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Cadamstown Nature Eco Trail Loop
Cadamstown, Co. Offaly
Free to visit
The Silver River is a very special place from a geological viewpoint, because along its course you will find one of the finest rock exposures in the whole of Slieve Bloom.

The Old Red Sandstone can be seen in a splendid, almost continuous section along the river both below and above the village. About 660m upriver from the village of Cadamstown the lowest beds of the Old Red Sandstone are beautifully exposed in a 12m high cliff section. Upstream from this cliff the contact between the Old Red Sandstone and the underlying Silurian rocks is exposed, and above this the Silurian rocks themselves are well exposed in the river bed.

If you follow the river downstream from the village you will eventually reach the point where the Old Red Sandstone is overlain by the lowest shales of the succeeding Lower Carboniferous period of earth history.

The glens that radiate out from Slieve Bloom are post-glacial in age. The new streams first cut through the deep blanket of soft glacial till and then exploited lines of weakness in the underlying rock, removing loose blocks and tending to follow the prominent joints in the bedrock.

Trail details

Type:
Walking Trail
Location:
Cadamstown
Grade:
Moderate
Format:
Loop
Length:
6.40km
Ascent:
100m
Dogs allowed:
No
    Time:1 hour 45 minutes
    Nearest town start:Cadamstown 0km / Kinnity 8km
    Nearest town finish:Cadamstown 0km / Kinnity 8km
    Start point:Cadamstown village Car Park
    Finish point:Cadamstown Village Car Park
    Waymarking:Green arrow on white background
    Facilities:At Kinnity: Toilets, shops, café, accommodation.
    At Cadamstown/Trailhead: Car parking, public house evenings only
Contact details
Cadamstown,Co Offaly
Leave no trace
  • Plan ahead and prepare
  • Be considerate of others
  • Respect farm animals and wildlife
  • Travel and camp responsibly
  • Leave what you find
  • Dispose of waste properly
  • Protect nature from fire
More to discover at Cadamstown Nature Eco Trail Loop
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