What If.

I have posted various articles about Northern Ireland’s potential as an activity tourist destination. Now I think the time is right to start to look at the specifics, particularly a deep dive into the potential of those regions which have all the right ingredients to turn them into outdoor activity meccas. You know the type of place I’m talking about, those areas blessed with fabulous scenery combined with the infrastructure to take advantage should we ever get it together and start to fully exploit the untapped potential literally staring everyone in the face.

There probably won’t be any surprises here. Northern Ireland is a small place, yet contains an amazing variety of scenery. Certain audience sectors of the tourism market are already pretty well catered for, so most of the places I’ll look at will already have fairly well developed tourism infrastructure, at least by Northern Ireland standards; there is no comparison to be made with wider UK, Ireland, or European tourism. What will become apparent, however, is that the outdoor activity sector is by and large mainly untapped, and that its growth is being resolutely strangled and curtailed by poor access legislation.  It will become obvious that, with a bit of imagination and political courage/will, the economic and social benefits payoff to 'cutting away the red tape', so to speak, could be huge.

We’ll take each area in turn, and centre analysis round the key ‘gateway’ towns and villages. For example, think about the English Lake District. Ok, a big area and the ultimate example of how countryside access is completely intertwined with the local economy. Now what are the key ‘gateway’ destinations in this area; those places with shops, accommodation, services etc. which can cater for large number of tourists. Effectively, what are the main hubs in this area which people flock to, even if their main goal is to enjoy a weekend or a week of walking, canoeing, or mountain biking? It is an easy answer if you know the area - Keswick, Ambleside, Windermere-Bowness, Coniston, Hawkshead. You get the idea.

Except in Northern Irish terms, no area is as well developed as the Lake District. There are multiple reasons why this should be, but the biggest is single fact that the countryside of the Lake District is accessible in a way that no part of Northern Ireland currently is. Its whole economy is built on the bedrock of accessibility, catering for a wide variety of differing markets; mountaineers who want to climb the highest peaks, hill walkers who want to walk across the hills for most of the day, to families and pensioners who are happy wandering a wood, strolling around a lake, or rambling a river bank path.

Some of the gateway areas might seem obvious, but others are less so due to a number of reasons, but mainly due to a lamentable lack of countryside access locally, combined with a failure to recognise potential and subsequently develop and exploit it.

The main areas I will look at over a long series of articles are as follows:

North Antrim Coast and Glens

Strangford and Ards Peninsula

The Mournes and Slieve Croob

Fermanagh Lakelands

The Sperrins and Binevenagh

Lough Neagh and The River Bann

There is a fairly eclectic mix of landscape represented across these six regions. Some are doing better than others when it comes to activity tourism. We can look at why this is so (clue, might have something to do with the amount of formally accessible countryside). The last area listed, Lough Neagh and the Bann, isn’t a region as such I suppose, given that the Bann flows for 90 miles north though the centre of Northern Ireland, but it seemed a natural fit to group them together for what I hope are fairly obvious reasons.

Greenway Dash

While the countryside legislation situation in the Rep of Ireland remains stubbornly in stasis, the last couple of years have seen an absolute explosion in the development or proposed development of 'greenways' across the country. This is very welcome and reflects a growing understanding, especially in rural communities, of the benefits which are to be had from great countryside access, for both walker and cyclists. The noted (if, at least to this observer, entirely predictable) success of the Great Western Greenway in County Mayo has caused the country to sit up and take notice it would seem.

While greenways in themselves are not an alternative to wider countryside access, they can form another step in the continuing development of the countryside access situation in the Republic of Ireland. It also paints the tantalising prospect of an Ireland whereby local people are facilitated to travel much more by bike and on foot between towns and villages, leading to much reduced carbon emissions and a healthier population as well. The social benefits are almost endless.


A number of projects are now coming together, and in a surprisingly short period of time. A quick google search quickly reveals how many greenways are already underway.

http://www.deisegreenway.com
http://www.galwaytodublincycleway.ie/
http://candlgreenway.ie/
http://www.southerntrail.net/
http://www.irishgreenways.com/


Of course such progress across practically all parts of the country has met some pockets of resistance. The Irish Farmers Association continues to be predictably resistant to any initiative that seeks to open up the countryside to recreational users, and the rise of the greenway has drawn their ire in particular. Still a formidably powerful political force, they have managed to throw a spanner in the works of the Dublin to Galway project for instance.

Still, one gets the impression that they are very much fighting against the tide of history and that they are losing the argument with the general public. As speaker after speaker stands up in the Dail to demand that funding is made available for such greenways in their part of the country, it is only because they are being heavily lobbied by their constituents.

Coastal Path Proposal - Kilkeel to Ballyhalbert

I picked this little article up in the local paper, and it certainly piqued my interest. Ambitious in scope, the project proposes a continuous coastal path from Kilkeel to Ballyhalbert. The idea is a good one, obviously inspired by the coastal path projects going on across the water in Scotland, Wales, and now England. The problems it faces are, however, depressingly familiar and stem from the fact that our countryside access laws are not fit for purpose. The economic benefits of countryside access are a large part of why proposals such as these come to light in the first place, but unless our politicians in Stormont actually reform the legislative framework in a progressive manner, bringing us into line with the rest of the UK, then such initiatives may fail because of resistance from landowners with a misplaced fear of allowing recreational users onto their land.

Another issue is that, while called the 'Mourne and Strangford Lough Coastal Walking Path', the project actually chooses to mostly ignore the potential offered by the coastline of Strangford Lough, and instead routes itself along the eastern coastline of the Ards. Parts of this coastline are of course very scenic, especially that part running from Portaferry to Kearney. However, the Strangford Lough coastline, in my humble opinion, is overall a more scenic area and offers the prospect of a truly world class multi-day long-distance path. But perhaps it's a case of one step at a time! If this proposal can be realised and is successful, then the case for other coastal paths is much more easily made.

Mount Stewart

It was great to hear this week that the National Trust has acquired the whole of the Mount Stewart Estate. They previously only owned the house and gardens, and it has always been somewhat frustrating as a regular visitor that the rest of the estate was essentially 'out of bounds' to mere oiks such as myself.

With this near one thousand acre procurement, the Trust will be able to create a beacon of countryside access on the Ards Peninsula. Indeed, those pieces of coast or countryside on the Ards which are accessible tend to be owned and managed by the National Trust, such as Kearney, Nugents Wood,or Ballyquentin Farm.

Up to now, barring those mentioned above, the Ards has been an area severely lacking in countryside access opportunities. This has meant it has a relatively under-developed tourism economy. Visitors tend to drive the coast road to Mount Stewart, carry on to Portaferry and then get the ferry to Strangford. As with much of Northern Ireland, the area has loads of potential, but local politicians have little vision. The result is a rural economy which has badly stagnated.
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Offas Dyke

It's been a few weeks since we returned from walking Offa's Dyke Path. It was a great holiday, and one of the best long distant paths we've walked to date. We got lucky with the weather, no doubt about that. This allowed us to enjoy this stunning walk at its finest.

Straddling the Welsh/English border, the ODP is around 177 miles long, running from Chepstow in the south to Prestatyn in the north. It was everything we hoped it would be and more, a great trail in every sense. There were so many highlights: walking high above the Wye Valley, striding across the Black Mountains, the mythical landscape of Hergest Ridge, Powis Castle, and on it goes: brilliant!

The holiday also confirmed once again that which seems obvious to all but our local politicians and farming community - that countryside access is of massive benefit to rural communities. It was very apparent that a lot of people rely on the business generated by the ODP, thereby ensuring that isolated rural communities have a chance to survive if not indeed thrive. The Offa's Dyke Path is like a giant artery pumping lifeblood into the communities it passes through, having a very real and positive impact on people's lives.

Prime Time Debate

The recent debate on countryside access on the RTE current affairs programme Prime Time shed rather more heat than light on the issue. While predictably disappointing it was still very encouraging that it took place at all. It surely reflects the fact that as an issue, countryside access is rising up the political agenda in the Republic of Ireland.

Memo to KIO: stay positive and don't allow yourselves to be painted as some appallingly radical group. As this programme showed, some landowners/farmers like to portray themselves as the victims, and there is a risk that those proposing progressive and sensible access reforms for the benefit of all, come across as urban bully boys who want nothing but to trample all over crops, damage fences and walk through farmhouse kitchens (while sacrificing their first born to boot). I'm not saying this happened here, but you get my drift...

Define what access actually means and then keep the message simple. After that hit the 3 main points:

1 Countryside access legislation does not mean the end of days and works perfectly well the world over. Rights of private landowners cannot trump wider society requirements and landowners are well compensated by the taxpayer via EU grants.

2 Countryside access legislation will fully unlock the potential of the countryside. It will bring massive economic benefits to local rural economy, something which will allow local people to get better jobs and give them an opportunity to live in the area they were brought up in. Farmers sons and daughters will be among those to benefit.

3 Countryside access will be of massive benefit to local communities, giving people access to their own  as it reduces car usage , allows rural people, including children, to walk safely between destinations, and improves health outcomes - which again leads to savings for society in terms of coping with obesity and associated illness etc.

Also, keep lots of stats and examples handy to backup the argument.

A powerful ally?

It was good to see the Belfast Telegraph giving countryside access issues a bit of coverage. First it covered the welcome ruling by the court to force a landowner to open the King John's Highway in Holywood County Down.

Next it covered another piece of good news on the local countryside access front.

Finally it had a more general piece on the poor countryside access legislation Northern Ireland is currently lumbered with. Once again, kudos goes to Ulster Federation of Rambling Clubs.

This could indicate a growing interest by the press in this issue . The Telegraph has a long history of campaigning on progressive issues, and it would be a powerful ally in any campaign to pressurise our politicians into reshaping our countryside access laws for the better.