A SCOTTISH walking festival cancelled in 2023 due to extreme weather is looking ahead to a fresh start 2024.
The Cowalfest walking festival, established prior to the Covid pandemic as one of Scotland’s biggest walking festivals, will take place from September 12 to 16 and feature a wide range of guided and special interest walks across the Cowal peninsula in Argyll.
The festival’s committee, now headed by veteran local walking enthusiast Andy Armstrong, is on the look out for volunteers and committee members interested in getting involved in planning and delivering this year’s event.
Last year’s event was scheduled to take place in October but had to be cancelled due to “unprecedented rainfall”.
Trails were made dangerous by mass flooding as well as landslides.
Looking ahead to this year, Armstrong said: “All of the committee would like to place on record our heartfelt thanks to Agnes for her fantastic work over the past year as well as marketing expert Ciorsdan Fagan who is also stepping down.
“Whilst Cowalfest 2023 unfortunately had to be postponed, the work they have put in will go a long way to making the 2024 event a successful one.
“We would also like to thank the vast majority of walkers who booked places on walks in 2023 and agreed to donate the money to Cowalfest.
“Clearly a lot was spent on last year’s event that cannot be recouped so every penny received is most appreciated.”
He added that the final schedule of walks in 2024 is still to be finalised but that the festival is hoping to work closely with partners Wild About Argyll to launch a “revamped web presence” in the near future.
Anyone wishing to obtain more details is encouraged to reach out to Cowalfest through its social media presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
