Cycle to the Sea: Reducing our reliance on cars
Esther and Ed Gerrard, founders of Cycle to the Sea, a collective art project with the local community to map out and create safer cycle routes from the village of Cloyne in east Cork to the sea with sculptural artworks and distance markers installed along the way.
School sweethearts, the Gerrards, Esther from Tipperary, and Ed from Waterford, call Springfield Farm, Ballyfin, home sweet home.
“When we arrived here, we had to make our way through the brambles to uncover the site of the original house!” says Esther. “You couldn’t see it from the road. It was derelict.”
Ed, who is a stone mason, is lovingly and painstakingly restoring the grand old house, which is situated on its own piece of heaven near Cloyne in East Cork.
The pair, landscape architects who relocated from London, then from Dublin, have big plans for the 13 acres of meadow, including guided nature walks, and ‘connect to craft’ workshops hosted in their sunny studio, creating beautiful artefacts from the bounty of nature.
The couple have plans to utilise not only the land, but also the surrounding back roads to the coast.
“Cycle to the Sea is a collective art project with the local community to map out and create safer cycle routes from the village of Cloyne in East Cork to the sea with sculptural artworks and distance markers installed along the way,” explains Esther.
Where did the gem of the idea spring from?
“When we were bringing our boys to school!” says Esther. The journey brought back memories.
“We all cycled to school as children.” People can cycle safely to other places now. “Cloyne is eight kilometres from Ballymona, Aghada, and Ballycroneen beach,” says Esther. “The cycle routes are here on our doorstep.”
Cycle to the Sea is a public engagement project. “This is a public engagement project helping the locals to rethink their car-dependent lifestyle,” says Esther. “We proposed solutions to encourage less car use and more bike use by creatively highlighting the distance along the existing rural back roads to the coast.”
How do the sculptures serve the route?
“The sculptures serve as a navigational aids and artistic expressions along the route. The design and themes of the artworks design and their scale and were decided through a series of activity-led co-design workshops with the community.”
How was the proposal approached?
“Myself and Aoife Banville made a proposal in February 2023 for the Creative Climate Action open call for Creative Climate Fund11, supported by Creative Ireland and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media. The proposed community art project proposed to explore and test prototypes and trials on our rural roads in Ireland.”
When was the project launched?
“The project was launched in November 2023 with introductions and pre-surveys,” says Esther. “A series of workshops ran through February/March/April 2024 and the final artworks were created over the summer of 2024 and installed in October 2024.”
They were all in it together.
“It was clear that the most successful events were family-friendly ones as Cloyne is a very family-forward village,” says Esther. “In learning this we incorporated activities either run by our team or SECAD in both the gather and co-design phase.”
Celebrations ensued. “There was a final event in November 2024,” says Esther. “Participants and other community members gathered for a cycle along the Ballymona Beach route. We stopped for food, drinks, and activities half-way at Strand Road Furniture.”
Everyone got on board. “Cork Bike Hire offered free bike hire for anyone interested in cycling but didn’t own a bike. We had a fabulous sunny autumnal celebration.”
Cycle to the Sea went on the east Cork map.
“Through activity-based workshops, artists, and designers, myself, Aoife, and Ed Coveney, collaborated with the community of Cloyne to map out the best of three potential routes through the use of maps, local knowledge, and discussion about concerns.”
Aoife Banville is known for her site-specific installations and use of recycled materials, bringing her expertise in creating immersive and environmentally conscious artworks to the project. Ed is a founding partner.
The project is sowing the seeds to rediscover the rural cycle culture.
“It aims to be the seed to help rediscover rural cycle culture that has been lost to the fear of dangerous roads and fast drivers while gathering concerns and making proposals for longer-term changes on other potential rural road networks," says Esther.
Cycle to the Sea is a win-win for the community.
“The project has facilitated and enabled the community to play an active role in it’s future development, enhancement and the use of their local roads,” says Esther.
“It highlights to other road users to be aware of active travel along the road and drive slowly.” Things are coming together slowly but surely at Springfield Farm Cloyne.
“The house is an ongoing project,” says Esther, who, like her husband, has creative ideas taking shape.
Cycle to the Sea is a call to action.
“More than an artistic endeavour, this project is a call to action,” says Esther.
“We aimed to encourage locals and visitors to rethink their travel habits, reduce carbon emissions and contribute to showcasing other uses of the road by example in order to contribute to a greener future by highlighting the accessibility and beauty of our rural back roads for active travel.” Things are looking good.
“We received wonderful feedback from visitors and many even commented that this project has truly inspired them to get back on their bikes more.”
