By Allison Roberts
Last month, Clonakilty Bicycle Festival organizers Allison Roberts and Justin Grounds took part in a special Erasmus+ program in Corella, Spain, entitled, ‘Sustainable Mobility, Sustainable Community’. The program which will continue until 2021, is a cultural exchange for students and project partners from Spain, Ireland, Lithuania and Denmark (Copenhagen). “I wasn’t sure what to expect,” Roberts recounts, ”but we left Corella more passionate than ever about the power of bicycles to bring people together, and the importance of groups like the Bicyclistas de Corella being the driving force of change they want to see in their own communities. “ On the trip Roberts and Grounds shared food and ideas with cycle advocates such as Jens-Erik, co-founder of the EuroVelo routes, as well as one of the lead developers of the international ‘Cycling Without Age’ movement, of which Clonakilty is already a participant. “We have our own tri-shaw in Clon but are struggling to get the word out that it is a resource available for the community to use, so by sitting with Pernille from CWA I now have new ideas to get the project moving forward.»
In Ireland, the project is run in conjunction with St. Tiernan’s school Dublin, Green Schools Ireland and Cyclist.ie, of which the Clonakilty Bicycle Festival is a member. Roberts will be going up for the Irish-hosted exchange taking place June 24-28th in Dublin this year and if there is anyone from our own cycle network who wants to join her they are invited to get in touch.
“We have been working with local area engineers in developing designated bike routes in the Clonakilty area to be signposted, and hope this can be launched this year, plus of course are celebrating the growth of the community bike workshop ‘The Bike Circus’. With all this happening in Clonakilty and inspired by the Bicyclistas de Corella, we have decided to start our own year-round cycle group in their footsteps -the group will focus on organizing regular fun-cycles around Clon as well as to develop stronger links to help further develop and promote West Cork as a bicycle friendly corner of the world.”
The Clonakilty Bicycle Festival will take place on June 6-9th this year and will include special guests from the London Bike Kitchen, a farm-to fork cycle BBQ, cycle-in-cinema, Bird Watch Ireland estuary cycle, family hullabaloo morning and more, with bonus events taking place during National Bike Week June 28-30th including the launch of ‘The Clonakilty Bicyclists’ and the ‘Meals-on-Wheels’ mystery dinner tour.
