barefoot on what became known as Cauragh Sunday. When the pilgrimage concluded, everyone present adjourned to a green area at the foot of the hill where musicians played and everyone spent the remainder of the day picnicking, drinking and dancing. Protected areas Lough Derravaragh is north of Mullingar and is part of the Lough Derravaragh Natural Heritage Area. Most of this area comprises the lake, but also it includes a variety of wetland, grassland, and woodland habitats. The site includes a small area of raised bog. The site is bound in the northwest by the River Inny. The Inny, which is a major tributary of the River Shannon, flows into and from Lough Derravaragh on its northwest shore. On this side, the lake is wide and shallow and raised bog and cutover bog are found within the immediate surrounding area (cutover bog is bog where some peat has been harvested, leaving remaining peat behind). Lough Derravaragh is shallow and its water is "hard", meaning it is alkaline. There is only a small area of raised bog on the side, but formerly it comprised a very large bog complex which extended towards the northwest of the lake. Most of this area has now been cutover and large areas have been reclaimed for agriculture. The remaining area of bog has hummock/hollow complexes but no water pools. Conifers have been planted upon the high bog and a section of cutover. Cutover is found dispersed around the high bog areas and there is also a separate small area of old cutover south of this raised bog. Much of the high bog possesses vegetation typical of an Irish Midland raised bog, with such species as ling heather (Calluna vulgaris) and hare's tail cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum). The hummock-forming bog moss, Sphagnum papillosum has been recorded situated around one third of the high bog as has the more scarce Sphagnum imbricatum. Overall, sphagnum covers around one-third of the high bog area. The centre of the bog is wet with stagnant water in places. The aquatic bog moss Sphagnum cuspidatum has been recorded in the hollows of the bog. There are dried-out channels of the bog which are colonised by algae, deergrass (Trichophorum cespitosum) and lichens. On the cutover on the southeast shore of the lake there are areas of downy birchy (Betula pubescens) woodland, with patches of gorse (Ulex europaeus). A notable feature of Lough Derravaragh, as