One F in Foley: Walking around the town: the ups and downs

Funnily enough, I’ve become quite well known for taking numerous walks around Letterkenny in recent years.

Yes, it’s indeed become a regular habit of mine - one of my better-chosen ones - to take around five 10-kilometre strolls a week. Here’s what’s good and not so good about those experiences.

Crosstown Traffic

We hear a lot about Letterkenny traffic congestion and, to be fair, a lot of these complaints are valid ones.

Now, don’t get me wrong, we all understand the irony of moaning about traffic when, of course, a lot of the time, we are the traffic too. Still though, when it comes to walking, it is pretty insufferable.

The Ramelton Road - specifically down by where the PinTavern and the Mount Errigal Hotel stand - is pretty much always bumper-to-bumper and tediously slow-moving. It’s probably not out of the question to assume that it’s quite possibly the busiest road in the entire county. If not, it’s up there, at least.

Now I know that roadwork construction is important for future development, but when without the closed-off pavements and pedestrian de-tour road signs, it’s still a highly congested place to walk at nearly all hours of the day.

The constant hum of droning engines and scent of unclear don’t make walks there enjoyable.

Another down point is the look of some parts around the town center. A lot of buildings on both the Upper and Lower Main Street have shown terrible signs of aging and dereliction. Buildings get old, just like people do, and that’s a part of life, but surely a bit of plastering or artwork could brighten up some spots.

At least those buildings are still there but, personally speaking, it’s still a bit of a sad sight when you see the land where the Grill nightclub and Oatfield sweets factory used to be. They were simply uprooted and bulldozed and nothing but overgrown moss and litter have been left in their place.

While huge credit must go to the organisers of the Summer Sessions festival in Ballyraine, it still can’t be overlooked that the old Unifi site on which it sees, is an ugly view of old gray stones for every other day of the year. The same could be said for the old patch just up the road where Telecom Eireann used to be.

I just feel that these places were demolished with no plan put in place for anything to go in its place. How cool would it be to see these places developed into some sort of new facility? Maybe something along the community lines like a care center or a children’s playground.

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Anything would be an improvement. Because at this moment in time, these places (and others) which I’ve mentioned give off an image of when a dentist extracts a number of teeth from one’s mouth, but has no intention to fill and replace with something better.

A Park Life

On a lighter note, there are some places in the town that are great to go walking in. The road down towards the Glebe seems to provide a bit of an oasis of calm; just far enough away from the noise of the Ramelton Road.

It may be a back-road and extra caution does need to be taken but it still provides greater tranquility.

And while I might have taken a swipe at some crumbling or vanishing buildings around the town, there are still plenty of others that are much easier to look at. For example, I can’t help but gaze into the likes of St Eunan’s College or Scoil Cholmcille when I’m up in those parts; but maybe that’s more nostalgia really.

On other occasions, if my legs are up for the challenge, I might take a wander out to O’Donnell Park.

During the day time there, a few laps of the now extended training pitch area. Obviously, most evenings will see it become a busy place with teams meeting up to practice, but it's a grand stroll to take in the daytime.

There’s one place though that I do enjoy getting my steps in, more than anywhere else, and that’s the Town Park.

Being a Gortlee neighbourhood boy, it’s great that it’s only a hop and a skip away from me when I take the shortcut through Whitethorn, but it’s always been a happy place to clear my head.

The park reminds me of a place where people from all different ages and cultures can converge to just chill out, play games or just enjoy a few laps of the circled path. Four laps is equal to one kilometre I’m told, so that’s a handy way to keep track of your walking progress.

Conclusion

To conclude, I will probably have to play a bit of devil’s advocate here by saying the best place for a Letterkenny person to do regular walking is outside of Letterkenny.

Maybe it’s no surprise that many of us tend to hop in the car and head off to other, less busy, parts of our beautiful Donegal for some headspace.

This town is full of wonderfully creative people; you only have to see how much musical and artistic talent there is performing in the pubs and theatres to see that in evidence.

Sadly, on the other hand, there are many who suffer from mental unwellness and loneliness.

Hence the reason why I’d love to see a more positive redevelopment of those empty spaces that have become too common around the town.

I’m no political advocate, but it’s just something that I’ve noticed - when I’d be writing articles like these internally in my head - during these walks about our hometown.