardwalk pier stretching into the lake.
There is also a modestly sized children's play area. Limited space is available for parking caravans or motor homes, particularly advisable on quieter days or if arriving early.
Adjacent to the lake is a Deer Park Forest, offering numerous hours of enjoyment with its various pathways leading through a picturesque forest landscape.
The area also includes the Virginia Park Lodge Hotel, a truly unique 18th Century hunting estate with miles of scenic pedestrian walkways. There is a fine pub here where you can enjoy some post walk refreshments.
At the lakeside you can look out for a variety of wildlife including cormorants and swans.
To continue your walking in the area head south to visit the fascinating Loughcrew. This ancient site includes includes a number of tombs thought to date to the 4th millennium BC. There are great views from the hill top to enjoy here as well. Just to the west there's Lough Sheelin where there are lots of interesting birds to look out for on the water.
Lough Ramor Open Street Map 
- view and print off detailed map
Lough Ramor Open Street Map 
- Mobile GPS Map with Location tracking
Further Information and Other Local Ideas
More detail on the Lough's Natural Features and Wildlife:
Lough Ramor is a partially wooded wetland area, serving as a sanctuary for a variety of wildlife, both native and migratory.
Historical records show that nearly half of the 170-acre Deerpark woodland was originally oak, utilised for construction and agriculture. In the 17th century, it was noted that early settlers in Virginia had to import building timber from west Cavan and Fermanagh. The early 19th century witnessed significant tree planting, with species like ash, elm, oak, larch, spruce, and Scots pine, and more recently, various broadleaf varieties including sycamore were added.
A government study describes Lough Ramor as a depression in the Silurian strata prevalent in eastern County Cavan. The lake is notably shallow, with a pH of 7.5 and a maximum depth of six meters. Its water, typically low in nutrients, periodically experiences enrichment, causing algal blooms. Lough Ramor, resting on a unique rock type compared to other Cavan lakes, has a distinct appearance, with shores largely lined by semi-natural woodland comprising alder, willows, and hazel, particularly near Virginia.
The area features hazel and hawthorn scrub on drier grounds, accompanied by species like bramble, false brome, and primroses, transitioning into woodland in places on the southern shore where ash and oak thrive alongside holly. The bird population includes species like treecreeper and long-tailed tit, with occasional sightings of sparrowhawks and woodcock.
The islands are primarily cloaked in willows, providing nesting grounds for black-headed gulls and a breeding habitat for mallard, teal, and red-breasted mergansers. Freshwater marshes dot the shoreline, but expansive reed-beds into the lake are uncommon. These marshes are edged with sedge varieties and other plants characteristic of base-poor areas, such as marsh ragwort and hoary willowherb.
Some shore areas offer habitats for rare plants like tasteless water-pepper. The lake is home to significant numbers of great cormorant, as well as notable concentrations of whooper swan, wigeon, and grey heron. The lake's fringing marshes are also nesting sites for curlew and lapwing.
Lough Ramor's plant communities along the lake margins, combined with the numbers of overwintering birds, establish it as an important wetland site.
For more local history head south to visit Fore Abbey. The ancient abbey dates back to the 13th century and includes a circular walk taking you around the historic buildings and the village of Fore.
Cycle Routes and Walking Routes Nearby
Photos
Sheltered rowing boat harbour east of the slipway at Virginia
A foreign cannon on the front lawn of the Park Hotel, Virginia, looking across part of its 100 acre estate to Lough Ramor
Swans in the boating harbour
