I walked the short route on the Sunday, from Acres.
It was a great day and a good route, taking us through some lovely country that I hadn't seen before - the area by the Nursery at Lower Keadue was very nice. It was a bit longer than advertised I think, more like 12km but well within the capability of someone reasonably fit and used to walking.
The organisation at the start, at the Community Centre, was good - and the water supplies and bananas et about half way were a great idea.
I liked the idea of having walk leaders commentating on the flora and scenery as we went through - but as the walk progressed and we stragglers fell behind, we missed any commentary that there was. Maybe the pace coudl be slower or there could be pre-arranged stops for commentary? This would not suit the real walkers who like to surge ahead. Maybe a compromise is possible - perhaps with commentators already in position along the route? How do other organisers of walks do it?
All in all, it was a great idea to hold the walking weekend and I hope you continue with it. It is an increasingly important visitor attraction - and a good way of getting fit. Maybe out of it, you could form a Rosses Walking Club which met more regularly, explored other routes - the islands would be popular, Rutland is a great walk for example, nice and flat - Arranmore is a tad harder with that long climb.
Re the point above about the paceof the walk and the commentary along the way - perhaps teh shorter walks could be doen on a stop start basis, ie with stops for people to catch up and hear history, geology, about the flora and fauna etc - leaving the longer walks, the 20km ones for more hard core walkers?
Anyway, well done for the weekend, a significant addition to the calendar, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. We have beautiful scenery for walking - great scope for photographs for the papers and your new website. It was the first time you've held it and there will be lots of learning and improvements for next time like any new initiative.
I walked the short route on the Sunday, from Acres.
It was a great day and a good route, taking us through some lovely country that I hadn't seen before - the area by the Nursery at Lower Keadue was very nice. It was a bit longer than advertised I think, more like 12km but well within the capability of someone reasonably fit and used to walking.
The organisation at the start, at the Community Centre, was good - and the water supplies and bananas et about half way were a great idea.
I liked the idea of having walk leaders commentating on the flora and scenery as we went through - but as the walk progressed and we stragglers fell behind, we missed any commentary that there was. Maybe the pace coudl be
slower or there could be pre-arranged stops for commentary? This would not suit the real walkers who like to surge ahead. Maybe a compromise is possible - perhaps with commentators already in position along the route? How do other organisers of walks do it?
All in all, it was a great idea to hold the walking weekend and I hope you continue with it. It is an increasingly important visitor attraction - and a good way of getting fit. Maybe out of it, you could form a Rosses Walking Club which met more regularly, explored other routes - the islands would be popular, Rutland is a great walk for example, nice and flat - Arranmore is a tad harder with that long climb.
Re the point above about the paceof the walk and the commentary along the way - perhaps
teh shorter walks could be doen on a stop start basis, ie with stops for people to catch up
and hear history, geology, about the flora and fauna etc - leaving the longer walks, the 20km
ones for more hard core walkers?
Anyway, well done for the weekend, a significant addition to the calendar, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves. We have beautiful scenery for walking - great scope for photographs for the papers and your new website. It was the first time you've held it and there will be lots of learning and improvements for next time like any new initiative.
Le meas