Tracks and Trails

Tracks and Trails will feature spectacular walks and cycle tracks in stunning locations all over the country. The programmes will be presented by a different personality each week.

Episodes

Programme One: Tipperary

RTÉ One, Sunday 20 November 2011, 7.00pm

Presenter/Walker: Tracy Piggott, RTE Sport
Guide: Cormac Mac Donnell, National Trails Office
Location: Tipperary
Trail: Tipperary Heritage Trail from the Knockmealdown Mountains to the Rock of Cashel

Starting from a famous viewing point on the Tipperary-Waterford border, The Gap above the Vee which was created by a Glacial valley in the Knockmealdown Mountains. So starts the Tipperary Heritage Trail.

The weather and the views improved as they moved down the valley where the Golden Vale opens out before them near Goatenbridge. At this point in their jounrney their destination the Rock of Cashel 40km away can be seen on a fine day. The walk now takes them down a quiet country road to a footbridge on the river Tar where they stop off for lunch. Cormac and Tracy didn't know each other before this walk but as Cormac says 'Walking is a good way to get to know someone'.

They walk briskly onto our Lady's Abbey a medieval architectural gem on the back road to Ardfinnan where they are met by local archaeologist and historian Dr. Mark Ryland who tells them they are walking the same route to Cashel taken by Kings and Bishops for 1500 years.

He also tells them to look out for Castles and monasteries in nearly every town in Tipperary as being some of the best land in Ireland it has a long history before and since the Anglo Normans. For example the Butler Trail section of the Tipperary Heritage trail takes you along the river suir into Cahir where the Butlers of Ormond built a Castle.

The Tipperary Heritage trails then goes along quiet country roads into Golden which brings Tracy back memory lane to when she lived here for four years and tells Cormac some of the legends of how the mountains they see around them got their names.

They walk then along the River Suir rich in nature and historical remains to their final destination the Rock of Cashel; Ireland's most spectacular medieval religious site. They both agreed it was a dramatic end to their walk.

Programme Two: Cavan

RTÉ One, Sunday 27 November 2011, 7.00pm

Presenter/Walker: Colin Murphy
Guides: A selection of guides including Fermanagh native and presenter Graham Little
Location: Cavan, Fermanagh, Upper Lough Erne

Setting out in Belturbet Co. Cavan comedian Colin Murphy cycles to the border to meet Fermanagh native Graham Little, and together they cycle to Upper Lough Erne. This is not so much a lake as a watery maze of islands, inlets and meandering waters. The two lads cycle along the Kingfisher cycle which goes all around Upper Lough Erne.

Graham parts with Colin as he reaches the National Trust estate of Crom, containing over 2,000 acres of natural landscapes and woodland. Colin pays a visit to Crom Castle where Viscount Crichton suggests Colin visit one of the oldest Yew Trees in Europe, which has been witness to many events in Irish History for nearly four hundred years!

Colin having realized long ago that the best way to see Fermanagh is by water, is met by Share Adventure Centre manager Robert Livingston who sets him up with an Indian type canoe to discover the Canoe Trail on the Upper Lough stopping off at inlets and islands on the way. The lake truly was a motorway for the Maguires who ruled Fermanagh from their Castle at Enniskillen.

In recent years the Lakelands of Fermanagh and the border counties have been opened up to both walkers and water enthusiasts by the creation of the Shannon Erne Canal which links the Shannon with the River Erne. It means you can now travel like the former inhabitants of these lakes did in ancient history from Limerick to Ballyshannon along the Shannon-Erne waterway.

Colin's final destination before cycling off to Enniskillen is Aghakillymaude Mummers Centre at Knockninny. Jim Ledwith fills him in on the Mummers tradition in the weeks before Christmas, when men make hats and dresses from Straw and go to visit houses and perform drama and songs and get food and drink in return.

Back on the road Colin arrives at his final destination, Enniskillen Castle. Colin was delighted with the chance to spend time getting to know Fermanagh as he usually just passes through it in his car.

Programme Three: Achill Island

RTÉ One, Sunday 4 December 2011, 7.00pm

Location: Achill
Jim Sherwin Walks and Cycles from Mulranny to Achill Island

The picturesque Mayo village of Mulranny, often known as the gateway of Achill, affords magnificent views across Clew Bay to Croagh Patrick and the Sheefry Hills. It is also the starting point for broadcaster Jim Sherwin's exploration of the walks and trails that this spectacular corner of the country has to offer. It's a journey that Jim shares for a time with his grandsons Alex and Matthew as they follow the Greenway, the new cycle path constructed on the route of the defunct railway from Westport to Achill.

First Jim explores the 6km Burrishoole loop walk along the Mulranny coast, walking the causeway that separates Mulranny's saltmarsh from the beach and sea, in the company of Mary Callahan, a woman who remembers the famous visitors to the hotel in Mulranny in days gone by

Then Jim takes his grandsons on the second leg of the journey - the 13km cycle journey from Mulranny to Achill. On the way they meet local artist Seosamh O'Dálaigh in his studio where they discuss the inspiration that the magnificent landscape of the Cleggan Hills has offered to generations of Irish painters.

Jim visits the mysterious Achill Secret Garden, then explores the splendors of Achill's Atlantic Drive walk in the company of local guide and outdoorsman Tomás MacLochlainn. The pair visit the ancient church at Kildownet and take in the spectacular scenery of cliff and wave along the Atlantic Drive.

The journey is in many ways a nostalgic reverie for Jim - "Achill Island is where I first met my wife many years ago..." For both presenter and viewer it is a journey to remember.

Programme Four: Co. Clare

RTÉ One, Sunday 4 December 2011, 7.00pm

Presenter: Evelyn Cusack Met Office and RTÉ
Guide: Eimer McCarthy Co. Clare Rural Recreation Officer
Location: The Burren Co. Clare
Trail: Fanore - Ballyvaughan Trek

Evelyn and Eimer Mc Carthy Co. Clare's Rural Recreational officer start their walk in Fanore and climb Black Head along the unique panorama of grey that provides such a stark contrast to Ireland's proverbial 'forty shades of green'. There are a selection of Loop and linear walks in the Burren and this particular walk was designed by Eimer with the assistance of local landowners who own the land around Black Head. They work with the National Trails office to preserve the paths in good condition. As they walk upland towards Blackhead they walk along the old road or Green Road which is high above the present coastal road and a much more pleasant track.

As Evelyn Cusack walks the Limestone landscape of the Burren she experiences first hand that there really are four seaons in one day in Ireland! However they both agree that walking in soft rain can be an enjoyable experience when it is not cold.

At an erratic rock they meet with Burren Connect geologist Ronan Hennessy who teaches geology to school groups and local interest groups who were all part of the project that got Burren Unesco Geology Park status in recent months. Evelyn who has a keen interest in climate change discovers from Ronan that the Burren once was a tropical sea which formed into the unique landscape 350 million years ago.

As they walk they discover a landscape teeming with tiered limestone pavements which shelter rare flora and come across local woman from Fanore Mary Howard who is on a mission to discover a rare Burren flower, the Alpine Gentian.

The weather starts to get very wet as they walk along Gleninagh and our two walkers decide to come down off the mountain to visit Gleninagh Church and meet up with Clodagh Lynch who has recently found stone axes in the Burren at Fanore beach dating to 6,000 years ago.

The hills that make up the Burren are actually like swiss cheese with some 300 caves created by disappearing streams. These labyrinthine caves include one that stretches some 2km in Ailiwee Mountain. Evelyn and Eimer decide to visit Ailiwee and then take up their walk in nearby Fenagh valley where they come down the mountain and back to Ballyvaughan via a hazel forest.

Programme Five: Co. Clare

RTÉ One, Sunday 18 December 2011, 7.00pm

Presenter: Feargal Quinn
Guide: Kevin Rickard, member of Howth Pathways Committee
Location: Howth Head, Co. Dublin
Trail: Dart Station Howth-Cliff Walk- Bog of the Frogs.

Feargal Quinn Senator and business man has often wondered what would it be like to be a tourist in his own area and by his choice of walking companion Howth native Kevin Rickard he hopes to learn more about his adopted home of Howth. Kevin shares his memories of old Howth with Feargal as they walk up to Kilrock and around East Mountain to Howth's Cliff walk. Kevin's grandparents lived for a time on Howth summit and his grandmother used to sell tea on a Sunday from her front garden to some of the first day trippers to Howth including John Mc Cormack.

As they walk along East mountain they meet a botanist who tells them that Howth Head has the first botanical reference in Irish literature. It seems Diarmaid and Grainne ate wild garlic on Howth head in their wanderings around Ireland!

Feargal thinks that Dublin, a city of over 1 million, is fortunate to have on its doorstep one of the last wild places in Ireland which has a similar habitat to what it had 100 years ago so you can still imagine where Molly Bloom rolled in the heather in the final scene in James Joyce's Ulysses.

Kevin explains to Feargal the work of the Pathways Committee in Howth of which he has been a member for 15 years. They are dedicated to keeping the rights of way Howth had years ago across the peninsula open for locals and walkers alike. In recent years these ancient pathways have been mapped and signposted as named looped walks available from the National Trails website; The Bog of the frogs walk, Cliff Walk, Blacklinn Loop and the Tramway walk. A friend, Jim Kilroy takes them down the Tramway walk to see the work he has done on restoring the Howth Tram and how he'd love to fulfill his dream of running it on an electrical track again in Howth.!

Back on the path at the Needles Feargal and Kevin meet fellow walkers and nature lovers on the way who share stories about the natural beauty and history of Howth including the Nun's beach!. They make their way across Shielmartin mountain into the Deerpark forest and golf course near Howth Castle and back into Howth Village.
Feargal really appreciated Howth tourist HG Wells in the 19th Century meant when he said 'the view of Ireland's eye was the finest view west of Naples'.