Walking routes initiative aims to attract four million visitors...

TOURISM leaders hope to attract nearly four million extra visitors to Ireland over the coming years by upgrading walking routes and rolling out special facilities for hikers.

The Walkers Welcome initiative is signing up 150 businesses who will adapt their shops, accommodation and facilities for walkers, particularly those travelling from abroad. Walking in Ireland attracts some of the largest numbers of visitors each year, with more than 517,000 overseas visitors taking part in walking activities here in 2008.

Under the plans, local communities have signed up to guarantee regular maintenance and upkeep of local walks. These will include developing forest tracks and shorter looped off-road walks. The majority of walking visitors to Ireland seek looped walks of up to four hours with good scenery, says Fáilte Ireland. By the end of 2009, more than 130 looped walks in 26 counties will be completed, with trails off to facilities such as car parks, map boards and picnic areas, under the plans. Fáilte Ireland says it is providing expertise and materials to upgrade trails and walks free of charge to communities. Other parts of the initiative will include putting up mapboards and signage, identifying Walkers Welcome-approved accommodation and arranging friendly services in shops and pubs such as packed lunches and spaces for walking boots and gear. Up to 11 rural recreation officers have been appointed with responsibility for rolling out the walks in their areas in conjunction with community leaders.


Five areas and popular walking regions have signed up to help perfect popular hiking spots, including: the Burren, Co Clare; Donegal town and surrounding areas; Tinahely, Co Wicklow; The Slieve Blooms, Co Laois and Offaly; and the Glen of Aherlow, Co Tipperary.


According to Fáilte Ireland, there are potentially more than one million British residents who would get involved in walking here in the next three years. This is followed by 900,000 German visitors, 800,000 visitors from the US and 700,000 from the Netherlands...........Irish Examiner, Aug 2009

RTE Programme...Doctors in the Death Zone Pt.2

The 2nd and final part in the BBC Horizon programme 'Doctors in the Death Zone' was shown on RTE television on the 3rd of June 2009.

It follows a group of doctors on Everest as they examine what effect the high altitude has on their bodies as well as showing some footage of the final ascent on the world's highest peak.

The 50 minute programme can be seen at the following link until Wednesday, the 10th of June.

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1049417

.......John Desmond, BHC Webmaster

BHC members compete in the Cork City Marathon Relay...

Well to the BHC team consisting of Sean Cotter, Chris Carroll, Patricia Broderick, John J Cotter and Noel Tobin who ran in the Cork City Marathon Relay event on Bank Holiday Monday, the 1st of June. Running under the team name 'BHC Walkaholics', they completed the 26.2 mile course in an impressive time of 3 hours 35 minutes in very warm and tough conditions. They also finished in a very credible 143rd position out of 1139 relay teams.

...............John Desmond

RTE Programme...Doctors in the Death zone

The BBC Horizon programme 'Doctors in the Death Zone' was shown on RTE television on the 20th of May 2009.

It follows a group of doctors on Everest as they examine what effect the high altitude has on their bodies.

The 50 minute programme can be seen at the following link until Wednesday, the 21st of May.

http://www.rte.ie/player/#v=1048320

.......John Desmond

BBC News...Danger on South America's highest peak

"Jolting along a mountain path in a park-keeper's jeep in Argentina's Mendoza State, we are surrounded by a series of beautiful, dry sand-coloured mountain ranges.
Pinks and violets, greens and blues emerge from the shadows in the landscape around us.
We've come to see South America's highest mountain, Aconcagua, in the park of the same name, which lies just ahead up the valley in full sunlight, its summit wreathed in snow.
The mountain, in the Andean range not far from the Chilean border, hit the headlines back in January..........for the full story, visit the BBC News website. "

John Desmond..........BHC webmaster

Fermoy - Mitchelstown motorway to open late May 2009

This snippet of news was found online. It would seem as if the new section of road between Fermoy and Mitchelstown should open 10 months ahead of schedule. It should reduce the travel times from Cork City to the Galtee and Knockmealdown mountains...

Thursday May 07 2009
THE target date for the opening of the €70 million M8 Fermoy-Mitchelstown motorway has been set for May 25, fully ten months ahead of schedule.
Work on the 16km stretch of motorway linking the two towns began in December 2007, with an original completion target date of March 2010.
However, Cork County Council has confirmed to The Corkman that the road is now likely to open within the next few weeks.
"We have a May 25 target date for the official opening of the road and all going well we are in line to meet that deadline," said the spokesman.
"It is worth noting however that this is not as yet set in stone. There are a number of imponderables that could delay this slightly, for example the weather. However, the May 25 date would not be too far wide of the mark," he added.
The new road will link up with the existing M8 Fermoy bypass at Moorepark and run parallel to the existing N8 to the Carrigane junction approximately five miles to the north of Mitchelstown. Here it will link up with the Mitchelstown-Cashel dual carriageway, which was opened to traffic in July of last year.
Since work began on the Fermoy-Mitchelstown stretch more than 2.5 million tones of soil have been removed along the route and at one stage more than 250 people were employed on the road.
The work has seen the construction of seven road bridges and three river crossings along the 16km route.
The new road is part of an ambitious 275 km interurban motorway linking Cork to Dublin. The final piece of that jigsaw is due to fall into place next year with the opening of the Cullahill to Portlaoise dual carriageway.
It is anticipated that, when fully operational, the urban motorway link will cut journey times between Cork and Dublin by up to an hour.
- BILL BROWNE

- CorkMan Newspaper.

Concerns about Carrauntoohil route...

From the Kerry Mountain Rescue Website...(May 2009)
Concerns have been raised about about the current condition of the Devil's Ladder. Recent rains have caused some movement of rocks and scree in the gully and there are a number of significant sized rocks which appear to be a little unstable at present, particularly in the upper section. Extreme caution should therefore be exercised on the Devil's Ladder at the present time. Whilst many people are still using the route safely, some have suggested using alternative routes as a safer option.
In addition a similar situation exists on the 'Heavenly Gates' track, where a large rock has tumbled to a precarious position at the top of the steepest section of the track at the Heavenly Gates itself. Extreme caution should also be exercised here as it would appear to be only a matter of time before there is further movement and this rock will certainly tumble down the track itself.

.....John Desmond, BHC

Sierra nevada mountains Andalucia 2008

Club trip to Southern Spain in April 2008. Picture shows the start of a walk to top of Mulhacen 3485m. Tha walk was 25km long, ascended 1400m and took 7 hours - excellent walking given the difficult snow conditions especially at the summit with drifts of 6 to 8 feet. Further photos of the complete trip may be viewed on Flickr on the following ......gallery (click here)

......Michael Carey

Carrauntoohil via the Devil's Ladder...

I came across this well made video clip on YouTube and it shows a winter ascent of Carrauntoohil via the Devil's Ladder. While BHC do not usually use this route, it is still of interest.

.......John Desmond

First post to the new club blog...

This new blog has just been started and it's purpose is to replace the old BHC News page that used to exist before. Updating that page was a very time consuming process and it should be a lot easier now with this blog.

If any club members come accross any items of news that they may think would be of interest to other members then why not share it? You can find my e-mail address on the following webpage......http://homepage.eircom.net/~bishopstownohc/contact.html

John Desmond............BHC Webmaster