Tollymore Forest Park was the first state forest park in Northern Ireland. It has around 630 hectares of parkland, is situated at the foot of the Morne Mountains and has views of the rest of the mountains and the sea in the vicinity of Newcastle. This is one of the places that is part of the Game of Thrones route in Northern Ireland, since some of the scenes from the Game of Thrones series were inspired by it.
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| Tollymore Forest Park |
Tollymore National Park surroundings
The Shimna River runs through the park, and it has 16 bridges that you can cross. In the river you can find some species such as salmon or trout and it is an area of special scientific interest due to its geology, flora and fauna. The forest is a great place for many outdoor activities such as hiking, camping, horseback riding, etc.
The forest has four hiking trails marked with colored arrows, the longest being a 13 kilometer long trail. It was listed in the top twenty British picnic spots in 2000 by the Sunday Times. Forest Park has been managed by the Forest Service since 1941.
Tollymore Forest Park, appeared in the first episode of the first season of the series, where Bran Stark's encounter with the three-eyed raven occurred. It is a somewhat mysterious forest especially if you consider that the horsemen of the Night's Watch rode through it in the Game of Thrones series.
The Enchanted Forest in Game of Thrones
The Tollymore Forest Park becomes the fiction of Game of Thrones in the Enchanted Forest, a huge forest that occupies much of the territory ' beyond the Wall'. It is bordered to the west by the 'Frozen Fangs' and to the east by the 'Sea of Chills' and 'Punta Storrold'. The 'Wall' cuts through it at its southern end, where it is cut down by the men of the Night's Watch. It also has several rivers, including the Agualechosa and the Asta.
The forest is mainly made up of oak, beech, sentinel trees and arcianos (tree with white bark and red leaves). Near the 'Black Castle', in the 'Wall', there is a forest made up of nine arcianos where the brothers of the Night's Watch, followers of the Old Gods, manifest their oath. To get to it, it is necessary to cross a stream, which freezes when winter comes.
Some scenes from the Game of Thrones series take place in this forest, such as the scene in which a member of the Night's Watch sees a family of dead savages on the snow. It is also the place where Ned Stark and his children meet the gored deer and wolf cubs. Later, Theon Greyjoy is chased on horseback by Ramsay Snow, the bastard of Bolton, also in these forests.