Landmark Clare Valley Wine and Wilderness Trail set to link hikers to cellar doors
A new 100km hiking trail is set to link 24 Clare Valley cellar doors and energise tourism in the region.
Barossa, Clare & Gawler
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The Clare Valley is set to become the host of a landmark 100 kilometre hiking trail coined The Clare Valley Wine and Wilderness Trail.
The new tourism experience will take hikers on a journey spanning from Auburn to Stanley Flat and eventually past 24 cellar doors.
The trail which will also be used by cyclist will be free and open to the public, with the first stage due for completion in April and the full five stage project expected to be completed by April 2022.
Project manager from Travelwild Australia, Tim Grigg said the trail would help to promote the wine and food industries in the Clare Valley as well as encouraging tourists to stay longer in the region.
“People will do the walk, some of them have big lunches or wine tastings and some of them will just be exposed to the wineries branding and come back in future,” Mr Grigg said.
“The opportunity for wineries to promote their branding is lucrative to them, plus as well as tastings, if people want to buy bottles of wine on the journey, a lot of wineries will provide postage services.”
The project has a number of official supporters including the Clare and Gilbert Valleys Council, Clare Lions Club and Regional Development of Australia group with the total estimated cost $55,000.
Beginning and ending at the Clare Valley Visitors Centre, Mr Grigg said the accommodation industry would also greatly benefit from hikers who choose to stay at overnight.
“There are a lot of hikers who will want to do the full five day hike and stay at accommodation in the area,” he said.
“Something like the Heysen Trail is a massive undertaking and really focused on the hiking itself, whereas this will have that wine and food focus as well.”
Mr Grigg who works in the Clare Valley said the region had its busiest ever tourism season in Spring last year, largely due to people exploring their own state as a result of COVID-19 border closures.
“The amount of people who came up from Adelaide, and said they always planned to come to Clare one day, but didn’t until the events of last year was staggering,” he said.
“There’s a renewed interest in exploring the regions, I think, and this trail is well placed to benefit from that.”
Stage one of the trail will be officially opened on Saturday, April 24 with Premier Steven Marshall set to cut the ribbon.
Mr Grigg hopes as many hikers as possible attend the opening so the foot traffic can shape and mark out the trail.
Registration are open for the free event with a fundraiser also set to be held on the same night at the Watervale Sporting Complex.
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