On the 1 of December 1977 at 8am Uncle Paddy and I rowed out of Killeenaran pier heading for the Clarinbridge oyster bed a mile away. Our craft was a traditional Galway Bay flat which had seen better days. It had lain rotting since my father had retired from dredging oysters ten years previously. Thanks
My name is Paddy Cantwell and I have been living all of my 87 years here in Aughadonagh, Rahan next to the Blue Drain and the ‘Three Rivers’, where the Clodagh and the Silver Rivers meet. I would like to explain how the excess water from Aughadonagh and Tully got into the river before the
Today, Paddy Joe is a very happy man. He is going on his spring holidays. Every year, at the end of April, he sets up his fishing camp on the shores of Lough Corrib, one of the most magical places in the West of Ireland. It is a huge lake., home to more than five
A Dhia, a chruithidh Farraige, sleibhte agus speir, Go mbeadh fuinneamh agus brf na farraige ionam, Ceol na farraige i’m chro1, Neart agus buan na sleibhte i m’intinn Nuair a thagann na stoirm; Go mbeadh s1ora1ocht na speire i’m spiorad, Is radharc fiche/fiche i suile m’anam, Go bh’feicfinn na sforaf i ngach nf A chruithidh
Since my childhood I have spent my holidays in Dún Chaoin, Co. Kerry, staying in an early 70’s bungalow after my Grand Aunty May, who had built it in her dream location only a couple of years previously, sadly passed away. It is a small house but still manages to dwarf the ruins of the
Sitting on the water’s edge, skimming stones, she couldn’t help but feel a strange presence surrounding her. She watched the stones skip along the surface bouncing into the unknown. An air of melancholy surrounded her and echoed the mood she harboured within. Lucy often heard told of the story of Mary Hannigan, banished to these
The last item I saw a baby pike was below the high bridge at Charlemont St. Luas stop on the Dublin’s Grand Canal waterway just in front of the Hilton hotel, on the edge of Ranelagh. It must have been early summer 2016. Just a canal-lock up from where a pair of swans have had
Near to where I grew up in Blessington there was a dark pool of water that fascinated and terrified all of us children. In winter, the pool was from a sullen overflow that turned hypnotically in its dark bowl; on a windy summer’s day it was a dirty palm that rattled loose stones like knucklebones
When my husband Larry and I retired we threw caution to the winds and bought ourselves a beautiful blue and white Freeman 27 cabin cruiser. I was beside myself with excitement as we paid our money and shook on the deal. Our friends drove us to Portaneena marina in Athlone where we boarded Aishlinn for
She stretched her wings and descended to a stony bank at the foot of the cascade in the middle of the shallow late April flow. It was approaching sunset. A solitary human sat on a rock with his laptop open. Ducklings, startled by the commotion, paddled downstream, emitting staccato shrieks to alert their parents who
We moved to River Lane before we knew that was its name. Google, estate agents and the vendors didn’t even know, but the Coronavirus brought the OSi map back into all our lives as we rushed to the boundaries of our 2km radius. Our little terrace of just six houses is fortuitously placed bordering a
A warm sunny day called me outside…. being 8 months pregnant, I decided to go for a short stroll….. I heard it before I saw it…. a happy babbling stream seemed to be asking me to stop beside it and to keep it company….. Little leaves floated down on the surface of its fast moving
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