This article is from page 29 of the 2007-08-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 29 JPG
THE O’Briensbridge/Clonlara Com- munity Group is launching the newly developed Loop Walks, which link the two areas, as part of the Heritage Council’s heritage week events.
The routes will be officially opened with an introduction walk to view and experience the new heritage amenity walkway on Saturday, Sep- tember | at 11.30am.
Walkers are invited to start at the Riverside Park in the village on the banks of the Shannon where the trailhead and map board are located and where the loop walks start and nUONI OR
The walks cover an overall dis-
tance of 16 km and are made up of three loops (red, blue and green) each of which can be walked as sep- arate routes or as shorter distances. The red loop, which follows the Old Barge Way is 12km, the blue loop along the Errina Canal loop is 7km and the Parteen Weir loop is 5km.
“This walkway is most unique for a number of reasons including, it does not use public roads, it’s on land which is under public owner- ship and does not infringe on private land,” said Group Chairman, Mick Murtagh.
“Its location is all along waterways and for most of the time is out of ear- shot to the hustle and bustle of mod- ern living. It connects two rural vil-
lages, O’Briensbridge and Clonlara, without touching on a public road.
The red loop (Old Barge Way) is an elevated walkway which starts in the village of O’Briensbridge and runs downstream along the bank of the River Shannon and the Errina Canal to the village of Clonlara.
Walkers cross over seven 17th cen- tury quaint heritage stone bridges or archways which have all been re- stored. On the way is the now der- elict lockkeeper’s house alongside Ireland’s only treble lock.
The Loop Walks have been devel- oped by The O’Briensbridge/Clon- lara Community Group in asso- ciation with Shannon Development, Waterways Ireland, and Clare Coun-
ty Council and with assistance from, the Heritage Council, Leader Group and the ESB; other bodies like the Shannon Fisheries Board and Road- stone have also provided funding for the project
The walks are part of the Shannon Regional Trails Programme which were launched earlier this year by Shannon Development and are a Shannon Development initiative.
The development of these loop walks have also allowed the Lough Derg Way to be re-routed through the villages of O’Briensbridge and Clonlara. The loops are also marked as approved high grade loop walks under the Failte Ireland Looped Walks initiative.