Ireland's first floating boardwalk, a 600 m timber deck that hovers just above Acres Lake, feels more like walking on the water than beside it. It launches a flat, traffic-free 6.5 km trail south along the Shannon Blueway.
Waterways Ireland built the 600 m boardwalk in 2017 on concrete-anchored pontoons, the first continuous water-based section of the Shannon Blueway. The deck sits barely above the surface with see-through railings, and it is dead level the whole way - fine for wheelchairs, buggies and dogs on leads.
The boardwalk is the trailhead for a flat, traffic-free 6.5 km walk north along the canal to Battlebridge Lock, near Leitrim Village, with panels on the local ecology and the old canal navigation along the way. Looped walks of up to 14 km branch off through riverbank and old workings.
Cyclists use the lake as a stop on a 20 km traffic-free loop from Leitrim Village through Drumshanbo and back along the towpath, but you must dismount and wheel your bike across the boardwalk itself.
Birdlife is reliable: mute swans, mallards, and the odd kingfisher if you are lucky. Early morning or late afternoon gives the best light, when the low sun catches the water and the hills behind.
Beside the lake, the centre tells the story of a century of iron-ore mining, narrow-gauge railways and the Shannon-Erne Canal in a 45-minute audio-visual exhibition. It runs seasonally, so call ahead before building plans around it.
The lakeside amenity area has a playground, picnic benches, toilets and a heated open-air swimming pool, open from June to the end of August and a local institution on a warm day.
Load the interactive map to explore this place location.
