Mayo's Greenway receives EC award

Mayo's Great Western Greenway has been designated one of the great cycle trails of Europe.

Twenty-two destinations across recoeved a 2011 EDEN Award for "exemplary regeneration and promotion of a declining physical site".

"From abandoned mines and disused factories to derelict railways and overgrown farmsteads, these neglected sites once played a key role in European history," the European Commission spokesman said.

The Great Western Greenway runs though 42kms of landscapes and seascapes, hugging the Atlantic coastline of Co Mayo. Notable landmarks that border the ex-railway line have now been regenerated and reopened, such as the famous Victorian Mulranny hotel.