Country Diary: The Burren, Ireland
A mystery tour. I remember my brother telling me that in the 1950s the railway in Dublin proposed a very cheap mystery tour for people on low incomes, a much-needed day's tour away from the city center. It was a popular outing. Mothers, fathers and their children crowded the rail station and then the train. Relatives even came to see them off. Whistles blew and away they went - all along the sea coast to their home town of Balbriggan.
The ways of the railways were often a mystery, never mind the tours. Recently I proposed a mystery tour to Mary Ann and we set off very early. We arrived in the vicinity of the little lake of Bunnahow, not far from Lough Cutra near Gort, County Galway, and walked about the town land of Beithe. The strips of glorious blue near the small cottages were no more. Once flax was grown all about here. The flax heads were steeped in water-filled bog holes. They were spread out to dry and, once this process was complete, they were then given to the hackler to comb. The result went to the spinning wheel and, after bleaching, was made into shirts and sheets. Cheap cotton imports destroyed this home-based industry.
As we gazed at Bunnahow lake, I recalled the story from Caoilte Breatnach's Memories in Time about an old woman who lived by the lake and who loved fish. She kept a fine flock of geese by the lakeside. She regularly went fishing with her gander to the side of the lake opposite her geese. Here she would tie a fishing line and bait to the gander's leg. Above the bait a corked bottle full of air was secured. The gander was released on to the lake and, seeing his geese at the far side, immediately made for them. About midway he would be pulled down. Up he would surface to begin playing the fish, finally bringing one home for his owner's supper. She of course awaited his arrival. It was a long-lived gander and a great catcher of fish, but gander fishing never caught on!
The ways of the railways were often a mystery, never mind the tours. Recently I proposed a mystery tour to Mary Ann and we set off very early. We arrived in the vicinity of the little lake of Bunnahow, not far from Lough Cutra near Gort, County Galway, and walked about the town land of Beithe. The strips of glorious blue near the small cottages were no more. Once flax was grown all about here. The flax heads were steeped in water-filled bog holes. They were spread out to dry and, once this process was complete, they were then given to the hackler to comb. The result went to the spinning wheel and, after bleaching, was made into shirts and sheets. Cheap cotton imports destroyed this home-based industry.
As we gazed at Bunnahow lake, I recalled the story from Caoilte Breatnach's Memories in Time about an old woman who lived by the lake and who loved fish. She kept a fine flock of geese by the lakeside. She regularly went fishing with her gander to the side of the lake opposite her geese. Here she would tie a fishing line and bait to the gander's leg. Above the bait a corked bottle full of air was secured. The gander was released on to the lake and, seeing his geese at the far side, immediately made for them. About midway he would be pulled down. Up he would surface to begin playing the fish, finally bringing one home for his owner's supper. She of course awaited his arrival. It was a long-lived gander and a great catcher of fish, but gander fishing never caught on!
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