Upper Lough Erne

Upper Lough Erne is the smaller of two widened sections of the River Erne in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It lies south of the larger Lower Lough and north of Enniskillen, where the river briefly narrows. The water stretches for many kilometres, dotted with more than 150 islands of all sizes. The shoreline twists into countless coves and inlets, giving the lake a maze-like feel. Its islands range from large inhabited landmasses to tiny uninhabited islets barely above the waterline. The river itself runs north then west for about 130 kilometres before reaching the Atlantic. The lake carries layers of legend and history in its waters. Local lore says the lake formed when a goddess named Érann dissolved into the flood, or when a magical spring overflowed. One tale tells how Queen Méabh’s lady-in-waiting drowned fleeing a giant, her body becoming the lake. In the 15th century scribes wrote the Annals of Ulster on Belle Isle, an island in Upper Lough Erne. During the Second World War the lake hosted RAF Castle Archdale, a flying-boat base that used a secret corridor across neutral Ireland to shorten the Atlantic crossing. A visitor finds a quiet waterway where boats slip between islands and wooded peninsulas. The largest island, Inishmore, sits at the northern end, while Galloon Island marks the lower end of the upper lake. Many smaller islands carry single farmsteads or old church ruins. The lake’s islands are the main Irish home of the scarce garden warbler, a small songbird rarely seen elsewhere. The water’s edge offers calm anchorages and gentle paths for walking, with distant views across the lough to low hills on every side.