It stands in the middle of a waste ground like a glittering Christmas bauble that is found months after the celebrations are over, lying in a dusty corner of the shed somewhere. It cost millions and it is now the biggest visitor attraction in Northern Ireland, surpassing the Giant’s Causeway. It’s Titanic Belfast, sitting pretty in the derelict urban space where industry once thrived. It shines, it sparkles, it grabs the eye. And yet, it looks weirdly out of place.
Long before the words ethical or eco started creeping into the tourism industry’s boardrooms, there was one man who was quietly laying the foundations of fairness in travel. Thomas Arthur Leonard (or TA as he was known) founded HF Holidays in the UK a hundred years ago and it is still one of the leading providers of walking holidays in the UK and Europe. Although TA’s achievements have been relatively uncelebrated to date, the centenary of an organisation which still remains the only UK holiday provider that is a truly co-operative society, gives us a good opportunity to take stock of this pioneering philanthropist’s achievements.
Catherine donning D1, before her son pinches it from her
We Irish have to live with the rain. We cycle through it, walk through it, canoe through it and party through it. That is not to say that we don’t get miserable about it too, sometimes. We do. So the more people out there who help us catch a glimpse of that rainbow just bursting to come out from behind those clouds, the better. And Georgia Scott is one of those. She has designed a quirky range of rain gear, mostly for cycling, but they are so cool, you could wear them most places really.
I opted for the D1 high visibility vest, as I my current one that looks like I just stepped off a building site just doesn’t really do anything for my middle aged crisis. Nor, it would seem for my ten year old’s who hates wearing his high vis vest, as he says it looks like ‘ a kid on a school trip’. So, he’s now pinching my new vest which is according to him, ‘totally sick and cool’ (‘sick’ is a compliment from anyone under about 21 these days by the way) and, according to me, based on a Mondrian design with olive green and bright green squares, intercut with silver ‘light up in the dark’ stripes.
The high vis vest is called the D1 after the Dublin postcode, which lies just north of the river. This is just many areas which boast Georgian architecture that Dublin is famous for and so, rather cleverly, Georgia has named her company Georgia in Dublin. Simply stylish and cool, just like her range. Most of their products are designed to have at least two functions. The Dorothy Cover protects the contents of your bike basket from rain, wind, and stuff hopping out as you go over bumps while also doubling as a drawstring bag to put your other rain wear, lights, hats, gloves etc. in. Similarly the Rainwrap can be worn over skirts and trousers keeping your legs dry while cycling and walking and it also doubles as a picnic blanket .
The Dublette jacket (also has hood) and Daisy basket cover
Georgia, who launched this company with her mother in 2009, told me that “We envisaged a range of clothing that women could wear both cycling and walking to work or to the theatre, wherever, whatever the weather. We wanted to help elevate and celebrate the bike as a means of transport for women as well as men”.
All of Georgia’s products are designed and the prototypes made by them in Dublin. Sustainability is important to them and they use good quality cloth and collect used inner tubes from bike shops to make fasteners for the Dublette, the stunning, expandable waterproof jacket and soles for the Leggits, which are like something out of a theatrical costumier’s studio. But if you can’t be theatrical in Dublin, where can you be? Except Paris, New York, London, Milan, Berlin….the list goes on, and this Georgian show will travel, I have no doubt. The Leggits have already won an iF International Design Award for design innovation and production quality at Eurobike 2011 and they won a Brand New Award at the Munich Bike Expo in 2011 for the Georgia in Dublin range. So, instead of letting it rain on your parade, check out Georgia, who will have you singing your way through it, and singing in style.
“Are you really earthy and wholesome then?” a colleague asked me recently. I told her I was about 65% earthy, but reassured her that “I’m not one for eating placentas, though. I have my limits”. I guess the fact that I took two days and three nights to take on the 65kms Loop Head Cycleway in County Clare, is synonymous with my wishy washy green side. Eco warriors would have packed tents into panniers and cycled it in a day. Whereas I booked into three different accommodations, ate a lot more than lentils boiled up on a Calor gas, and finished it all off with a seaweed bath and a major pamper.
Catherine on the Loop Head Cycle Way looking North towards Cliffs of Moher Photo: Catherine Mack
The Loop Head Cycleway starts and ends in Kilkee, also home to The Kilkee Thalassotherapy Centre, a seaweed bathhouse and treatment centre. The Centre also has accommodation, so I booked in here for my last night, knowing that if it poured the whole way round the Head, I would have that image to keep me going. The superbly helpful owner of the Centre, Eileen Mulcahy, not only allowed me to leave my car there, but also kindly arranged for a hired bike to be delivered. So, before I even straddled a saddle, I was already loving the Loop.
Amazing sunset at Loop Head lighthouse, looking back inland up the South side of the peninsula Photo: Catherine Mack
I set out along the North coast of the peninsula, my target for day one being the lighthouse at the tip, following a clifftop road, as magnificent as Moher at many points, but totally devoid of traffic. After about 9kms of coastal cycling, I headed inland along gently undulating lanes as far as Cross, where I dropped my backpack at The Old School, an elegant conversion of a traditional schoolhouse which has been recently restored with love and pride by its owners (Tel: + 353 (0) 65 6703666).
With a lighter load, I caught the sunset at the lighthouse, another 12kms from Cross following another quiet coastal path with some of the most incredible bays tucked away , such as at Bridges of Ross, a series of natural stone bridges sticking out into the sea. My Loop love had been intensified by the fact that Ian Glendinning, owner of The Old School, had offered to pick me and my bike up at Keatings Pub in Kilbaha, just a couple of kilometres from the lighthouse, after dinner. Which was all too cool for school really. Similarly, he dropped me back at the tip in the morning, so that I could continue where I left off, my School House packed lunch tucked into my pannier.
Bottlenose dolphins in Shannon Estuary off Loop Head (Credit Tim Stenton 8 (2)
It was a quick cycle along the calmer shores of the Shannon Estuary as far as Carrigaholt for more of a love in. I had booked in for an 11am dolphin watching outing and, within minutes on board Dolphinwatch’s boat Draíocht, our brilliant skipper and guide, Geoff and Susanne Magee, had spotted some bottlenose beauties. For an hour and a half, they jumped and soared into the air, as all our hearts leapt in unison.
Pure Camping, Querrin, Loop Head. Photo: Pure Camping
My second night tapped into my 65% green side, without a doubt. A bell tent, with wood burning stove, awaited me at Pure Camping in Querrin, a further 8K up the coast. As did their home made sauna , a brilliant construction in one corner of the camping field which I crawled into through a small tunnel and, when I was cooked through, I ran straight to bed and fell asleep to the soporific sounds of canvas blowing in the sea breeze.
My final cycle back to Kilkee was along tiny backroads which followed the wetlands of Poulnasherry Bay. This is a haven for birdlife, but Kilkee also has its own haven for human water lovers like me. The Pollack Holes are natural rock pools which you can swim in at low tide. I had put my togs in my bag just in case, as the Pollack Holes are not to be missed. “Just phone me when you are nearby, and I’ll run the seaweed bath for you”, Eileen had told me when I set off a couple of days earlier. Which I did, from the Diamond Rocks Café just beside the pools where other swimmers welcomed me to ‘the club’ and where I consumed a copious amount of choice carbs. From cake heaven to Bladderwrack bliss, my Loop was well and truly complete.
For more info on the Loop Head Cycleway see www.loophead.ie. An edited version of this article was first published in The Irish Times.
Swimming at the Pollack Holes, Kilkee Photo: Catherine Mack
