2,500 Km Atlantic Way

aloyisious

Is this a pipe-dream or will it result in a good facility for all from home and abroad? I like the idea of walking ways, and this is great. It's left me wondering if we can pull it off, given how much terrain it crosses, physically and legally.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/videos-2500km-atlantic-way-set-to-drive-tourists-wild-260349.html

Alun

I'm pretty sure it's not a walking route, just a coastal driving route with various attractions (Cliffs of Moher etc.) along the way. I seriously doubt you'd be able to create a coastal path of even 1/10th of that on the west coast, or anywhere else in Ireland for that matter, without running into a morass of access problems.

Yeah, driving route, and some of the roads downright unsuitable for walkers. Like the Ring of Kerry with buses and tourists constantly passing by on narrow roads, would be just uncomfortable.

I'd say for a long walk you could think about the Dingle Way, Kerry Way, Beara Way, Sheeps Head and so on. Link a few of them up.

BarryD

Just re inventing the wheel, I reckon. It's not as if the west coast of Ireland is unknown to German, French, Dutch, American, English visitors etc. - they've being going there for decades and touring along the coast.

To my mind, it's too long & disparate, covering the entire west coast. More focus would have meant money better spent - must have been good business for the manufacturers of road signage though!! Just hope it's better quality that some installed for the cycle ways near Nenagh, illegible after just a few years.

The longest signposted walking route in Ireland is the Irish part of the E8, I think: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E8_European_long_distance_path - essentially Dublin to Beara & Dursey Island. The O'Sullivan Bere route is also long but nobody seems to know exactly where it goes, it's a moveable feast in places

I think it's complete nonsense, money thrown at a ridiculous project, a real civil servant with a brainfart exercise. Here in a South Kerry, you see Atlantic Way signs before Ring of Kerry signs now, sheer madness.

duckysauce

Deleted User wrote: »

I think it's complete nonsense, money thrown at a ridiculous project, a real civil servant with a brainfart exercise. Here in a South Kerry, you see Atlantic Way signs before Ring of Kerry signs now, sheer madness.

+1000000000000000000000000000

There is no way anyone could do this in a week never mind 2 months. The monkeys are getting paid too much , to come up with rubbish like this.

aloyisious

duckysauce wrote: »

+1000000000000000000000000000

There is no way anyone could do this in a week never mind 2 months. The monkeys are getting paid too much , to come up with rubbish like this.

The latest in ten-year state plans, resurrected from the famine-workshop era. Lowers the unemployment levels, maybe even get EU funding

sheesh

It is trying to copy the Norwegian road along their west coast

bermo

sheesh wrote: »

It is trying to copy the Norwegian road along their west coast

Yeah. But they only designate scenic coastal routes fit for touring as tourist routes, most are 30km long or so. Altogether they add up to 800km. So, at 2,500 km our one must be 3 times as good. Let's face it, the Wild Atlantic Way means close to zero.

bermo

There is a stretch from Kinvarra through Oranmore and Galway City to Salthill, 30 km long. It could take you over an hour to drive that. None of that stretch is coastal. it's commuter roads and roundabouts. The only thing wild about it would be the anger and frustration of rush hour commuters.

_Brian

But in reality this is a branding exercise. It creates a package along which we tag on specific scenic or sites of interest.
The idea is to generate a must see must travel mythical route that through tourists boasting about it to their rich friends it becomes more than it actually is. Rich Americans go home showing their other rich friends the highlights and in their minds eye the whole 2500kms looks as spectacular as te cliffs of Mohar, in turn these return and rather than say tey were wrong they embilish the story further. Bit like the Route 66 in the States sort of thing.

I doubt Americans living along Route 66 think much of it but that doesn't stop hoards of people flocking there to strike it off their bucket list.

Branding, plane and simple, and if done right it's a very profitable business. I can see te Atlantic way being somewhat successful, the farce along the easy coast will always be the poor relation.

bermo

Route 66 is a cultural icon, it was created by writers and poets. It is very hard to make something more than it actually is. If it was easy we'd be all doing it.

_Brian

bermo wrote: »

Route 66 is a cultural icon, it was created by writers and poets. It is very hard to make something more than it actually is. If it was easy we'd be all doing it.

I complety agree, but the Atlantic Way is the same, Route 66 had no real meaning, but it was seen to have potential and became a marketing tool, the idea was expanded, polished up and sold on wrapped up in stories of James Dean and the like.
This shyte works, people will buy in.

bermo

_Brian wrote: »

I complety agree, but the Atlantic Way is the same, Route 66 had no real meaning, but it was seen to have potential and became a marketing tool, the idea was expanded, polished up and sold on wrapped up in stories of James Dean and the like.
This shyte works, people will buy in.

But who saw Route 66 as having potential? It was poets and writers, not civil servants. It's like the difference between falling in love and an arranged marriage.

BarryD

_Brian wrote: »

I complety agree, but the Atlantic Way is the same, Route 66 had no real meaning, but it was seen to have potential and became a marketing tool, the idea was expanded, polished up and sold on wrapped up in stories of James Dean and the like. This shyte works, people will buy in.

True to an extent, but in reality visitors have been coming to Ireland and heading Wesht for many decades and even centuries (if you go by 19th century travel writings). But go back even 40-50 years and Germans etc. have been hitting Connemara.

So really all the 'Wild Atlantic Way' has done is repackage the idea. Probably worthwhile and definitely so, I'd guess, for the manufacturers and installers of road signage

hmmm

It's been a great idea, you can see that it's already catching on with tourists. Hopefully it will get tourists visiting some of the lesser visited spots (anywhere North of Dingle essentially). It's just a pity we couldn't have a real "way" to match it, i.e. a cycling/hiking route traversing the West coast.

Alun

hmmm wrote: »

It's been a great idea, you can see that it's already catching on with tourists. Hopefully it will get tourists visiting some of the lesser visited spots (anywhere North of Dingle essentially). It's just a pity we couldn't have a real "way" to match it, i.e. a cycling/hiking route traversing the West coast.

Yes, it's often the case that things that appear to be a bit of a waste of money or just a bit naff to those that live here, are actually a hit with the people that matter, i.e the tourists that come here and spend money. What you or I think of it all comes in second place.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I think it's complete nonsense, money thrown at a ridiculous project, a real civil servant with a brainfart exercise. Here in a South Kerry, you see Atlantic Way signs before Ring of Kerry signs now, sheer madness.

Oooooops.

I was wrong in something else once too. I thought Kerry had wrapped up the All Ireland against Dublin a few years back and started texting friends the "where will we go drinking" message. Oh and I thought Southampton would be relegated from the EPL this season.

I just wish this thread wasn't bumped. I knew I had criticised it somewhere! It actually seems to have turned out pretty successfully.

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

I was wrong in something else once too.

Being wrong twice in over 40 years is not bad going

sheesh

Deleted User wrote: »

Oooooops.

I was wrong in something else once too. I thought Kerry had wrapped up the All Ireland against Dublin a few years back and started texting friends the "where will we go drinking" message. Oh and I thought Southampton would be relegated from the EPL this season.

I just wish this thread wasn't bumped. I knew I had criticised it somewhere! It actually seems to have turned out pretty successfully.

Same here, I too would like to acknowledge I was wrong about the wild atlantic way.

Pat Mustard

Yep. Like many others, I had also thought that the Wild Atlantic Way campaign was a waste of money, at first.

Looks like a success though.