Fisherman’s friend: a heady, nature-infused break at Britain’s largest freshwater lake

Northern Ireland’s tranquil fishing lake is a blast of head-clearing fresh air, with delicious eels and blustery hikes on the side, says Richard Franks

Lough Neagh (Tony Pleavin/Tourism Northern Ireland)

It’s a warm summer’s evening and I’m whizzing across Lough Neagh with husband-and-wife fisherfolk duo Gary McErlain and Anne-Marie McStocker. After a 15-minute jaunt across still water, the boat gently judders to a halt. If I squint I see nothing but deep reed beds ahead; to the right, there’s nothing but glistening water for miles. Though the view is boosted somewhat by some unusual-for-these-parts blue skies, I could be anywhere in the world right now.

“Where do you think we are?” asks Gary, as if he’s read my mind, tracing the lake map spread out over his recently-kitted-out passenger boat. Based on the fact that we’re surrounded by very little, I tentatively point somewhere towards the centre. “Everybody does that,” says Gary, truly tickled. Instead, I’m told we haven’t even left Toome Bay, at the very top of the lake. Blimey.

Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh is the largest freshwater lake in Britain and Ireland, spanning a whopping 150 square miles. You’d have to sail for around 20 miles to go from top to bottom; for comparison, just 12 miles of water separate Northern Ireland and Scotland’s nearest points, Torr Head and the Mull of Kintyre. It’s also the largest wild eel fishery in Europe, with approximately 80 per cent of its catch exported to Holland and Germany.

Lough Neagh Eels – most are exported to Europe (Tourism Northern Ireland)

Most people in Ireland don’t know much about the lake, never mind Britain – Gary’s words, not mine – and he puts that largely down to its heritage as fishermen’s territory. His new venture, Lough Neagh’s Stories, aims to change that. After a cobweb-blasting sail around the mega-lake, I’m promised a taste of the region in the shape of an eel supper, but it will have to wait – Gary and Anne-Marie have many ear-catching tales to tell first.

But it’s not just boat trips and yarn-spinning that they specialise in – I had spent most of the previous afternoon with Anne-Marie, exploring Lough Neagh’s northern shores by foot. Perhaps its most intriguing site is Cranfield, where monastic ruins and a graveyard overlook the calm waters, and hawthorn and hazel trees shade the site of Cranfield Holy Well. Here, rags adorn almost every inch of tree branch – they’re said to heal any ailments once dipped in the water, rubbed on a part of the body and hung up. Anne-Marie demonstrated in a bid to cure her sore knee.

The next day was spent solely on land, too, traversing the Lough’s unspoiled shores. At Antrim Lough Shore I met local guide Donal Kelly of Belfast Mic Tours, for whom this wild spot was a childhood playground.

“As a boy I really did think this was the sea,” Donal said, as we passed through a canopy of trees to pause beside a tiny beach. “You can’t see anything for miles, and it can get quite choppy here too, so it’s very easy to think this is the sea.” It’s true. Much of Lough Neagh’s surrounding land is particularly flat, and islands are hard to come by.

These trees form part of Rea’s Wood, a short (1.6 mile) waymarked walking route through wet woodland, which extends out to Route 94 of the National Cycle Network. The full route is a 113-mile loop of the entire lake which is mostly flat and often runs in tandem with the water’s edge.

Lough Neagh is mainly regarded as fishermen’s territory (Tourism Northern Ireland)

Donal’s walking tour continued through Antrim, birthplace of famous author Alexander Irvine and snooker supremo Mark Allen, where his personal tales brought the area to life. Seeing Megadeth at that famous 1988 gig at the Forum, and running through a hedge in the Castle Gardens without realising the Six Mile Water was on the other side stood out. He was a young boy for the second one, I should add.

I don’t consider myself much of a cyclist but I was very keen to tackle some of the aforementioned 113-mile route while the weather was on my side. From Clotworthy House, the final point of Donal’s tour, I charged off on a 12-or-so-mile ride with John Trotter from Belfast City Bike Tours towards Toomebridge.

Despite the sunny start, the typical Irish weather brought us all four seasons in one day – the relentless rain pelting down on my face felt like hail – as we darted down dual carriageways, zoomed across country lanes and pedalled down cycle paths. Particularly pleasing for a cycling novice like myself, the terrain is mostly flat and there are ample opportunities to gaze across the lake too. But, most importantly, we traversed stunning parts of Northern Ireland otherwise impassable by car.

Lough Neagh Map and Gary McErlain’s boat (Richard Franks)

As we coasted towards our finish, beside the Toome Canal we unintentionally bumped into Gary and Anne-Marie who were waving off a coachload of school children from their boat tour. True to their word, they were off to cook that eel supper they had promised me the evening before.

As we sat on a picnic bench on the Lough’s shore, blue skies returned and the smell from Gary’s sizzling frying pan was intoxicating. We sat and ate freshly caught smoked eels on soda bread with a copious amount of real Irish butter smothered between, as the water gently lapped the lakeside.

“Remind me why nobody knows about Lough Neagh again?” I said.

“You tell me,” Gary replied.

Travel essentials

Staying there

Dunadry Hotel and Gardens near Antrim has rooms from £139, room only.

More information

Lough Neagh is a 25-minute drive from Belfast. Organise tours by land and sea through Lough Neagh’s Stories; tours from £50pp.