Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Failte Ireland report on the Mayo Greenway
Options
Comments
-
-
-
-
Interceptor wrote: »If I had one gripe (only one?) it was that there was no car parking at the Wesport end and since I couldn't trust the kids to cycle out from Westport on the main road I had to ask a resident if I could use their driveway. They whined about inconsiderate cyclists blocking the place with cars but let me park. Would it have killed anyone to provide (paid?) parking?
It's true that the lack of parking is a big flaw, especially given that there is a large plot of land belonging to a developer in the immediate vicinity which ain't going to be developed any time soon - it would make a lot of sense for the local authority to lease space there and it shouldn't cost much.
Don't say I told you, but the Teagasc centre at the junction of the Newport road with the side road leading to the Westport end of the Greenway (about 400m away) has a decent sized car park, which is empty at weekends.
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
It's true that the lack of parking is a big flaw, especially given that there is a large plot of land belonging to a developer in the immediate vicinity which ain't going to be developed any time soon - it would make a lot of sense for the local authority to lease space there and it shouldn't cost much.
Don't say I told you, but the Teagasc centre at the junction of the Newport road with the side road leading to the Westport end of the Greenway (about 400m away) has a decent sized car park, which is empty at weekends.
Hey,
If you drive down the side road 500/600yrds past the teagasc Center there is a carpark at the school that is open to public,also there is a new play ground for the kids to play while you load up the bikes on the car,It looks like it's for the school but it's a public carpark,this is useful if other car park is full,there is a portoloo (small blue hut White hut) on the left on way down from Westport to Newport,I don't know how clean it is but I think it's for public use,It's about 1 or 1-1/2 k from Westport,
Zip,0 -
Just did Westport to Newport after getting the train down from Dublin.
Pretty impressed with it, not hugely fit so the trek up to where it begins was a bit tough. Once I got on the trail it was pretty easy going, a few hills but nothing major. All the gates were open, and saw some lambs so I was happy! Then came to the detour:
The detour is on v. quiet backroads but a few steep hills are involved, it was my first time on the bike in about a year (that's my excuse) so was a bit tough at this point. Then you get back to the other end of the road works, this pic is looking back towards Westport:
And this small section of N59 is leading into Newport, the hard shoulder can be seen in the distance.
Anyway, much better than using the N59. Gonna try out the Mulranny section on Saturday or Sunday.
0 -
more suitable for a mtb or a hybrid imho but others have said they have done it on a roadbike
perhaps hire one
they dont appear too expensive
http://www.clewbayoutdoors.ie/content/bicycle_rental/
dont forget your camera(stupid me)
hope the weather stays fine as it was fairly blowing when i done it(just added to the enjoyment anyway)
let us know how you get on
I brought the camera, should have brought an MTB. I had Gatorskins on my own bike but my girlfriend had a set of regular Kendas and ended up with four punctures. We eventually ran out of patches and will and had to resort to me cycling back to get the car and picking her up.
Have rented from Clew Bay Outdoors before and will probably rent there the next time we're down, won't be bringing the road bikes again. Also, the Westport Bike Shop, near the start of the Greenway do bike rentals, haven't rented from them but they sorted our first puncture of the day.
At least we got some nice pics
0 -
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
If this is what a crap cycleway can do imagine what might happen if we built some good ones. What would happen if we built a long cycleway through some great Irish landscape and it had no cattle grids, kissing gates, gates you had to get off and open, and it stayed open on the 20th of January (the Greenway closes on that day every year to ensure a right of way is not established).
Going back to the OP. [FYI I have read all or almost all of the the posts so far and I know you have rolled back from the 'crap' comment.] I would however point out, because I don't think anyone has already, that the Greenway is a "trail" not a cycleway. It was designed to be a trail and is marketed as a dual purpose walking and cycling trail. May I further point our that walking always precedes cycling in the description of this trial.
I don't recall ever, until reading this post, seeing it referred to as a cycleway. Even the report which prompted the clonmahon to start the tread does not use the term Cycleway (although I stand to be corrected on that as I only glanced through it.) IMO comparing it to a Cycleway, as described by clonmahon, is like comparing apples and oranges. Furthermore, I find it grossly unfair to criticise it for not being a world class cycleway when it was never designed or intended to be a cycleway.
As a trail it has been very successful and a great boost to the local economy but that doesn't necessarily make it a good economic case study for a purpose built cycleway. As some others have commented a cycleway would be substantially more expensive to build and may not appeal to such a broad spectrum of users as the Greenway. Thus on both cost and payback sides a cycleway would present a whole different set of economic variables.
I am with you clonmahon I would love to see cycleways developed in Ireland. And indeed more cycling trails such as the Greenway, there is certainly scope for both. However, I for one think developing the Great Western Greenway as a trail was the appropriate thing to do in this case. The missed opportunity for cycleways in this country was when we built and upgraded so many roads during the last 20 years. Everyone of them should have had a cycleway built alongside such as is the case in the video that clonmahon linked to. The only place that I know of where this was done was on a short stretch of the Clifden to Galway road.
The Greenway is a fabalous trail. I would even go so far as to call it a World Class walking and cycling trail. Visit Mayo, enjoy, and if you find that it gets a little tedious/boring as one poster said (not that I agree) then I would suggest spending another day or two in the Cong-Clonbur woods. IMO these woods offer a truly superb network of off-road family orientated walking and cycling trails. 0 -
-
-
Going back to the OP. [FYI I have read all or almost all of the the posts so far and I know you have rolled back from the 'crap' comment.] I would however point out, because I don't think anyone has already, that the Greenway is a "trail" not a cycleway. It was designed to be a trail and is marketed as a dual purpose walking and cycling trail.
This is a rather pedantic argument about the meaning of the words trail and cycleway.May I further point our that walking always precedes cycling in the description of this trial.
No it doesn't on the Greenway website at
http://www.greenway.ie/Trail-AM-01.html
it says "Terrain : Greenway off road cycle and walking trail"I don't recall ever, until reading this post, seeing it referred to as a cycleway. Even the report which prompted the clonmahon to start the tread does not use the term Cycleway (although I stand to be corrected on that as I only glanced through it.)
The Failte Ireland report uses phrase like "cycling and walking facility", "world class off-road cycling and walking route" and "drawing recreational users and visitors, primarily cycling and walking visitors", "Westport and Achill –
where cycle hubs", "a world class cycling and walking route", "to permit the public to cycle or walk through"
Every time the report uses the words cycling and walking, cycling comes first. Clearly the marketing people think cycling is the Greenway's unique selling point.
How about this "cycling was much more popular among the visitor markets, with over 90% of domestic visitors and nearly 80% of overseas visitors participating in cycling as either a sole activity or in combination with walking"
The report says that 51.0% use it for cycling only, 30.2% walking only and 18.8% for both.IMO comparing it to a Cycleway, as described by clonmahon, is like comparing apples and oranges. Furthermore, I find it grossly unfair to criticise it for not being a world class cycleway when it was never designed or intended to be a cycleway.
From the website again
http://www.greenway.ie/Greenway-01.html
"The World Class Great Western Greenway is a traffic free cycling and walking trail"
As Smacl pointed out Ireland has many great walking trails, the Great Western Greenway is unique because you can cycle it on something other than a mountain bike. I cycled the Greenway and I made my judgement as a cyclist not a walker.As a trail it has been very successful and a great boost to the local economy but that doesn't necessarily make it a good economic case study for a purpose built cycleway.
the Failte Ireland report say that more visitors from outside Mayo cycled the trail than walked it. If you read the report it makes an excellent "economic case study" for the positive and dramatic economic impact of cycle trails.
There is also lots of international experience from places like the Central Otago Rail Trail in New Zealand, 150 km gravel trail on an old railway line. Used by about 14,000 cycle tourists a year. It generates 12 million dollars for the local economy and is described by one local farmer as the biggest thing in the region since the Gold Rush.
The economic case for building long range cycle trails is very strong indeed.As some others have commented a cycleway would be substantially more expensive to build and may not appeal to such a broad spectrum of users as the Greenway. Thus on both cost and payback sides a cycleway would present a whole different set of economic variables.
Why would it cost more to build a cycle trail than a cycle and walking trail. Why would a cycle trail that was suitable for all kinds of bikes and for walking not appeal to as "broad a spectrum of users" as a trail that is not suitable for fully loaded touring bikes, trikes, or tandems.I am with you clonmahon I would love to see cycleways developed in Ireland. And indeed more cycling trails such as the Greenway, there is certainly scope for both.
Agreed
I made exactly this point earlier in the thread, the people in Mayo done an excellent pioneering job and made the best they could of the circumstances and opportunity available to them.However, I for one think developing the Great Western Greenway as a trail was the appropriate thing to do in this case.The missed opportunity for cycleways in this country was when we built and upgraded so many roads during the last 20 years. Everyone of them should have had a cycleway built alongside such as is the case in the video that clonmahon linked to. The only place that I know of where this was done was on a short stretch of the Clifden to Galway road.
AgreedThe Greenway is a fabalous trail. I would even go so far as to call it a World Class walking and cycling trail.
The Greenway is the best cycling trail we have in the state, but can we learn from it and build the next one even better, I think we can. We will not do this however if we insist that the Greenway is beyond criticism.
Is cycling the Greenway a great experience yes, the scenery is wonderful, Mayo people are friendly, no cars is heaven. Is it perfect and beyond any possibility of improvement, I don't think so. But these are only my opinions as someone who likes long distance cycle touring and found the Greenway less than perfect for use with a loaded touring bike.
The key point I was making when I started this thread was that the Greenway proves that a lot of cycle trail can be built for quite small money, that they can give big economic returns very quickly and that our beautiful island and friendly people make this is very suitable place to build lots more of them. Nothing I have see or heard on this thread or anywhere else since then has changed my mind on this.0 -
-
-
Advertisement