Slieve Bloom biking trail brings boom time to local businesses

The Slieve Bloom mountain biking trail in Kinnitty, Co Offaly, was officially opened on Friday, bringing with it a significant boost to tourism in the midlands.

The trail is said to be the most extensive one built to date in Ireland and the UK with more than 80kms of trail riding now available.

The project was delivered in partnership with Coillte, Fáilte Ireland, Offaly and Laois County Councils.

Hill walkers, cyclists, coffee shop and bed and breakfast owners in Kinnitty were all smiles on Friday, as Minister for Rural Development Heather Humphreys opened the attraction.

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Kinnitty has an acknowledged share of vacant shops around the village green - “but that is our past”, beamed Joe Carroll, chairman of the local development group.

The community’s vision of its future is now focussed on the cycling, walking and adventure trails in the Slieve Blooms - part of an €11 million investment in trails across the country.

Speaking in the recently rebuilt parish hall - “this was nothing but a ruin” - Mr Carroll said the network of cycling trails of international scale was an obvious opportunity to regenerate the village. He points across the street to Peavoy’s Deli and Coffee Shop which was packed with cyclists, sightseers and walkers. “That’s a new business, and there are two new bike hire operators on the street” he said.

Chris Byrne of the Ardmore Guest House paid tribute to the Slieve Bloom Rural Development Society and a long list of State agencies which she said were tapped for development aid.

She pointed to the banners and starting line of the Coillte Biking Blitz, a mountain biking championship due to get underway, beginning in the village on Saturday, and said development of the Slieve Bloom cycling trail network has been central to the resurgence of the village.

Ms Byrne’s guesthouse used to get American tourists in the summer but they stopped coming during Covid, she said.

Now however “we have the cyclists and we are getting people all year long. We are getting people from Northern Ireland which we never got before”.

She points to poster sites outside the parish hall displaying maps and importantly a Q-Code which can be used to download information on network trails, accommodation and other forms of business and leisure in the region.

“It is all about the Slieve Bloom region and Kinnitty being close to the head of one of the trails. There is 80 kilometres now but it is soon to be 100” said Johnathan O’Meara, who runs a selection of water-based activities ... including stand up paddle boarding or kayaking from a base at Banagher Marina, and cycling tours and bike hire from Kinnitty.

Overall Kinnitty has benefited from € 7million in funding from a range of Government agencies, Ms Humphreys said.

The Minister was in Offaly to formally launch the Slieve Bloom cycling trails, which she said was part of the vision for “Our Rural Future” programme which aims to encourage communities like Kinnitty to avail of money which is available for regeneration.

“Fill in an application form and start bothering your local public representatives”, she told the assembled crowd.

The Minister’s day-long visit began with the opening of the Edenderry Regeneration Project which received an investment of over €522,000 under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund.

She also visited Derryounce Lakes and Trails where she noted “our lakes, our walkways, our rivers and forests have been a godsend to us all in terms of both our physical and mental wellbeing”.