Leaves of winter.

The Hairy Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta, is a tenacious weed, the hint of Spring will bring it to life. This little plant will suddenly appear in planters, garden pots and bare ground. The avid gardener will attack it with a biblical purge, but this little plant, that produces five hundred seeds, reappears in a flash and can quickly overrun every piece of bare ground, its war with the gardener continues all year. However, were the gardener to take a slightly different course, their sweat and toil would have a tasty outcome as Hairy Bittercress is one of the most flavoursome wild salad plants you will meet and it grows for free all around you.

The Hairy Bittercress is neither hairy or bitter or a cress, but it tastes like cress and in a sandwich it is indistinguishable from water cress. The Hairy Bittercress has fresh, nutty or peppery flavour even a cabbage like taste, and so it should as it is related to cabbage. It belongs to the Cardamine family, its near cousin the Lady's Smock Cardamine Pretensis has a beautiful soft pink colour and is the sole food for the Orange Tip Butterfly.

Keep an eye out for this edible weed now as it is popping up everywhere and is easy to identify before other weeds appear. It is best collected by snipping off leaves with a scissors, you can eat flowers and leaves, add them to a salad, my favourite is a great big bunch of Hairy Bittercress and sardines.

Nature and exercise a powerful medication.

Looped walk Nire Valley

Winter’s darkness is now receding and the promise of longer, warmer, days appears stronger with every passing day.  We have eaten, drank and slept our fill over Christmas and there is a natural urge to get outside; do you answer the call.

Over Christmas I have been reading about “Green Prescriptions” in the USA and New Zealand, a Green Prescription is using nature to rid us from stress and thus head off the onset of depression and other health issues before medical intervention is necessary.

Nire Valley Green Road

Dr. Mark Ellison, in his blog Nature and health, "5 ways using nature can help us mentally and physically."  He advises that “Exercising in nature essentially multiplies the benefits of exercise…” and more importantly, in my opinion, tell us “Don’t listen to music, enjoy the sounds of the birds, the wind, and notice the beauty of nature…” You don’t have to live in the country to get a quick walk in, you can go for a quick walk in you lunch break. But “If you have more time, plan a hike for several hours, or bike on a rail trail…”

Comeragh Mountains

The benefits are not just you personal health but as Dr. Ellison goes on to say “research by faculty at the University of Utah and University of Kansas found that spending time in nature can improve creativity up to 50%. Being more creative on the job means you can generate better ideas and more innovative solutions to problems….”

You don’t have any excuse not to get out there, the options are limitless. Join a local walking club, the Mountaineering Ireland web-site has a list of all walking/ hiking clubs in Ireland, find out your nearest “Way marked trail” on the Irish Trails Web site and you can even combine a holiday break and a hike there are available all over Ireland or be more adventurous any where in the world.

Nire Valley Drop

So what are you waiting for? 

Sloe gin. The 2013 harvest.

Nire Valley Sloe Gin 2013.

Sloes

2013 vintage sloe-gin could be scarce as it was a very bad year for the Black thorn and its fruit the sloe. The blackthorn always flowers in late March early April and this year (2013) was cold and wet and this year the blackthorn produced very few flowers. In a good spring white blossom of the black thorn traces the field boundaries and you can pick out the individual fields. We in the South-east of Ireland take this for granted, as our field boundaries are more commonly made up of bushes and trees, but this type of ditch is not found everywhere. One of the great by-products of these banks and ditches is the the wild fruits they support. Sloes, crab apples, haws, hurts, bilberries, wild strawberries and wild raspberries as well as damsons. It is a pity not to pick some and make preserves or flavoured gin and vodka from the sloes and damsons.

Black thorn

The damsons ripen in August while you have to wait for the first frost before you gather sloes. You can pick the sloes and freeze them to "sweeten" them in September, you will need to this if you want sloe-gin for Christmas.

The sloes for this bottle were picked in Ballymacarbry and Hanora's Cottage turned it into Sloe gin.

I wrote about the Sloe in a blog in September, where you will find more information on this common hedge row plant. Here's to a good spring and a bountiful sloe harvest next September.

The Nire Valley Drop.

There are few places where you encounter nature in the raw. There are even fewer places where you and your bike can challenge nature knowing if you don’t tame nature it will tame you. In years to come when all is forgotten the whisper of the words “Nire Valley Drop” will get you adrenaline pumping as you smile and say “I was there too”.

The Nire Valley where we do it in the wild…….

Where? Ballmacarbry, Waterford, Ireland.

When? 11am, Sunday October 27th 2013.

What is it? The Nire Valley Drop is an off road cross country cycle challenge, up hill and down hill, crossing forestry and moorland.

How much? €25

Is it a fundraiser? Half of the funds raised at the Nire Valley Drop will go towards Community Development Programmes on the island of Île à Vache in Haiti, where volunteers will return with Haven next Easter from 18th¬-27th April 2014. The remainder of the funds will go towards the Nire Football Club.

Can I register online? Course, https://eventmaster.ie/event.php?event_id=421

What about on the day? You can also sign-in/register on the day from 9:30 in Ballymacarbry Hostel and Community Centre.

Where do I sign in? You must sign-in no later than 10:40am at Ballymacarbry Hostel and Community Centre.

Where does the cycle leave from? The cycle leaves from Ballymacarbry Hostel and Community Centre at 11am.

How to I get there for Dublin? Allow 3hrs from the Red Cow. Take the M8 (to Cork) and come off at Cahir junction 10. Take the Waterford, Clonmel road after that, when you arrive in Clonmel head for Dungarvan, Ballymacarbry is 10 miles from Clonmel.

What do I need to bring? The cyclists will need to bring a helmet, 2 tubes, change of clothes, cycling gloves, a small first aid kit and a bike suitable for tough terrain. Please note: Cyclists with no helmet will not be permitted to partake in the Nire Valley Drop. 

Do I need cycling experience? Anyone can take part but it will be an added advantage to have road cycling experience. The track is challenging in parts but thoroughly enjoyable.

How long is the trail? There are two options; 20km and 40 km.

What if I choose the 40km and change my mind? There will be "Cut-outs" on the 40km course, this means you could go on the 40k course and then short circuit a leg and thus ride 30k instead. We have about 4 cut-outs. We will have maps on the day, and advise from locals.

What happens after the cycle? There will be soup and brown bread available at the Community Centre after the cycle. Tea and coffee will also be available.

Are there showers? Hot showers are available (although we cannot promise for how long the hot water will last!).

Lastly, the Drops?

1. Condons Drop 4.3km Forest Track Fast Descent

2 .The Horseshoe Drop 9.22km Single Track mud

ClimbMarkley KOM Start climb 12.2km Forest Track / Boreen

3. Halpin's Drop 13.67km Single Track Steep descent

4. Coffin Drop 15.52km Single Track Rocks / Fast Descent

5. Tear Drop 15.8km Single Track Rough Terrain

6. Rocky Drop 18.62km Single Track Rocky Steep Decline

7. Hunters Drop 18.88km Single Track Steep Decline

8. Woodcock Drop 19.55km Single Track Fast decline

9. HAVEN Drop 20.4km Single Track / Firetrack Rough Terrain

10. Cannonball Drop 21.85km Single Track Steep decline / Rough Terrain

11. Bambi's Drop 22km Forest Track Grassy surface

12. Yahoo Drop 25km Single Track / Firetrack / Road Rough Surface / Tarmac

13. Lynch's Drop 27.27km Single Track Steep Descent

14. Nire Valley Drop 28.48km Single Track Steep Descent

15. TEAL Drop 29.68km Single Track Rough Terrain

16. Badgers Drop 31.3km Firetrack Rough Terrain

17. The Chicken George Run 33.23km Single Track Steep Decline / Rough Terrain

18. Abhann Drop 36.5km Single Track Rough Terrain and stream.

Youtube video of the drop.

Nire valley Autumn walking festival October 2013.

There is a walk for you at the 2013 Nire Valley Autumn Walking Festival. This may be a chance for you to try walking and hiking as a possible healthy activity. It is never too late to start a New Year's resolution.
All the walks are graded and so we have taken the guessing out of which walk you should part take in.
The A and B+ walks are for people who hike regular, weekly or 2 or 3 times a month year round.
The B walks are for those who go hiking 1 to 2 times a month, while the C walks are for those who have a level of fitness that would allow them walk for 4 hours with plenty of stops. The C walks are a great place to get started on the hiking trail. Even within the C walks on offer there is some gradation. The walks on Sunday are a little easier than the Saturday walk, but don't let that put you off the Saturday walk.

 The B walks also have some gradation, on Saturday the Coumfea walk will be a little harder than the other two with the "Way They Went" being the easier of the three B walks on Saturday.



While on Sunday the B walk to Coumshingaun will provide the biggest challenge of the three B walks, again, with "The Way They Went" walk to Rathgormack being a very pleasant walk for all concerned.




If you are staying for the Week-end we have an Apres Walk Dinner on Saturday night. Which is always good fun.

For a full brochure visit our website Nire Valley.

You will need boots no matter what level you part-take, rain gear ( it is Ireland) some sandwiches and water and tea or coffee. A bar of chocolate or raisins are also encouraged, after all you will be walking it off.

Registration is at the Nire School, beside the Nire Church, and check brochure for details.

Comeragh Wild.

We did not think of the great open plains, the beautiful rolling hills, and winding streams with tangled growth, as 'wild.' Only to the white man was nature a "wilderness" and only to him was the land 'infested' with 'wild' animals and 'savage' people." Chief [Luther] Standing Bear, Lakota (1933).

Our concept of wilderness is interesting, to some it is a place that must be bent to mans bidding, reclaimed, reformed and refined. To others it is a place to escape to, to find yourself, to recharge. Either way the "wilderness" leaves no one without an opinion. To me the wilderness is the 180 degree opposite to everything man does. The temples of the great Mayan cultures or Great Zimbabwe have all been reclaimed by nature, even our stone circles and standing stones, in the Nire Valley are hidden by nature. I love the way nature will cover all our traces in time and the Earth will forget us. 

On Sunday 22nd of September, as part of the Comeragh Wild festival, we will take "The Last Journey" across the Comeraghs, we follow the route of Bóthairín na Sochraide, the funeral path, from the Nire to Rathgormack . While we walk it we must contemplate the relationship our fore-bearers  had with this wilderness of the Comeraghs. They crossed the mountain following a coffin, a loved one, a friend, a neighbour; they paid their respects. They crossed without any technical clothing (waterproof gear), they crossed in all weather conditions and they crossed without any navigational aids. But, they possessed an innate understanding of the mountain, the weather, the seasons and their ability. We have lost these, I see many walkers today who are unable to read the topography, who are unable to read the weather and who have no idea how to hold a course without a compass or, worse, a GPS. Obsessed with getting to the highest point, keeping Naismith's rule and covering one-hundred meters in a minuet, "pushing themselves" and never seeing what actually surrounds them.

I wonder have we, humans, become the wildness and the mountains remained sane. Are we the ones who have gone feral and can no longer read the Earth or the Wind.

Come and join our walk along the funeral path and contemplate life, nature and our place in it. The event is free but you need to confirm your place, phone 058- 54975. Our the Web site comeraghswild.com 

Nire Valley.

Praying in a tea-pot.

The ruin of the Church

In 1847 Clonmel Architect William Tinsley designed a house in Ballymacarbry, for mill manager and landlord's agent, Abraham Coates.  Tinsley is also credited with designing the Protestant church that 

was built near Deerpark Bridge about a mile from Ballymacarbry village.  I have not been able to find any documentary evidence of this, nor can I see his trademark “palmette” on the building, but that may have been over the main door, which was demolished, but there is strong indications that Tinsley designed the Church as his daughter Ellen was married to Charles Fry rector of Kilronan (Fourmilewater).    

"Palmette" on the White Memorial Theater Clonmel

The church, the teapot, as it was locally called, was for the landlord and his staff, it is a small chapel that seated only about 30 people. Local lore tells of a young boy, who was crippled, was abandoned in the locality, he was taken in by locals and became a gifted stone-mason, and he supposedly was the mason who built the Church. Another piece of lore is that a Downey family lived on the land and they were evicted, a number of years ago a Ballymacarbry woman met a Downey who told her that their family had a story of them being evicted so the landlord could build a Church.

William Tinsley was an important architect and he built and designed many "Great Houses" including what is now the Minella Hotel, White Memorial Theater, extensions to Curraghmore (stable etc) and several great houses in and around Fethard like Grove. He later emigrated to Indiana USA.

Whorts and fraocháns.

If you are out on the mountain this time of year you will come across whorts also called fraocháns or bilberries. These delightful black berries with a shimmer of electric blue are in full season. They are a real treat on the mountain.
Whorts were once picked on a commercial basis and in 1941 Ireland exported almost 400 tons (CSO) of the berry to Britian.
Michael J. Conry's book "Picking Bilberries, Fraocháns and Whorts in Ireland" goes into great detail on the commercial and socio-economic importance of the crop. Michael interviews many people who picked whorts in the Comeraghs, Knockmealdowns, Galtys and Slievenamon.
For me I love to pick them with wild raspberries, then blend both berries separately and pour the resulting syrup over a slice of vanilla ice-cream. Magic.

Whorts growing in the Nire Valley.

Nire Church.

Next time you are going walking in the Nire, even if your late and in a rush you can not fail to notice the pretty Nire Church (St. Helena's Church). Even if you fly past you can't but notice the Church. There was not always have a church here, in fact the Nire was not even a parish until the late 19th century.  Before 1850 the Nire was a place where six parishes came together; Rathgormack , Clonmel's (St. Peter & Paul's, St. Mary's), Seskinane, Fourmilewater and Kilsheelan. There was a small church in Knockaunbrendan which was not a parish church and did not have a cemetery, this meant that when an inhabitant of the Nire died they were buried in a cemetery at one of the six parishes. In 1859 the foundations for the Nire Church were laid and it took three years to complete. The Church was designed by famous Church architect J.J McCarthy. McCarthy designed churches all over Ireland including Tramore, Clonea-Power, Thurles, Monaghan and many more. 

McCarthy's design is subtle, look closer. The church has more roof than wall, in fact if this church was anywhere else it would look ugly as the amount of roof would make the building look oppressive, but here in the Nire location it works because the outside wall, retaining the cemetery, gives the building a sense of proportion, the Church has also a square bell tower, which is not common on a Roman Catholic Church.

An architect I had walking with me pointed out that the slates in the roof were typical of a Welsh layout which he found unusual in a rural Irish location, but there may be an explanation, the slate quarries outside Carrick-on-Suir were worked by Welsh miners and they may have been involved in the roofing of the church. My walking colleague asked had they run out of money building the Church. I asked how he came to that conclusion. He, answered, pointing to the bell tower, that a collar around the tower was too near the cap (roof) on the tower. Local lore does not mention lack of funds instead there is a story of how the weather influenced the capping of the tower. The local story tells us that the builder had fallen behind in his schedule and needed to move to another project, it was decided that, if the following day was good they would cap the tower, otherwise they would go to the other project and return to the Nire at a later date. Well the weather must have been good as it seems the tower should have been a little higher. 

Another beautiful feature of the Church are the bands of various coloured sandstone and the work of the stonemason has to be admired as does the good work of the present day Church committee who keep the building pristine. All the beauty of St. Helena's is not kept to the outside its interior is also beautiful, high barn like with warm wooden beams supporting the high pitched roof.

Listen to local Denis McGrath tell the story of how the bells were sounded twice every Sunday to summon people to mass.

If you would like to follow some of the routes taken by locals in their everyday life why not join us between October 12th and 13th, in the Nire Valley, on our Nire Valley, Comeragh Mountain walking festival.

Boyle's law and the Nire River.

Every journey you take is affected by the location of river crossings, bridges. No matter what your destination you have to find a point that gets you across a stream, river, estuary etc. The town, city, village you work and shop in is probably there because of a bridge. How many Irish place names have "ath" ( river ford) in there name, Athenry, Athy even Dublin in Irish is Baile Áth Cliath "The town of the hurdled ford". 

   The Bridge Bar.

It is because of a bridge that Ballymacarbry does not have a church. The first bridge across the Nire was built near Fourmilewater and thus a small community grew up around the Fourmilewater and in turn a Church was built, only when a mill was put on the Nire River did Ballymacarbry come into existence but by that time the Church was already in place. Before the Bridge¹ at Fourmilewater there was a ford in the same location, that is about 200 meters up stream of the present "Bridge". This was an important river crossing as it lay on the main road linking Clonmel with Dungarvan, Lismore and Cork. Its importance was highlighted by the fact that a castle guarded the ford from nearby high ground, Caisleán Cuanach. Caisleán Cuanach was a McGrath castle and they controlled the ford. 

The Nire river is a river with a bad temper, most days it runs swift but shallow then when the rains swell its channel it becomes violent and angry, since 1942 it has claimed three lives. Thus you could arrive at the crossing and be delayed for days as you waited for the river to lower its guard. 

It was following one such flood that the river must have looked  safe, to Lord Cork's driver, to cross.  The carriage entered the river only to succumb to a swift current and a rocky bottom. The carriage flipped and decanted its passengers into the fast Nire. Lord Cork's son, Robert, was swept into the turbulent Nire, but the Nire did not claim a victim as he was pulled alive from the river. Lord Cork paid for a wooden bridge to be built at the ford, but the Nire and its flood took the bridge apart.  Upon Lord Cork's death, in 1642, he appointed Roger McGrath as the person that the Earl wanted to repair the bridge on the Nire River at Fourmilewater, a stone or mason bridge was constructed which still stands to-day. Today the road is no longer a major link on the route between Clonmel and Dungarvan and now only the locals or the guests from Glasha Farmhouse stroll over the bridge to the Bridge bar for a quite evening drink with the sound of the Nire River in the background and the sight of the "Bridge" spanning the river and all the heritage it stands for. 

As for the nine year old son of Lord Cork, Robert went on to become one of the great scientists of all time and is considered the Father of Modern Chemistry. Robert Boyle gave his name to Boyle's Law and thus the connection between Boyle's law and the Nire river. 

Do you know the story about the Bridge bar and the greyhound Master McGrath, well that's for another blog.

1. The oldest bridge on the Nire does not have a name locally it is called the "Bridge".

                                                                         Down stream from the Bridge.

  

Walking the Dead – following an old funeral road in the Comeragh Mountains.

Walking the Dead – following an old funeral road in the Comeragh Mountains.

Funerals are no fun, it's a serious business. A few generations ago going to a funeral in the Nire or anywhere in the Comeragh Mountains was a commitment of at least one day or more. The Nire did not have a church until 1862 and the graveyard did not come into common use until 1926, thus up to the late 1920s the natives from the Nire were buried in Rathgormack, six miles away across the Comeragh Mountain and across the mountain is the way they went. The funeral path went from the Nire to Rathgormack passing through the Gap along the route called Bóithrín na Sochraide (The funeral road).  It is by no means unique but it is still traveled by walkers today. In a mid 18^th century the road was engineered as part of famine relief works (this was a famine that occurred before the great famine of 1845) and parts of the engineering are still visible today especially as you approach the Gap on the Nire side.

The coffin was “shouldered” carried on long poles and along the way there were places where the coffin was placed on a large boulder and everyone took a rest, one such boulder exists on the Nire side called Cloch an Choirp (The body rock). After a rest the funeral proceeded to the Gap, here some mourners would have headed back to the Nire while others from Rathgormack would have waited to join the cortege. The burial took place in Rathgormack and the poles for carrying the coffin were left in the cemetery. The last funeral went through the gap sometime around 1930, a localised outbreak of influenza in 1926 saw three members of one family die in the space of one week and all three were buried in the grounds of the Nire Church and from then on more and more locals were buried in the Nire.

The Funeral path today makes an interesting walking route you can choose to walk from the Nire just to the Gap or continue all the way to Rathgormack. Why not head for the Nire this week end and follow the Green Arrows that will bring you along the way from the Nire Car-park to the Gap.

If you walk the route, please check the weather before you go, bring rain-gear  water and a mobile phone and walking boots. Enjoy the Nire.

Map board at start of Looped walk to The Gap.

The Nire Walking Experience

“You climb the mountain in an equilibrium between restlessness and exhaustion. Then, when you're no longer thinking ahead, each footstep isn't just a means to an end but a unique event in itself.”

Robert Pirsig.  Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

When tired legs and a heavy load on your back bring a smile to your face, you know you are somewhere special. After a long days walk the sight of your guesthouse bathed in a warm welcoming glow with the promise of good food a warm shower and dry clothes is a pleasure that both calms the soul and fills the body with pride at what you have achieved.  This is not the only simple pleasure you will have experienced today.  The wonderful and simple pleasure of a packed lunch at 2,000ft after walking all morning borders on the exotic, it is amazing how fresh oxygen drenched air can make simple sandwiches taste supreme and imagine how the smoked salmon and brown bread tastes it’s a five star experience. It doesn't stop there, the local knowledge of the guides bring the Nire Valley to life with stories, insights and local lore of the valley. After dinner you are amazed that you still have energy to go to Hanrahan’s, The Bridge Bar, Melodys or Dooceys for a pint only to find yourself dancing a half-set and there are more mountains to be conquered tomorrow. Life is good. We have two guesthouses in the area; Hanora’s Cottage and Glasha Farmhouse  both are award wining and you will be pampered on your stay. 

Pignuts wild food in a wild landscape. The Nire Valley

I had a free day last Saturday, when you get a free day don't waste it, so I got up at eight a.m., rucksack packed including a lunch box, with two tomatoes, a tin of sardines, three slices of bread. 

Wood Sorrel

            I headed for a nearby woodland, on the way picking handfuls of Hairy Bittercress, a thin plant with a small white flower that is common and found as a weed in every garden. Hairy Bittercress has a wonderful peppery taste and is one of my favourite wild foods. Soon I am in the forest, a forest of mixed trees; this place is not a dark densely packed forest but a light-airy woodland with sunlight filtering through to the woodland floor. The woodland floor is covered in moss and what I am looking for, Wood Sorrel. 

Pignut.

Wood Sorrel, a three leaved plant that looks like a shamrock and has a bitter lemon taste. The mossy floored forest gives way to open moorland and the mountain, the mountain, to me, is freedom. I can walk for hours here and not meet another living soul; it is you and your ghosts alone. Today's walk is a short one and I soon find my self turning down hill and walking through long abandoned country roads. All the time getting lower the day is getting warmer and I am getting hungrier. By midday I am on the banks of the fast flowing Nire River, keeping a sharp eye open for the plant Ransoms, better known as wild garlic. It is getting late in the year for the plant but eventually I find some, its glossy green oval leaves and white flowers hiding among a small clump of Hazel trees. A few leaves picked and then the hunt for the king of forage foods, Pignuts, which are a tuber and not a nut..  They are scarce now days and hard to find, but I know a spot on the river where they grow After several miles tumbling down the mountain the Nire comes to a rest in a large pool under a wonderful old bridge. On the banks of this pool grows Pignuts. Pignuts do not surrender easily and nature has taught these delicacies a trick or two on survival. You have to trace the stem down underground to the pignut but as you go underground the stem becomes thinner and more frail and then it takes a right angle bend to the nut, if you rush you will either break the stem by pulling too hard on the stem or more than likely cut through the stem at the right angle, patience is always rewarded with a pignut.

Now! My reward for hiking and foraging, I open the tin of sardines decant the contents into the plastic container, add the sorrel, slice the pig nut as thin as possible, then I mix the lot, I spread the mix on bread, then I eat some of the Hairy Bittercress before tucking into to my sardines and forage mix. The Cress is a lovely peppery foretaste for the sandwich, the sorrel adds a sharpness which contrasts with the oily sardines and the pignuts provide crunch. All this is washed down with sweet tea. I dip my feet in the very cold river and relax. With my wild food lunch ate I pack up and head for home.

It is great to spend a day off the beaten track and escape to peace and quite with nature’s bounty all-around you. This Saturday looks good, might escape again.

Nire River. Co Waterford