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About 25 miles north from Achill, BANGOR (or sometimes Bangor Ennis) is pleasant enough, although its landlocked location makes it less exciting than the seaside places nearby. Bangor marks the start of a spectacular 22-mile hike, the Bangor Trail , an ancient route that runs southeast through the Nephin Beg Mountains to Newport. As R.L. Praeger, who walked the route in 1937 wrote: "Where else even in Ireland will you find this hundred square miles which is homeless and roadless - nothing but brown heather rising as far as you can see& into high bare hills breaking down here and there in rocky scarps, with the Atlantic winds singing along their slopes?" It is indeed lonely country, with the legacy of the Famine visible everywhere, but the desolation of the landscape can be exhilarating. A couple of fine guides to the route are available from most newsagents in the area: County Mayo, The Bangor Trail (£6/¬7.62) by Joe MacDermott, and the locally produced Bangor Trail by Uinsíonn MacGrath and Theresa ní Ghearraigh.