Good parking in the peninsula

ON Wednesday Loop Head Tourism (LHT) announced details of a parking initiative for cycling and walking tourists in the peninsula.
The ‘Park Your Car’ initiative enables visitors on walking or cycling holidays to park their car for the duration of their stay in the Loop Head area, while their personal belongings are delivered to their places of accommodation. Accommodation and activity providers and other hospitality industry members in the peninsula have signed up to the initiative.
The tourism initiative forms part of ‘Summer on the Loop’ featuring a range of activities and events taking place across the peninsula, recently named the Best Place to Holiday in Ireland.
The programme features Clare’s first working Hedge School in 200 years as well as a series of food, heritage and activity-based trails including Currach Racing in Kilbaha (June 16); Hell of the West Triathlon weekend in Kilkee (June 21-23); Kilkee Loophead Maritime Festival (July 12-14); Carrigaholt Family Festival (August 15-18); Nell Galvin Traditional Music Festival in Moyasta (August 30-Sep 1); Kilkee Strand Races (September 14); Che do Bheatha (September 27-29) celebrating Che Guevara’s links with Kilkee and Seafood in September (September 20-22).
“This is the first comprehensive summer programme of events in Loop Head that has involved the participation of all operators and communities in the peninsula,” Loop Head Tourism chairman Cillian Murphy said.
“We are a community group committed to ensuring that tourism development of Loop Head will be done in a responsible and sustainable manner, which will bring mutual benefits to both the wider community and visitors to the area. Summer on the Loop features a range of events that are in keeping with this ethos,” he added.
Commenting on the ‘Park Your Car’ initiative, Mr Murphy said network members feel the concept will prove environmentally sustainable.
“Members of the network, in keeping with our ethos of developing the peninsula in a responsible manner, have put together an opportunity to experience the peninsula in a ‘Hands Free’ manner. We hope that this innovation will enable visitors get a truly up close experience of all that’s available on the Loop Head Peninsula, while minimising the amount of traffic through our many protected areas,” he explained.
Summer on the Loop is complemented by the launch of the Tastes of the Loop food trail, which has been developed by the newly formed Loop Head Food Circle, a subgroup of the LHT network. The trail promotes locally sourced and produced foods on offer at food establishments throughout the peninsula. The summer programme also features organised outings on the Loop’s many heritage and activity-based trails, including The Loop Head Cycleway, dolphin watching in the Shannon Estuary, coasteering along the shores of Kilkee Bay, horse riding, Carrigaholt Sea Angling, sailing, scuba diving, surfing, and guided walks and scenic tours.
Winners of the European Destination of Excellence award in 2010 and The Irish Times Best Place to Holiday in Ireland contest in 2013, Loop Head Tourism has played a central role in the sustainable development of tourism in the peninsula through its promotion of the Clare County Council-operated Loop Head Lighthouse visitor project and its successful lobbying of Fáilte Ireland to have the peninsula included as one of 15 ‘iconic destinations’ included along the 2,500km-long Wild Atlantic Way.