Start : Crossroads between Hill Street and Bath Street, Ardglass, Downpatrick (BT30 7WH)
(S) From the centre of Ardglass, walk South along A2. After around 1 Km, pass the pretty marina on your left and head out of the village towards the Kildare Street (A2).
(1) Past Jordan's Castle, turn left onto Castle Place then right onto Green Road. Walk around 900 m on Green Road to reach A2 again where you turn left (South-West). Walk along A2 for around 3 Km, going through Coney Island and continuing round the wide tidal flats of Killough Bay.
(2) As you approach the centre of Killough village, opposite Bay Ct, turn left through a metal turnstile onto a paved footpath towards the waterside. This delightful trail leads around the back of the church to the pier. If the tide is out you may well see locals collecting shellfish from the mudflats below.
Return to the road and walk to the end of the village at the junction between Castle St and Quay Lane.
(3) Continue left (South) onto Shore Road for around 820 m, where a stile on the left indicates the start of the Killough Coastal Path. Please note: this stretch of path is rough and exposed in places with steep drops.
(4) Follow a rough trail above the rocky shoreline for around 2.7 Km, negotiating several stiles amid the wild terrain. As you round a series of inlets, the path is sometimes forced up to the edge of the fields to avoid a deep fissure. The lighthouse at St John’s Point comes into view near the end of the section, and you rejoin a laneway a short distance away from the building.
(5) Turn right (North) along Point road, soon passing the remains of St John’s Point Church and Holy Well, which have survived remarkably intact from the 10th or 11th century. Continue along the quiet country road (laneway) for roughly 3 Km before arriving back at the A2.
(6) Turn left (West) here and follow A2 for around 3.6 Km to a junction with C286.
(7) Turn left on A2, in Clanmaghery Road and follow the road along the shore, with fine open views across Dundrum Bay to the Mourne Mountains. Towards the end of this coastal section you pass Tyrella Beach, a sandy beach some 2 Km long that is popular with holidaymakers during the summer months. (E)