{"id":15304,"date":"2022-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-05T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=15304"},"modified":"2022-04-25T10:54:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-25T08:54:28","slug":"stairway-to-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/2022\/04\/06\/stairway-to-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Stairway to heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NATURE ESCAPES<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n

DAY OUT: <\/strong>Cuilcagh Boardwalk Trail, County Fermanagh<\/span><\/p>\n\n

STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The long, serpentine boardwalk that scales Cuilcagh mountain gives walkers the chance to experience this sensitive blanket-bog environment without damaging it, rejoices Helen Moat<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

C<\/span><\/strong>uilcagh sits inside the Marble Arch Caves Unesco Global Geopark, an area of limestone caverns, peatland, inky forests and lakes. The 665m mountain, straddling the counties of Fermanagh and Cavan, is home to one of the best-preserved blanket bogs in Europe.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Cuilcagh is Gaelic for \u2018chalky peak\u2019 <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

From the car park, climb the rough mountain track, looking out for common lizards after their winter hibernation. Savour the bog\u2019s delicate detail: the star-shaped sphagnum (peat moss), the flypaper butterwort with its violet flowers, and the fire-red sticky tentacles of the insect-catching sundew. Bog cotton appears like blankets of snow, the limestone habitat rich in wildflowers and herbs in spring. Peregrine falcons, buzzards and merlins lord over the sky; the skylark\u2019s song sweet on the air.<\/p>\n\n

After a heart-pumping climb up the wooden stairway to the viewing platform, gaze across the uplands where the land rises and falls before retiring into the distant haze.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Helen Moat is a travel writer, walker and cyclist, happiest when outdoors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAY OUT: Cuilcagh Boardwalk Trail, County Fermanagh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":15302,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"85","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"85","purple_seq_number":"2","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"2","purple_source_article":"article_85-2.xml","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"article_85-2.xml","purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_external_id":"May-2022-85-2","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2022-85-2","purple_issue_code":"|0000084055||","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000084055||","purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.189","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.im.countryfile.189","purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.189","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.im.countryfile.189","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"91da22fd-9e7f-40d1-a93f-fc46e9516d91","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-04-08T09:41:59Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"5c87ac11-969f-4322-8609-66d4a922797b","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-04-25T08:54:34Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AXIesEZafQyKGCWbUqSJ5ew","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[14],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e.jpg",1034,995,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e-300x289.jpg",300,289,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e-768x739.jpg",768,739,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e-1024x985.jpg",800,770,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e.jpg",1034,995,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2022\/04\/9bad88ae-6a62-4df5-915c-2982ca337e3e.jpg",1034,995,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"DAY OUT: Cuilcagh Boardwalk Trail, County Fermanagh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15304"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15304"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15647,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15304\/revisions\/15647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbccountryfile\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}