Start : Ballykelly car park (BT49 9HU)
(S/E) From Ballykelly car park, walk across the bridge and follow the gravel track to the left (North-West), following the river a short distance until you come to where it meets Lough Foyle. Depending on tide levels, you will see various waders and wildfowl (including Brent Geese in winter) feeding on the mudflats at the river mouth.
(1) Here, the track turns sharp right and runs between the ‘back pond’ or ‘back cuts’ that drains the reclaimed land (much of it lying at or below sea level) and the grassy bank that abuts the sea wall.
Part of a concrete runway can be seen across the fields. This was the once strategically important RAF Ballykelly. Modern commercial aeroplanes cross these skies today, bound for the City of Derry airport to the west.
The track continues for two miles (North-East) until it comes to the Burnfoot River which rises on Loughermore Mountain to the south. A new footbridge was installed across the Burnfoot River in July 2015, which allows the walker to cross the river and continue walking along the shores of Lough Foyle.
(2) Turn left after crossing the bridge and follow the path to where the river meets Lough Foyle. Just offshore at this point lies the wreck of a World War Two aircraft, that can be seen at low water.
(3) Continue North-West walking along Ballymacran Bank, where the walker can savour a backdrop of Binevenagh Mountain to the northeast and the famed hills of Donegal punctuating the Inishowen skyline to the west. Between which lies Lough Foyle, Northern Ireland’s biggest expanse of estuary, enlivened by the evocative primeval calls of waders and wildfowl.
The route continues to run Northwards to meet the River Roe with its remnant of estuarine salt marsh. The route continues for 800m from where it starts to curve Eastwards at the Roe Estuary, and ends where the path meets the railway line between Derry/ Londonderry and Coleraine after more or less 4.4 Km.
(4) The walk is linear, so return the way you came – don’t worry as the views are spectacular in both directions! (S/E)
