Galway’s ‘Slow Way’
Guided Field Trip led by Brendan Smith
Meet: Corrib Princess Quay, Waterside, Woodquay
Galway city is in many ways a nature walker’s paradise, possessing areas of tranquillity within natural heritage areas and countryside far from the noise and air pollution of one of Europe’s most traffic congested cities. Every city in Ireland would love to have the natural resources and rural landscapes that we still possess, namely the lakes, the rivers, the wildflower meadows, the bogs, the forests and farmlands. No other city has a major river running through it that still retains countryside on either side of its quiet blue waters.
This event is about increasing public awareness particularly of the ‘Boreens’ (botharín = small road) of Menlo, Coolough, Castlegar, Ballindooley, Carrowbrowne and elsewhere which are precious gifts to the present and future generations from the rural dwellers of past centuries. These country lanes, many surrounded by drystone walls and hedgerows, that once were used to move cattle from field to field and to bring locals to distant church, school and shop, need to become the greenways of our modern city providing a network of green arteries uncluttered by built development offering places of peace and calmness to the urban traveller.
Guide
Brendan has been involved in multiple community, educational, social and environmental projects over many decades including as a founder member of Terryland Forest Park, Ireland’s largest community-driven urban forest project, in promoting local heritage preservation and greenways, in developing Outdoor Classrooms and in advocating for Galway to become a National Park City. He passionately believes that only by reconnecting with and learning from the rest of Nature can humanity solve the global crises of our era.