Barrow Way Walking Holiday — 5 Days (Moderate)

Make your way to Carlow town, where your Barrow Way holiday begins. Carlow is a Norman heritage town with a great deal more to it than guidebooks let on. Settle in to your accommodation, get your gear ready, and spend the afternoon exploring.

Carlow Castle commands the riverside skyline, and the cathedral nearby is unexpectedly moving inside. If you have the time, Browneshill Dolmen — a 5,000-year-old portal tomb just outside town — is well worth the short walk out and back.

A quiet evening, an early dinner, and to bed. Tomorrow, the river.

Your first day on the trail, and a gentle one. Leave Carlow on the towpath and you are soon back in open country. The Barrow is broad and slow here, with herons in the shallows and the Blackstairs Mountains rising to the south.

About 7 km in you reach Milford. Three elegant bridges cross the river beside the shell of an old mill. It is one of the prettiest spots on the whole route, and a perfect place for lunch.

Tonight you stay in Leighlinbridge, one of the loveliest villages on the Barrow. The Valerian Bridge has carried traffic over the river since the 14th century. Beside it stand the ruins of the Black Castle. With a short day behind you, there is time to sit by the water and enjoy it.

A longer day, but the towpath is flat and easy the whole way. Soon after leaving Leighlinbridge you pass through Bagenalstown, a quiet Georgian town on the river. It makes a good spot for a morning coffee.

South of town the valley grows greener and closer. You pass the old stone bridge at Goresbridge, then Ballytiglea Bridge, where the towpath briefly joins the Leinster Way. Here you turn off the river for the final 2 km into Borris.

Borris is a village to savour. It has a wide stone main street, the grand gates of Borris House and the Carlow hills rising behind. It is a fine evening to sit outside with a pint and feel the miles in your legs.

Your final walking day, and one of the loveliest of the route. South of Borris the valley narrows and the wooded hillsides close in around the river — this is the section many guests remember most clearly.

You finish at St. Mullins, one of Ireland''s oldest and most atmospheric ecclesiastical settlements. Founded by St Moling in the 7th century, it sits where the Barrow meets the Duiske, surrounded by monastic ruins, a stump of round tower, and a graveyard that has been in continuous use for over 1,400 years. The peace here is real. You''ll feel it.

Tonight you stay just upstream in Graiguenamanagh — a handsome stone-built town where Duiske Abbey still stands complete on the main street, one of the finest Cistercian abbey churches in Ireland. A good final evening: river, abbey, a proper meal, and the satisfaction of the miles behind you.

A leisurely morning. A last full Irish breakfast. A last look at the river.

Make your way onward — Dublin Airport is around 1 hour 45 minutes by road, and Kilkenny is just 40 minutes away if you fancy adding a night in one of Ireland''s prettiest medieval cities before heading home.