There are places we go that take us back in time, where the sounds and smells, and the feel of the ground under our feet says ‘you are home’. The Camac has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. It has been part of my family history. It is the
I was 12 when it happened, so cast your mind back to 1974! We lived on a dairy farm but had a field two miles away. Every day after I arrived home from school, my Mother would have a well-prepared hot meal waiting for me but once consumed, I would walk to this field to
I love steering a barge through the winding countryside canalways. I enjoy seeing the cows and horses wandering alongside, the occasional bemused dog and of course the rare kingfisher flash of blue. I often wonder at how horses used to pull massive M-boats, with only a hint at their majesty remaining in the ridges and
When I think of a favourite patch of water my mind immediately takes me back to the spot where I spent many hours trying to catch brickeens during my childhood over 50 years ago. Some of my cousins called these little ifsh pinkeens or minnows depending on where they lived. The stream lfowed along the
I was born in 1937 in the townland of Coole. Coole is about a mile East of Ferbane in the County of Offaly. Our house is about two hundred- and fifty-yards from the River Brosna and our pasture went to the river. From the time I was able to walk I followed my two older
The river Dodder played a huge part in my childhood, as it did for many others. I moved into my grandparents’ home in O’Connell Gardens with my parents and sister when I was six years old. Most of my youth was spent on the Dodder bank with my neighbours and friends. My back garden wall
I love Colm Sand’s song “Going down to the well with Maggie”. It brings me back to my own childhood and the many adventures we had collecting water. Like Colm Sands we also had a Maggie Connolly who lived next door and we shared the well with the family. In those times everyone had a
Constable Lake is a lake near my house in County Cork. It is called Constable Lake because when England used to rule Ireland, there used to be policemen around the place. Back then the policemen were called constables. One day a constable got thrown in, so it was named Constable Lake after that. When my
A scene serene in my memory I store Of gazing down on Annaghearly lake shore The scene below mirrored the sky In a painting of beauty no money could buy The water below so calm and so blue With diamonds glistening and changing hue As snowy white swans with their brood of two Disturbed its
I was born a townie at Pound/Connolly Street, Sligo, in a three storey street house with a cold tap inside and a flush toilet outside. When I was about ten my two sisters and I spent a week with my dad’s parents on their farm at Rossmore, Riverstown. It was Eastertime. We were sent out
I first heard of Coomloughra when I set out to climb the “Coomloughra Horseshoe.” It’s one of the classic hiking and scrambling ridge routes in Ireland and takes in several mountain tops – Scregmore, Beenkeeragh, Carrantoohill and Caher. These have an average height of about 1,000 metres. Nestled several hundred meters below ,there are three
When I heard of this competition, I was reading a book called ‘Letter to My Younger Self’ where inspiring people shared moments that shaped their lives and on looking back, might offer advice to their sixteen- year-old selves. While this is not a letter, I found my thoughts wandering to days when I was maybe
To use this interactive map, click on a county to view the list of stories connected with it.