Delighted to finally post about something we have known about for quite a while now. The application to the Coastal Communities Fund has been successful. Between them, Jim McLuckie and Margaret have created a £330K project which will see the Cowal Way propelled to its rightful status as one of Scotland’s Great trails. CGDT will be recruiting and employing a project manager and a path ranger – details to be published at the CGDT website on or before Friday.
This project has been in gestation for a long time now and illustrates how far in advance the Trust has to work. This project began with the incorporation of the Cowal Way into CGDT in early 2013, was moved on significantly by the study our TSIS intern Catriona Phillips produced later that year (Catriona also created the CowalWay website), and really only came to fruition with Margaret and Jim’s input into the CCF application over the last 8 months. A huge effort by all and well worth it!
Here’s the official Press Release:
Colintraive and Glendaruel Development Trust (CGDT) has just received the welcome news that its funding application to the Coastal Communities Fund for the Cowal Way, has been successful.
An award of some £330,000 has been made to the Trust to manage, market and upgrade the Way – the long distance footpath that runs the length of the Cowal Peninsula from Portavadie on Loch Fyne to Inveruglas on Loch Lomond.The Way links the communities of Tighnabruaich, Glendaruel, Strachur, Lochgoilhead and Arrochar, each with its own heritage, scenery and tourism related businesses, and the Trustees of the CGDT agreed two years ago to take on the whole of the route as a tourism project for the area.CGDT Trustee, James McLuckie said the Trust is delighted with the award and looks forward to the Cowal Way becoming a real economic asset to the area.The first steps in the project will be for the Trust to employ both a Project Manager and a Path Ranger for up to two years with the aim of upgrading the Cowal Way to the standard required for inclusion as one of Scotland’s Great Trails (SGT). Achieving this will complete the SGT link from the Mull of Kintyre (Kintyre Way) to Fort William and beyond (West Highland Way) and achieving the classification of SGT should greatly increase the footfall on the Way .Both employment posts will be advertised from this week, on line and in the local press (see adverts in this paper) with the aim of starting employment by March and beginning route improvements in the Spring.