Their sheer beauty, accessibility and security are what's drawing walkers in droves to the Slieve Bloom mountains, according to Joan Roche of the Slieve Bloom Walking Centre in Cadamstown, Co Offaly. With hundreds of walkers due there this weekend for the fifth annual Slieve Bloom Walking Festival, Ms Roche says many people from the east coast are going there because they find the Dublin and Wicklow mountains are becoming overcrowded, especially at the weekends.
"A lot of them complain that they find their cars are broken into or interfered with while they are walking and they have a greater sense of security here," she says.
That security is reinforced by the organisers, who send out leaders with the walking parties. On the longer walks, the groups are accompanied by Civil Defence personnel trained in first aid and other skills.
"For those who have not walked here before, this is very comforting and people like that. We have great co-operation from all the bodies here," she adds.
Organised by the Slieve Bloom Rural Development Society, the festival attracted over 800 walkers of various ages and stages last year.
The input into the weekend from Coillte, the forestry body, is particularly welcome because of the amount of afforestation in the area, Ms Roche said.
Martin Lowery, chief executive of Coillte, attended the event at which details of this weekend's proceedings were announced recently in Cadamstown.
He described the Slieve Blooms as an area where there was complete co-operation between environmental, forestry, farming and leisure interests. Mr Lowery added that eight million people visit State forests each year and 80 per cent of the forests of the Slieve Blooms were used for leisure purposes.
More than 100 people in the Slieve Blooms make their living from the forestry industry, and the forests are not monocultural but diverse in species, he said.
Connemara-born Ms Roche said the weekend would feature walks for all types of walkers, from the novice to the advanced, over the whole range of the mountains.
"We are reaching a stage down here where we do not want to expand too much because we do not want overcrowding on the mountains. We are still at the stage where one can walk here all day without meeting anyone. However, we do want to exploit the potential of the mountains for the local people and the community in general and try not to make the mistakes made elsewhere," she said.
To her the mountain range has one advantage which some other areas in the country do not have, tourism infrastructure. There is more than adequate quality accommodation for walkers in the area.
But there are other threats apart from overcrowding facing the mountains: particularly applications to build communications masts.
"There was a protest meeting in Kinnitty recently because of a proposal to erect a mast on a local ridge and this is being strenuously opposed by local people," Ms Roche said.
Connemara has its Bogmen's Ball and Dingle its Regatta Ball: this festival has a "Blister Ball" which will be held in Kinnitty Castle on Sunday. In all 11 guided walks have been arranged for the weekend and the festival closes with a music session in Sheerin's pub in Coolrain on Monday evening.
Details of the walks and the ball may be obtained from Joan Roche at 0509-37247.