Keep Ireland Open

I've been following the Keep Ireland Open website (http://www.keepirelandopen.org)  for a number of years now. They campaign for better countryside access in the Republic of Ireland. They have a tough job on their hands and I wish them well.

I've sometimes thought that some of their rhetoric to be, well, a little whiney, a little negative, and often downright confrontational and abrasive.  I can't really blame them, because the situation 'down south' is pretty dire from a countryside access point of view and it must be downright frustrating to be (or at least appear to be) that lone voice crying in the wilderness.

However, perhaps a change of tactics are in order. Instead of simply complaining about the poor legislative framework and general all round lack of access, I've always thought they would be better spending their time building relationships with those who would benefit from an overhaul of the countryside access laws. It shouldn't take too long to realise who these groups are. A long term strategy to change hearts and minds is what will eventually tip the balance politically.

Of course to do all this requires getting your facts straight, and making sure the story you tell is a convincing and compelling one. An idea can be overwhelmingly powerful, but only if it makes sense, if it has logic and right on its side. To this end, its good to see them listing some nice stats on their Spring 2013 newletter. Keep it up guys, and start thinking about that strategy.

White Easter

Managed to squeeze a quick walk in yesterday around Hillsborough Forest Park. I like this forest, its got a nice feel to it, even if it is rather small. Nice lake, castle grounds, mixture of coniferous and native broadleaves. There is still a lot of snow hanging around as you can see from the picture. The temp was around 2 or 3 degrees at best and its not forecast to get much better over the next couple weeks. Brrr!

National Trust -

I wasn't feeling great this weekend (man flu), so we went this morning for a short walk at Mount Stewart on the shores of Stangford Lough, a National Trust property. Impressive mansion, nice gardens, short forest walks, that sort of thing. Its nice, pleasant, good to have around. However, I just can't escape the feeling that its completely inaccessible.

Inaccessible how? Its set within the wider context of some very nice countryside. Rolling hills, forest, fields and hedgerows - every single acre of which is completely off-limits to ordinary oiks like myself - and you. Unless you enjoy walking along a busy A-grade road as a pleasant experience, then you really shouldn't try walking to Mount Stewart. No paths or bridleways lead to it. Also, no matter where you walk in Mount Stewart you're going to eventually come across a 'No Access' sign. This is wrong, perverse; an equivalent property in England would be totally connected path-wise to the rest of the landscape. Access there is taken as a given

Don't get me wrong, the Trust do great work. As well as conserving great buildings, they maintain large tracts of countryside, and keep most of it open for access all year round. In the relative desert of access that is the Northern ireland countryside, they have developed many little oasis of accessibility. Divis and Black Mountain, North Antrim Coast, Fair Head, Slieve Donard, Castle Coole to name but a few.

But it strikes me as odd that the Trust, one of the UKs most powerful environmental campaigning organisations, and one supposedly committed to increasing access to the countryside, has never (to the best of my knowledge) addressed Northern Ireland's poor countryside access situation. Why not?