Bid to include Western Way in International Appalachian Trail

EARLY steps are being taken to integrate the Western Way trail, which runs through Mayo and Galway, into the International Appalachian Trail.

The International Appalachian Trail, which starts in the United States, is one of the world’s largest trail networks, travelling into Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland and Northern Ireland before moving into Scotland, Norway, England, Wales, Spain and Portugal.

The route follows the single mountain range that once spanned thousands of miles on the super-continent Pangaea prior to the formation of the Atlantic Ocean around 175 million years ago.

Now, the Joyce Country and Western Lakes Geopark, which straddles Mayo and Galway, has been awarded funding for a project to develop a geotrail on the Mám Éan section of the Western Way in Conemara which links the Maam and Inagh valleys.

The geological setting, in particular the Dalradian rock exposures over the Maumturk range, will act as a focus point towards possible future integration of the Western Way in the International Appalachian Trail.

The new geotrail, to be delivered next summer, will broaden the awareness and appeal of geology, complement new geopark signage, and strengthen the geological connections to North America, Greenland, Scotland and Norway for the local communities.

A new Ulster phase of the International Appalachian Trail has just been launched, indicating the great potential such a partnership can have.

Integration of the 200-kilometre Western Way into the International Appalachian Trail would be a major boost for tourism in Mayo and Galway.

The Western Way trail offers spectacular scenery from Oughterard in Co. Galway all the way to north Mayo, taking in Maum, the Inagh valley, Killary Harbour, Leenane, Croagh Patrick, Westport, Newport, the Nephin Mountains, and on to Ballycastle and along the coastline through Killala to Ballina and Bonniconlon.