Cian McCormack was once again on the road for day 4 of his whistle-stop tour of Ireland by bike. Cian was relieved to find flat, quiet roads in excellent condition as he cycled around Lough Boora Discovery Park in Co. Offaly which boasts a fairy forest, a giant pyramid and miles and miles of stunning scenery. Most impressively of all, it is a shining example of what can be achieved with cutaway bogland after peat extraction has finished. Manager Tom Egan explained that the visitor café was opened in 2014 with joint funding from Bord na Móna and Fáilte Ireland and that the number of visitors hits over 100,000 a year. Tom spoke about the incredible transformation that took place in the park, making it a beacon of hope for other such areas in the future.
"I'm a kind of a veteran here at this stage so I saw this place in peat production. This place was black and bare, what you're looking at, the green trees, the water shimmering there, this was production fields, black, bare, desert sort of areas… The biodiversity here is phenomenal at this stage. We did a bioblitz here a few years ago and we recorded over a thousand species in 24 hours."
From colourful flora and fauna to the collection of old locomotives, the park is full of intrigue and surprise and the ideal way to get around is by renting one of the park's bikes for the 22 kilometres of flat track that's completely off road and therefore ideal for families. The park was also a lifeline for the area and for the local people looking for employment within their community.
"We started with the local people working here… We came up with a plan and we put it to Bord na Móna and Born na Móna have worked with myself and with the local communities to develop this project over the years. The bogs would have employed maybe 500 people around this region so it's been a huge downsize of employment as you know Born na Móna are finishing up peat harvesting in the next ten years so it is a kind of a flagship project, post-peat harvesting, to show the open up the area to the public again and to benefit the local communities."
Another great draw in the area is the Tullamore Dew distillery which attracts 50,000 visitors a year. Kevin Pigott took Cian on the tour and explained that as well as selling over 14 million bottles in 82 countries a year, they also offer various training courses which are a huge draw.
"We do cocktail training, whiskey training for hotels, restaurants and bars, giving them the best insight with Irish whiskey and how to upsell it in their markets. Additionally, we teach them about the process as they can see the whiskey being made in front of them."
Training is certainly not limited to the locals either. Kevin said they've had everything from Russian bartenders and Swedish bloggers to New York nightclub owners all eager for an authentic experience of Irish whiskey.
Click here to listen to Cian's journey through the Midlands.