Inishowen Walking Festival returns with 17 routes across the peninsula

The Inishowen Walking Festival is returning with a total of 17 different route options across the peninsula

The third edition of the festival takes place from Friday, September 15, to Sunday, September 17 and there will be scheduled walks in Buncrana, Fort Dunree, Clonmany Carrowmenagh, Malin Head, Carndonagh, Greencastle, Drumfries, Inch, Burnfoot, Newtoncunningham and Muff.

The festival is being delivered by Inishowen social enterprise and community groups, in conjunction with Inishowen Development Partnership, Go Visit Inishowen, Donegal Sports Partnership.

Programme Manager John Kelly said: “This year, the groups have once again committed to providing special experiences for their communities ranging from celebrating walking with nature, learning about the wildlife, flora and fauna, history, heritage and cultural learning through our native Irish language within one of our walks.

"We are also delighted to welcome on board Project Orange based in Newtowncunningham and welcome participants from the Ukrainian community this year also who have found a home in Inishowen in recent times. Donegal Sports Partnership and Donegal County Council have provided funding for the walking festival: a huge thank you for that support. In addition, we are most grateful for the very kind donation of skin products by ISDIN, Inish Pharmacy Buncrana is a distributor of ISDIN products.”

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Community Development Officer with Donegal Sports Partnership, Karen Guthrie said: “The Inishowen Walking Festival working group have invested huge amount of their time in promoting Inishowen as a beautiful walking destination for not only tourists, but also for locals. The Inishowen Peninsula is blessed with fantastic walking routes and the most amazing scenery and we’re delighted to see so many communities involved in encouraging and supporting people to become more active through walking.”

Barry McLaughlin of Inishowen Development Partnership said: “Building on the success of previous showcasing the connection with St Colmcille, this year’s festival also celebrates OS200 and the place Inishowen holds in developing Ordinance Survey. The heritage, history and hospitality of Inishowen will be on display across the peninsula thanks to Inishowen Social Enterprise Network members and community groups.”

Tickets and further information can be found here.