River Licky Nature Walks

Newtown farm bed and breakfast is located close to the heart of the Licky Valley. The area has a rich and varied local ecology and heritage. The area has seven walks that vary in length from 3.5 Km to 13.5 Km. The River Licky rises in Lagnagoushee in the Gaeltacht of Old Parish, Co. Waterford. It meanders west to join the Blackwater near Clashmore, carving out a beautiful valley, rich in native flora and fauna.

This unspoilt natural wealth has inspired a number of nature trails or Licky Walks. The uniqueness of the Licky basin is due to the rapid drop of 150 m from source to outlet over a relatively short distance of 18 km. This gives rise to an ever-changing pattern of flora.

The cutaway blanket peatland of the upper reaches of the valley is mostly afforested today with Sitka spruce, larch and lodgepole pine. The surrounding area is reclaimed upland pastures. The river is flanked by occasional spinnies of willow, alder, birch and brambles.

There are wet depressions in this area that are reputed to have been flax ponds of a forgotten linen industry. Fossil bog oak from the pre-Ice Age great forests has also been found here. Evidence of the blanket peat can still be seen by the presence of ling heather, bilberry and the shorter Irish furze (aitinn Gaelach). About a mile downstream from Pulla Bridge, there are clumps of holly and an occasional mountain ash through the willow/alder mix. In the afforestations of the upper Licky valley area, Coillte have planted groves of species such as noble fir, Norway spruce, Douglas fir and Scots pine. In recent times broad-leaved species have been added to these plantations, which helps to blend these forests with the native woodlands on the deeper river banks that consist of hazel, sessile oak, holly, willow and alder.