Audio Trails

Welcome to Lagan Valley Regional Park (LVRP) and our Heritage Audio Trail.

Notice: The audio trail hosting service is currently unavailable at the time of this notice we are exploring alternative hosting opitons: Mar 2022

The audio trails take you on a journey among local heritage and wildlife within the heart of Belfast and Lisburn.

Following the Lagan towpath this 11 mile stretch of shared pathway follows the route of the Lagan Navigation which is made up of sections of man-made canal and the River Lagan.

Our trail takes you back to when the horse drawn barges slowly traveled up and down the Lagan with their cargoes. Hear the stories of a time when the Lagan Navigation was a busy thoroughfare and the canal folk lived and worked along its banks.

The audio trail runs the full length of the Lagan towpath within the Lagan Valley Regional Park and is free to download from this page. Each stop has an audio clip which is in MP3 format and can be downloaded to a compatible media player or mobile phone.The individual stops are available for download or alternatively suggested walks can be downloaded as a bundle of audio clips. Simply click on the stop number or suggested trail image; this will open the audio clip in a separate window. Save the file and transfer to a mobile media player like a MP3 player or mobile phone.

Along the Canal towpath you will find 35 numbered audio trail markers. Each one displays a barcode that when scanned with a Smartphone sends an audio file, revealing what life used to be like for the Canal Folk who earned their living on the Lagan Navigation direct to your phone!

Heritage audio trail barcode

You will need to download a barcode reader app to connect to the Internet in this way. Type 'barcode reader app' into a search engine and you will find a product which will suit your phone. Most apps can be downloaded free of charge. Alternatively, while out and about, type www.laganvalley.co.uk/audiotrails into your phone and select the relevant numbered track to hear fascinating tales of the Lagan Navigation, the canal folk and Lagan Valley Regional Park.

Suggested Audio Trails

The eleven miles of towpath can be split into sections or enjoyed as a day walk or cycle. There are many entry points from which the towpath can be accessed, these are marked on the Heritage Audio Trail map which can downloaded below by clicking on an image. Depending on your internet connection, it may take a moment for the download to complete.

Lock 2 Lock 3 Shaw's bridge

Drumbeg Ballyskeagh high bridge Lock 12

Audio trail map

Click on the link below and you will be able to download our audio trail map. Study the map to plan your route and then download the relevant audio stops. This can be done in the next section.

Audio Trail Map

Individual Audio Stops

Once you have downloaded and checked out the map above and chosen which stops you'd like to visit. Simply click on the stop number below, this will open the audio clip in a separate window. Save the file onto your desktop and transfer to a mobile listening device like a MP3 player or mobile phone.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Audio Trail Script

Click here to download the audio script in text format.