The Way Things Used to Be…

A bright and sunny day dawned in Ballina, although most didn’t see the very early morn..recovering from the night/morning before !

However we all ate a hearty breakfast in the Hotel, before returning to Ballycong to sort out who was to do what..sadly the winds had destroyed the Gazebo, although it may be repairable, in the meantime I’ve dismantled it, and stored it away…the sun was still shining though, so we all took advantage of it..

I went for the advertised ‘Day in the Bog’..whilst the rest went to Lahardane for the titanic story

Carrowharriblia bog was not far from Ballycong, and would have been the bog where my father cut the turf for his home, and others before coming to England all those years ago… he had told me of it many times, so I was determined to see what he had been talking about..I rode to it on my bike, and as I rode from the road into the bog I realised it was a vast area , stretching way into the distance on all sides – I was later to find out that it is almost unique to Ireland, and was formed under the sea, being exposed as the land rose, and since then new peat has formed from the vegetation growing on the wet mossy ground – at a rate of 1 foot every three hundred years !

Some of the people displaying what went on had dressed in period costume as they tended the open peat fire, boiling some water for tea…

Firstly the demonstration, several people cutting the turf ‘sods’, including a neighbour Jimmy Flannery ,who despite being 75+, was still able to cut and throw the sods with ease.. I even had a go myself,  although not nearly as well as Jimmy..with several demonstrating the art of throwing and catching the sods, and spreading them over the area – the stories they were all telling as they did it was great..then, as all workers are entitled to – a tea break of tea,soda bread,raising bread,treacle buns..washed down with some freshly brewed ‘Poteen’…a potent brew !! encouraging a sing song of patriotic ‘Mayo ‘ songs  ..wonderful !

We all trooped off happily –for me to the next event – a scenic walk around …Ballymore Lough and area, on the other side of the parish… so with (as usual) vague instructions on how to get there, I rode across the parish ,passing the church and centre of the village, to the Lough, a vast expanse of water, with a ‘Crannog’ (wooded island) in the centre of it. I met several other people, and eventually we all got going up the hillside, along a quiet ‘burren’, or narrow grassed lane/pathway… peaceful and scenic, as we got views down and across the lake to the Ox mountains, and Ballina – there were mostly locals on the walk, who told great stories of how the land had changed over the years, with water levels dropping and exposing more land, and how they spent their childhood in Attymass…just what I had wanted ! We were even let into some peoples house on the top of the hill, to see the distant views all around.. and as we walked the obligatory ‘Poteen’ was produced (to help us along)

Back down to the lake, and rode back to Ballycong, where I had a quick bite to eat, and then off to An Sionnach Rua (the Red Fox) Pub, for …another Seisun, with an eventually packed out pub with lots of people there, and I eventually extricated myself from there around 1 a.m. for an ‘exciting’ ride home in the pitch dark, with twinkling stars overhead ! This was really the way it used to be …Goodnight !