Trostan – Things We Love: Great Hikes

It’s long past time for another hike as the next #ThingsWeLove here at The Inside Trek: we are a hiking business, after all! And we’re staying local once again, this time with the highest point in County Antrim, Trostan.

Look Ma, I’m on top of County Antrim

At 550m, Trostan isn’t going to “wow” anyone with its height, even in just a list of peaks in Ireland. And it’s not particularly steep either, with what altitude it has being added gradually over sweeping hills and plateaus. Which may explain why it rarely appears in the guidebooks & why we’ve rarely ever met anyone when we’ve climbed it.

But that does leave Trostan’s charms just for us. And to get deep into the remote heart of the Antrim Hills & really appreciate their main draws, Trostan really is the perfect place.

You want variety? Trostan has got it!

Now, it is not a particularly easy climb. While it doesn’t go up and down as abruptly as the Mournes, its heather, peat & bog covered uplands can be tricky, taxing, muddy going, whatever the season. But the top of Trostan is well worth the climb, as its previous bogland has drained away to leave an unusual moon-like landscape. And there’s lots of variety on the way up and down, from jinking round the spoilheaps from old iron ore mines that pockmark its eastern foothills, to following a burn through dense green forests, to basking in cracking views along the spine of Tievebulliagh and out to the Irish Sea & Scotland beyond.

Yep, Trostan is one of Northern Ireland’s under-rated hiking gems, in our view, especially when approached from the North. And we love it.

Come let us show you round, some time