OPINION (AN COLÚN): Cycling the Greenways of Ireland

The ever-increasing rise in the popularity of Greenways in Ireland has been a lovely thing to see. As most people know, they are trails built to be used solely by cyclists and walkers, and they are traffic-free routes.
The traffic-free element is an essential part of their success, because it makes them safer and less noisy than normal roads.
Greenways follow rivers, canal towpaths and old railway lines. I've cycled the four routes which follow former railway lines. They include the Athlone to Mullingar route, which is called the “Old Rail Trail”. I cycled the Old Rail Trail on my 70 year old high nellie, while wearing a tweed jacket, bow tie and bowler hat. This was delightfully eccentric but unfortunately the high nellie had no gear system and was a brute to cycle. By the end of the 40 kilometre ride I was absolutely exhausted. (I've remedied the problem since then and fitted a five-gear system on the bike. It's now a pleasure to ride).
A few years ago Rosalind and myself spent three days cycling the Waterford Greenway, an experience that we loved. This has excellent scenery, the sea, towns with fascinating history. It was immensely popular as we cycled it, especially with families.
We've cycled the Great Southern Trail, which opened last year and runs from Rathkeale to Abbeyfeale. Limerick is a bit like Offaly in that, in scenic terms, it's one of the less dramatic counties, which means that a lot of tourists drive straight through heading towards somewhere else (usually the drama of the western seaboard). However, there are strategies which can somewhat reverse this trend. Creating a Greenway in your county is one such strategy. It's working for Limerick because the Great Southern Trail is attracting a lot of visitors. (Here in Offaly we have the excellent Canal Greenway, a lovely route which is currently being upgraded from Tullamore to Daingean. It's been disappointing though to see the attempts to create a Greenway from Birr to Roscrea, following the old rail route, fall through during the last few years. I was told that a couple of landowners were not too keen on the idea, but really this shouldn't be an excuse; because less than enthusiastic landowners have been present with a number of Greenways but that hasn't stopped the projects from going ahead. Where there's a will there's a way; and we shouldn't lose the will, because the end outcome is very desirable and beneficial).
When we cycled the Great Southern, I also took the opportunity to travel down memory lane and visit some treasured spots from my childhood. My grandparents lived near Rathkeale and we regularly visited their farm when I was a child. I remember my grandparents with great affection. I was especially close to my grandfather, who lived until I was 17 and was an important person in the development of my character.
Therefore, after the cycle we drove to the old farm and we also visited a couple of personally important places in Rathkeale.
Recently, Rosalind and myself cycled the Great Western Greenway in Mayo, which runs for 44 kilometres from Westport to Achill Sound. There weren't many people on the route, which wasn't surprising because it was out of season, and the weather was chilly, windy and wet. (We rode for hours against a strong headwind which seemed not far from making us go backwards!) Nonetheless, we loved the ride.
The Great Western Greenway was the very first Greenway in Ireland. It opened in 2010 and became massively popular. The Greenway projects which came afterwards were inspired by that success and hoped to emulate it. (At the time of writing, ten more Greenways are in the pipeline, including an exciting Dublin to Galway route and trails in the Connemara and Clew Bay areas).
We loved the Great Western. I'm not a great fan of making comparisons and saying which is the best, but if push came to shove I would say it's the best Greenway in Ireland. As you cycle there is Croagh Patrick and Clew Bay on one side, while on the other side is the Nephin Beg mountains. The route is excellently maintained (the surface is a mixture of asphalt and dirt track) and there's a lot of fascinating sightseeing in the area (we love visiting historical sites).
One of the things that struck me as we went about our sightseeing was the statue of St Patrick on top of the monument in the Octagon, Westport. A statue of the very wealthy George Clendining once stood on the monument's plinth. (Free State soldiers used it for target practice and shot off its head). In 1990 the local community erected a new statue on the monument, this time of St Patrick. It looks fantastic. As I admired the Westport St Patrick I thought to myself that it would be lovely to see something similar on the Birr monument, perhaps of St Brendan? If they did it in Westport, why can't we?