My memory of my summer holidays in France Puivert lake is in France. I go there every year. When I see Puivert lake, I see a huge lake, lots of trees behind it, I see gliders going around in the sky – and sometimes a plane pulling the glider. I also see the cafe –
Lough Swilly holds many dark secrets. This enticing Lake of Shadows, claimed my mother’s eight-year-old sister, Brigid. This is her story. A fisherman found her in the tidal part of the Crana river. Her long hair was entangled in an old salmon net ‘she was like a little doll floating,’ Dan said. They had to
When I was a young fellow growing up in Tarbert, a small village and sea port in the Shannon estuary there was an old man who lived beside me in Chapel Street. He lived in a little cottage with a thatched roof and a tidy back garden. It was one of those small yellow washed
Lough Talt is a beautiful lake located about 12km west of Tubbercurry. The lake is used for the town’s water supply and over the past few years has become embroiled in a battle between the water supply need’s of the town and the habitat needs of a small snail which inhabits the lake’s shoreline. The
There is a pond in Carriglea Shanballymore about 4km from my home and I was delighted when a pair of swans came to make their home there in the spring. They have been coming there for a number of years. They made a nest and the Pen which is a female swan laid 6 eggs
I grew up with the sounds of the Lingaun river. My first headlong thrust into life echoed her frenetic gush from the womb of the mountain. As my mother kept vigilant watch over me, Slievenamon too stood guard over her offspring. My first tentative steps were in unison with her erratic attempts to form into
Many years ago, I used to spend two weeks of every summer break at my Grandparents’ and that was always the highlight of my summer. Granny told many stories from the past, but Grandad only had one story. He told me that story once every year: it was about a little brook in the nearby
My great grandad was a great man for oral history. He was born in 1915 and lived in Moydow, Co longford, so his story telling ability spanned for over a century, for he lived until he reached the age of 101 and died in 2016. His ability to tell a yarn was very unique and
One beautiful spring day two cygnets were born on a sunny swamp of Lough Derg, just outside the tiny village of Dromineer. “Can we look at them please!”, asked four older baby swans. “Not yet” their mother replied. Every swan was eager to meet the new-born chicks, especially Smoke, their father. One day passed and
The Mayfly is up. Four words that cause many a missed heartbeat when heard for the first time each year. Straight away you think of past years, and you think when can I get going? Never forgotten. One small fly provoking such action and emotion for generations. Your parents, your grandparents, yourself, your kids, all
I have three friends that I took a trip in the car to Laytown beach a month ago. When we were there, we went into the sea, and we found a new discovery – An animal about a metre long, with …. a yellow tail, a black mouth a white body a blue head and
The village was small but served the hinterland well and it had a lovely bridge where you crossed the water and it was here that I grew up in a house that sat to the village side of the river, a beautiful source of fresh water for our farm. This place was alive with wild
To use this interactive map, click on a county to view the list of stories connected with it.