Millions of tourists visit Ireland every year. Few see this highlight

Millions of tourists visit Ireland annually. Only a small percentage venture into its Hidden Heartlands – unless they have ancestral ties. Irish from elsewhere underrate it, too. But the Hidden Heartlands hav all that is wonderful about Ireland: deep history, rich culture, evocative ruins, dreamy landscapes, friendly towns, even beaches (of sorts).

It doesn’t suit list-ticking itineraries, lacking marquee attractions, big cities and coastline, so it remains largely free of tourist coaches and crowds. This is a destination for those who prefer unhurried journeys and intimate moments.

“Hidden Heartlands” is a more slogan-friendly name for Ireland’s Midlands. Comprising the central plains, it runs from counties Cavan and Leitrim in the north through the landlocked Longford, Roscommon, Westmeath and Offaly. County Fermanagh, across the border from Cavan in Northern Ireland, is something of an honorary member.

Drive between Dublin or Galway and you’re traversing the Hidden Heartlands. There is a challenge: deciding where to begin your exploration. Since prehistoric times, travellers have gone via water – the lakes, or loughs. The region is home to some of the biggest and most beautiful of Ireland’s 12,000-odd lakes.

The Shannon, the country’s longest river, also defines the region – filling several lakes and flowing a serpentine 360 kilometres from its source on the Cavan side of Cuilcagh Mountain to the Shannon Estuary in Clare.

The waters draw savvy anglers, paddlers and nature lovers. So too, an increasing number of growers, distillers, restaurateurs, artists and artisans, following well-worn paths that brought Mesolithic hunter-gatherers here – evidence of their settlements can be seen along lake shores (beaches, if you will).

In the days of early Christianity – an immensely significant chapter of Irish history – this was quite literally the heart of the land, so starting my adventure at Clonmacnoise seems a fine idea.

Established in the 6th century by Saint Ciaran the Younger on the banks of the Shannon in County Offaly – its crossroads location almost halfway between Dublin and Galway – Clonmacnoise became Ireland’s largest and most important monastery.

The burial place of kings and the site of many battles with invading forces, today it stands as an impressive collection of ruins, monuments and artefacts. With a small museum, it gives a perspective on how spirituality – and water – shaped the Heartlands’ communities.

In County Cavan’s Lough Oughter, I take a boat tour. Part of the River Erne system – which mostly flows in Northern Ireland – Lough Oughter is a long complex of interlocking lakes amid nearly 8000 hectares of land, including Killykeen Forest Park. We putter past flotillas of lily pads, reed beds bustling with birdlife, cows grazing on grassy shores, and anglers waiting to hook pike, bream or perch.

We clamber onto a small man-made island, home to the ruin of Clough Oughter, to hear the stories of this fortress, with its mythical and factual history dating from the 3rd century. Figuring in the tales are the O’Reilly clan (historically the kings of East Breifne/County Cavan), Cromwellian forces, imprisoned notables and many ghosts. Returning, we pass school groups kayaking, but no other tourists are in sight.

That is all the more surprising considering we’re in the 178,100-hectare Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Geopark. Straddling the border, it is the world’s first transnational geopark. There are 50 sites, ranging from forests to meadows, and village walks to castles. The Cavan Burren – similar to the more famous karst landscape in County Clare – has significant glacial and archaeological features.

Another is the Marble Arch Caves in Northern Ireland’s Enniskillen, a vast but easily reached network of 330-million-year-old limestone. We start our caving day with an underground yoga class.

From the caves’ visitors centre, we take the Cuilcagh Boardwalk Trail. Starting over blanket bog – once commercially cut, now being rehabilitated – the 11-kilometre return trip leads to the top of Cuilcagh Mountain, where Fermanagh stretches north, Cavan south. The ascent is not easy, but you don’t need to go to the peak for outstanding green-patchwork district views.

Do not miss the river. One of my favourite days in the heartlands is spent beside this picturesque waterway, a lifeline for humans and wildlife alike.

Ireland’s Blueways are well-developed recreational river trails. On a perfect early spring morning, we hire e-bikes at Electric Bike Trails in Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim and ride past meadows of buttercups, foxgloves, wild rose bushes and the gentle flow of the connected Lough Allen Canal. Our joy is only elevated by refreshment at The Shed Distillery in Drumshambo.

Named for Sionnan, a grand-daughter of the Celtic god of the sea, and steeped in myth and legend, the river is essential to the Irish story. Long rambles along its bucolic banks include the Cavan Way, which is part of the geopark. It passes the Shannon Pot, an aquifer-filled pool that feeds myth as much as it does the river (other underground streams on Cuilcagh Mountain contribute to the flow).

Blacklion, in Cavan, is the home of MacNean House, a high-end restaurant and cooking school run by famed chef Neven Maguire. Twenty minutes away is County Fermanagh’s largest town, Enniskillen, where a 15th-century castle stands on an island surrounded by Upper and Lower Lough Erne. It gives Kinsale, the food capital to its south, a run for its money.

On the Enniskillen Taste Experience food tour, we spend a morning exploring bakers, butchers, pubs and patisseries, and getting the measure of the compact town centre. A highlight is the 1887-established Blakes of the Hollow, one of Ireland’s most famous pubs. On Erne Water Taxi’s Island Discovery Tour along the island’s sylvan edges, we take morning tea – towers of lavishly creamed scones (jam first) and other goods from talented local bakers.

Canoe and kayak hire, guided and unguided, and cycle paths are other ways to explore – try Blue Green Yonder, but not on the same day as visiting the Boatyard Distillery, where a generous tasting of top-notch gin accompanies a Lough Erne panorama. Enniskillen’s Tully Mill Restaurant, is a fine finale there, as much for the historic building and woodland location as the food.

I sleep so soundly on this trip. Maybe that’s because – full disclosure – I have connections. Some of my convict ancestors hail from the Hidden Heartlands. (As I wander the as-yet-ungentrified streets of Cavan Town, I am sure I hear them whispering “welcome home”.) Or it might have to do with the wonderful hostelries. The gorgeous Glasson Lakehouse in County Westmeath is our first rest stop where I take a golf lesson with the resident pro at the driving range. He says I’m a natural, though I have not played for decades. I eye Glasson Golf Course with intent – perhaps next time. It has, after all, been called the “Killarney of the Midlands”, its peninsula location giving views of Lough Ree and the River Shannon.

At Carrick-on-Shannon, we check into the Bush Hotel, a heritage pub with simple and neat rooms. In Enniskillen, the expansive Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel and Lodges are amid rolling lawns on the banks of Lough Erne. In Cavan, historic 526-hectare Farnham Estate also has a golf course (the clubs are definitely still calling me). For something more rustic, there are the chic cabins of Cabu by the Lakes in Killykeen Forest Park.

Among Ireland’s abundant, excellent museums, one resonates deeply. Strokestown, a designated Heritage Town in County Roscommon, is home to a 1600s Palladian mansion and the National Famine Museum. The 1840s Great Irish Famine drove my ancestors to petty crime – and transportation to the Tasmanian penal colony. The famine devastated Ireland. More than two million people, almost a quarter of the population, either died or emigrated.

The museum explores this tragic chapter via intimate stories of local people, privileged and impoverished alike. It moves me deeply, as I reflect on my heritage and on the injustices of systems that create haves and have-nots. But it also renews my admiration for this small country – where even in the quieter corners, far from the well-known attractions, you can be as moved and enriched as anywhere else.

And that, in its essence, is the Hidden Heartlands.

THE DETAILS

Fly
Normally, Emirates flies to Dublin and return three times daily from Dubai. It runs 77 weekly return flights between Australia and Dubai. The routes are currently affected by the conflict in the Middle East. See emirates.com

Drive
Hiring a car is the best way to get around the Hidden Heartlands. From Dublin, it’s 1.5-2 hours by car to most key towns. From Galway, it’s under 1.5 hours to many locations. From Belfast, it’s 1.5 hours to Enniskillen.

Stay
Glasson Lakehouse (Glasson, Westmeath), from $412 a night. See glassonlakehouse.ie; Bush Hotel (Carrick-on-Shannon, Leitrim), from $164 a night. See bushhotel.com; Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel and Lodges (Enniskillen, Fermanagh), from $265 a night. See killyhevlin.com; Farnham Estate (Cavan Town, Cavan), from $309 a night. See farnhamestate.ie; Cabu by the Lakes (Killykeen Forest Park, Cavan), from $441 a night, minimum two-night stay. See holidays.cabu.co.uk

More

ireland.com

The writer travelled as a guest of Tourism Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and Failte Ireland.