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Chapter 1: What is the significance of greenways for cycling in Ireland?
President of Cycling Ireland and former Fine Gael TD, Ciarán Cannon, good afternoon.
Good afternoon, Brendan, to you and your listeners.
So Ciarán has promised that the last time we talked about European greenways, you're going to give us a guide to Irish greenways today. I think you're, are you on a greenway in France right now, yeah?
Brendan, will you ring me once a month from now on? Because every time you call me, I'm on a greenway in France.
You're having a grand life. So paint the picture. Where are you today? Now, what bucolic scene is in front of you?
Oh, I'm in beautiful southeastern France, just south of Perpignan, almost on the Spanish border, about 10 kilometers from the Spanish border. There's a greenway here that starts in Gibraltar, finishes in Athens, literally runs as a necklace all around the Mediterranean.
i've been on sections of that today and this is an area part of france very well served anyway by greenways connecting up all of the towns and villages here in the in the rusa on the eastern pyrenees where the kind of the pyrenees tumble down into the mediterranean so but as i say brandon you must miss politics terribly you'd prefer to spend your week arguing about the the uh maternity services and uh onish alumina
OK, so listen, Ireland now has, people might be surprised by this, 750 kilometres of greenways of our own and Ireland just as beautiful as France and the Pyrenees and everything. People are really taken to the greenways here, aren't they?
They certainly are, Brendan. And as I say, you know, 750 kilometres of greenway in Ireland right now. Incidentally, a book just published a couple of months ago, Greenways of Ireland, published by two extraordinary researchers, Richard Manton and David Flanagan. You can find that on threerockbooks.com. I've no interest in it.
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Chapter 2: How many kilometers of greenways are there in Ireland?
And just that gaggle of noise and laughter and fun. And because their parents could trust that while they were on that, the only thing they were going to encounter was other bicycles and it's perfectly safe. So it's a real, I think, you know, anybody who brings their children.
Is it reasonably flat as well?
It's completely flat. Okay. Yeah. But de facto, it's built on an old rail line, so by definition, it's flat. And actually, there's a little section there of what they call the Sewer Valley Railway, where they have an old railway carriage converted into a cafe, and children can go and get a sense of what one of those carriages looked like 50 or 100 years ago.
Um, it's just a place where you can relax, know that it's safe and everybody, I suppose, kind of finishes the day wanting to do it all over again. That's the sense that I got from the families that were on that route that day and from all the families I've spoken to.
The picture in my head now is absolutely idyllic, but I am picturing it when it's not raining and the sun is out. Okay. What about a romantic getaway for a couple then? What would be a good greenway for that?
Ah,
For that, Brendan, I think we have to head west to the original. And I would still argue the best. I'm somewhat biased in that. But the great Western Greenway in County Mayo is just stunning. You've Clew Bay on one side, you've Crowpatrick.
Where are you starting?
You're starting, what I would suggest, OK, it starts in Westport. It finishes on Ackle, beautiful Ackle Island. But my advice, if you are perhaps going to pop that fundamental question at some point in the near future... would be go to Mulroney, because there's a beautiful hotel there, the Mulroney Park Hotel. It overlooks Mulroney Bay. It's an extraordinary strand there.
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