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North Laois is dominated by the Slieve Bloom Mountains - Bloom is an anglicized version of Bladhma the name of a Celtic warrior who once sought refuge in the area. The mountains bring some welcome variation to this flat county, although the highest point, the Arderin Mountain, in the southern half of the range, only reaches to 1735ft, they're ruggedly desolate enough to give a taste of real wilderness, even if you follow the Slieve Bloom Way . The Way, a little over 31 miles in length, takes you on a complete circuit of the mountains - across moorland, woods and bog, along part of one of the old high roads to Tara and through the bed of a pre-Ice Age river valley. Along the way dense conifer plantations attempt to survive, with a little help from the taxpayer, way above the natural tree line. If your time is limited and you have a car, the best place to start is probably at the northern end of the range at Glen Barrow's car park (three miles west of Rosenallis). Skirting the mountains, the road from Mountmellick (R422), as it passes through Clonaslee and Cadamstown (strictly speaking in Co. Offaly), offers easy access to some pleasant walking, particularly at Cadamstown. Here a waterfall's icy waters are used for bathing by hardy locals, with the tweely named My Little Tea and Craft Shop (actually the front room of a cottage) open for a revitalizing feed afterwards. If you don't have a car, you can catch the Dublin-Portumna bus at Birr or Portarlington and start walking at Kinnitty, a couple of miles south of Cadamstown, a delightful upland village, which has an excellent pub, The Slieve Bloom , with a pretty beer garden (at the time of writing a new restaurant was also being completed). A part of the Slieve Bloom Way skirts Arderin Mountain, the summit of which offers a breathtaking panorama of the midland counties; the old custom of trekking to the summit in summer has recently been revived so, if you're here on the last Sunday of July, ask around for details. John Feehan's The Landscape of Slieve Bloom is a good read and is highly relevant to the area, while Bord Failte's Holiday Guide to County Laois details many excellent walks in the mountains; both are available in tourist offices throughout the country. Excellent accommodation options in this area include: the fine, stone Victorian Ard More House , as you enter the village (tel 0509/37009; GBP33-40/?41.90-50.79), whose old-fashioned comforts and fine home-cooking are designed to energize even the weariest hill walker. Comfort and style can be had in Kinnitty Castle , on the road between Kinnitty and Cadamstown (tel 0509/37318, kinnittycastle@tinet.ie ; over GBP130/?165.07), a unique Gothic Revival castle standing in 650 acres of parkland in the Slieve Bloom foothills. There is also an unregistered hostel (tel 0509/37034), on the opposite side of the road to the castle, which is as basic as the castle is luxurious and used mostly on specialist walking excursions. If none of the above suit, you may want to base yourself in Birr or you could head for the Slieve Bloom's southeastern foothills. Here, in COOLRAIN , accommodation can be found at Pine House Farm , Annaghmore (tel 0509/37029; GBP33-40/?41.90-50.79), an ideal base for walking, while the Village Inn is good for traditional music. Alternatively, for a real treat, check in at Roundwood House (tel 0502/32120, roundwood@eircom.net ; GBP70-90/?88.88-114.28), just outside Mountrath, a mid-eighteenth-century Palladian mansion now run as a guesthouse. Built by a Quaker who had made his fortune in America, it's a doll's house of a building decorated in vibrantly authentic Georgian colours, with a double-height hall boasting a Chippendale Chinese-style staircase. It's a relaxed, unceremonious sort of place that seems devoted to the virtues of good food, conversation and alcohol: you are likely to find yourself sitting by the turf fire after an excellent dinner, debating tirelessly with other guests about anything and everything.
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