Day Trip - Scrabo Tower

If you're local to 'ards then you will know Scrabo Tower, likely some of you can see it from your window and on a clear day can even be seen from Belfast City Centre (look east from The Dome on the top of Victoria Square).

We used to live beside the Scrabo Tower Country Park during COVID lockdowns and were grateful to be able to go exploring from our doorstep; now that we've moved we thought that would never again be possible but as our very first trip out with the 'Explorer' we drove our doorstep up there as a hub for a walk.

The tower, was built in 1857 and is surrounded by a country park and quarry for wayfarers to venture and climb the 135ft to the base of Scrabo where they'll be rewarded with views of mountains in three countries (on a clear day the Northern Irish Mournes, Galloway Forest Park in Scotland and the Lake District… all best seen up close of course!).

It's a bit of a narrow and steep road for the Explorer and unfortunately there's nowhere to park and stay overnight. But this is one of our favourite local sites to visit… and when we venture further afield, Scrabo is also the marker that when seen from the motorhome window let's everyone know that we're almost back home to familiar surrounds.

At home the 'Explorer' sits parked with the landscape of Scrabo peeping over behind it, so of course was the inspiration for our logo and name.