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scovering quite a lot of places we hadn t known anything about before like the utterly gorgeous little hamlet of belmont where the lock and the cottages and all the old buildings around combined to make it the most peaceful place possible really fascinating were the round indentations in the sides of the lock which were where the bargemen would insert their poles to guide the boat along remember the phrase wouldn t touch it with a barge pole well the canals are where that saying originated and here they really did touch the walls and push hard too they had to since the horse would have been untackled and walked on to the other side of the lock leaving them with no other means of propulsion the book is two things really a guide to anyone wanting to walk or cycle this wonderful long greenway from our capital city right across the bog of allen to the mighty shannon but also a history of how it came to be who built it what stories and incidents happened along it and all sorts of fascinating facts that you find when you are researching something right out there in the field so as well as being ideal for the strolller with the family the keen hiker and the ardent cyclist it s perfect armchair reading too for anyone who wants to know more about hidden ireland and its history look at the splendour of white s castle and crom a boo bridge great name isn t it in athy that was where the barrow line branch separated from the main grand canal and headed south to join up with the river barrow and thus connect dublin efficiently with the port of waterford remember all this was before railways were thought of let alone roads and cars so the canals had a vital purpose for conveying goods and people guinness even had its own barges plying the canal from dublin to thirsty purchasers in other towns and cities they always claimed that the slow peaceful carriage by boat added a certain je ne sais quoi to the barrels we are fairly proud of this our sixth offspring richard and i but of course it didn t take long to start wondering where we should explore next somewhere mystic and mysterious with a few ghosts and goblins and unexplained occurrences maybe a haunted island perhaps will keep you posted last weekend having finally relaxed on the book there are always last minute changes alterations queries we headed over to wales on the ferry richard wanted to get a few new shots of red kites and i wanted to indulge my yarn habit at wonderwool wales a huge annual occasion in builth wells where sheep farmers and spinners knitters and crocheters buyers and sellers of all kinds converge for a weekend of fun look at this splendid felted march hare being wheeled proudly around by its creator she had lost the use of one arm through illness and got it back to full working order by making this amazing project i didn t get her name but well done you i am always on the lookout for norwegian yarns and found a stall which stocked them yes quite a few skeins and balls found their way into my ample shopping bag at skd yarns got to meet in person at last one of the great exponents of the traditional knitted gansey deb gillanders of propagansey we tend to disagree when we meet on zoom about the tightness and gauge necessary for ganseys i always err on the side of softness and drape she insists on rock hard work knitted on piano wire but we get on just fine that reminds me i have a traditional gansey to finish for a much loved nephew s birthday coming up in june better get a move on had a special meet up with an old friend linda so that we could compare spindles and spinning skills and linda of course had pre ordered her copy of the new book so we were able to hand it over duly signed by both of us the crowds at wonderwool wales were frightening but everybody was so happy and enthusiastic and willing to share ideas and notes that it was all very relaxed except for the endless queues for coffee it has to be admitted that the modern trend for slow specially prepared brews is admirable but it does make for a long waiting time in the end we did without i think this picture says it all about the long and happy weekend one tired but contented spinner heading for home as did we breaking our journey in carmarthen on the way back where we saw a dog taking his ease and enjoying the street scene you might be wondering how our own new little monster has been getting on since last time well she has grown a bit is happy healthy very loving and quite biddable until she gets on to a beach then you can say goodbye to tasha for the rest of the day or until she tires out which so far appears to be never there was a traumatic experience on the beach at ballycotton a month or so back tasha exploded down the sands saw gulls in the distance and hared way out along a wave washed sandback to catch them they of course flew off cackling with laughter and she paused briefly to reconsider her options seeing me strolling along the beach some distance on with the older dog she decided to cut across to intercept us what she didn t realise was that a rather large section of wave tossed sea lay between that small black head is scarcely visible here so richard has kindly circled it in red i was frantically watching through binoculars and so could see the brief moment of shock as she found herself well out of her depth and then the almosts visible shrug of canine shoulders as she coped with a completely new exercise swimming she had not up to this come across deep water or anything other than shallow pools come to that the wind was strong and blowing offshore towards her i could see her trying to make headway and achieving very little i cupped my hands and shouted encouragement then she seemed to set her teeth and try harder slowly slowly she started to move against the wind towards the shore here she is gradually nearing the shore but still in quite deep rough water on the right of the picture there you can see troushka anxiously paddling out as far as she dares to guide her in and she was out on dry sandy land at last soaked through panting a little but rather pleased with herself she lay down and rolled in dry sand vigorously and then chased off to see what other adventures she could find i should perhaps explain that richard was some distance away on a sand dune with a long lens looking for rare gulls he was thus able to capture the frightening event albeit at long range i know i know you will say any puppy can swim automatically it s no big thing but tasha had never been in for anything but a paddle before and though she looks quite big in that final picture she is still a fairly small little spaniel and the offshore wind and the waves were pretty strong that day well at least now i know she can swim the channel but my heart was beating fast at the time i can tell you now it is time to enjoy the start of summer wherever you are mark this day one trusts that you did go out at dawn to wash your face in the dew but if you didn t there is still time up to midnight bealtaine beltane one of the two great celtic festivals from the beginning of time the other of course being samhain which leads into winter later came divisions like imbolc in february midsummer lunasa in august and midwinter but these two were the principal festivals in ancient times separating the two halves of the year and were marked by celebrations feasting and ritual including the magic fire kindled by the senior druid from nine special woods all other fires had to be extinguished before this and then rekindled from the sacred flame remember that back then fire was essential for survival and most households kept the blaze going from one end of the year to the other extinguishing it for these two festivals was a serious matter no they didn t have safety matches nor yet gas lighters once all house hearths had been rekindled and the sacred fire had burned down the ashes were spread on the fields to encourage fertility parents would mark young children s clothes with an ashy cross to stop the fairies stealing them away maybe you should light a fire tonight too throw on a few herbs if you do it s a good way of keeping in touch with the old beliefs posted by jo at celtic memory yarns at 5 07 pm 5 comments thursday january 19 2023 and about time too well it certainly wasn t meant to be a more than two year gap since the last post but life kind of got in the way there was a book to get published stories from the sea and some travelling to do once we were allowed so to do but here we are at the beginning of 2023 and it s high time we got back on track stories from the sea did very well since it brought in tales of smuggling and piracy as well as ancient travellers pilgrim routes and of course the vikings even had to go up to dublin to be interviewed as part of the book festival which was challenging but fairly rewarding too dh hates talking in public so i did most of that while he sat at the back and observed one of the most exciting things we discovered when researching stories from the sea was that the old legends are often genuine records not the product of fanciful imagination in this case we were looking for an island off the west coast which has a fair claim to being the haunt of that terrifying monster of folklore balor of the evil eye clearly a relative of medusa the gorgon he could kill a whole army just by revealing that one eye in the middle of his forehead anyway he was challenged in battle by the nemedians on one occasion they were quite understandably irate at his habit of descending on the mainland whenever he felt like seizing crops or cattle or children and the invading army crossed at low tide to his island stronghold unfortunately in the midst of battle the tide came in and many of both sides were drowned well richard and i were determined to find this very island and we did derinish off the sligo shore and as we sat in the car overlooking the bay and the island the tide fell and lo and behold a long line of cattle came peacefully meandering down from the mainland and crossed by the now visible sandbank to the lush pastures on derinish proof positive that the crossing can be made at low tide we made a point of coming back later when the tide was rising again and sure enough the cattle were wending their way back to the sligo shore they still know the way that the nemedians did in ancient times fortunately being more interested in safety than battle they keep an eye on the tide tables since then we have been working on de next book which will be known as all the way by the grand canal and is coming out in may you can find it on the o brien press website along with all our other books this has meant covering the less well known part of ireland the secret inland landscapes which lie between dublin on the east coast and the mighty river shannon on the west the grand canal was built in the late 18th century and was for its time the mighty autoroute that surpassed all previous methods of travel smooth safe continuous it changed life for everyone from farmers and businesses transporting produce and goods to travellers able to cross the country perhaps for the first time lords and ladies found it far more comfortable than taking their carriages along muddy tracks for days on end emigrants used it as the best and quickest way to get to limerick or dublin from where the big ships sailed and even those who couldn t afford the fares used the towpath to get to their destination without fear of losing the way just think of all the work it put in the way of everyone along the waterway too from stable hands to ticket sellers warehouse packers to hoteliers servants to messenger boys it was a game changer for everyone today this is a very popular long distance walking or cycling route and you have only to step on to the grassy towpath to see why it s a world apart from noisy motorways and endless traffic instead of rattles roars exhaust fumes you have the breeze blowing over glimmering water and birdsong on every bush utter peace the most excitement you will find is a canal boat puttering along one of the navigable stretches the captain waving cheerfully as he passes there is history too every step of the way and that was what we enjoyed the most teasing out the stories to be found in old deserted warehouses peaceful lock gates and lock keepers cottages small villages where once the daily arrival of the barge from dublin or shannon harbour brought the residents running from every cottage door we had a wonderful time researching the entire length of the canal and came home full of ideas and notions to incorporate into the book so that not only keen walkers and cyclists but armchair travellers too perhaps living far away but longing to be there could indeed transport themselves to the canal bank through the pages and richard s wonderfully evocative pictures the amount of mileage we put in was frightening or would have been if we had let ourselves think about it but that s not the reason you do it it s the urge to go that bit further see what is round the next corner find out what the story is behind that ivy covered ruin over there on one of our trips we included another journey further north to pick up a very special package in longford our oldest dog tamzin had reached the end of her life and was now sleeping peacefully in the orchard at the end of our garden this left troushka a little lonely and bemused so of course we bethought us of a replacement here came jo s bright idea gosh i have always always wanted a black cocker spaniel and so the hunt was on finally we picked her up on one of the hottest july days ever and brought her back to west cork to her new home which she proceeded to wreck with joyful abandon i thought i was well used to puppies but tasha natasha de st petersburg iii to give her her full title into which she has certainly not yet grown proved to be a whole new ball game wildly enthusiastic and ready to tear anything she found to bits she made the first few weeks more of a survival exercise for us than anything else what am i talking about she is still making life a survival exercise for us at least there was no problem with troushka although the older dog does find her a little over energetic at times they have now worked out some sort of modus vivendi whereby tasha leaps and bounds all round the older dog using up some of her energy and troushka occasionally breaks into a gallop and does a bit of mock fighting before slowing down to her usual amble it s not only in the house that she wreaks her depredations but in the garden too how do you manage to overturn a very large earthenware flowerpot pull out the plants therein and scatter the earth everywhere or dig a deep hole at the base of a perfectly friendly tree when i as a gardener have a job finding anywhere i can get down three inches before hitting rock west cork is like that the only place this little monster is truly happy is on a beach a wide long beach pr...