Sunshine a good excuse for walking

I HAVE been revisiting walking routes for which I wrote guides over the years for a Selected Walks of West Cork to be published by Collins Press in Spring 2011.

Some, but by no means all, have changed. The Celtic Tiger boom transformed some country roads into suburbs lined with houses where, 10 years ago, there were hedges of gorse and sceacs. These days are, of course, magnificent walking weather. Those of us follicly challenged – bald or part bald – have to reach for the sun-block or else wear a cap like a Kerry independent politician, a sweaty business in the heat of the midday sun.

The Sunday before last we set out from Aghadown church on the Skibbereen to Ballydehob road and walked down the valley of the Roaring Water River. Alongside the impressive church, with its beautiful stained glass windows, stands Kilcoe National School, built in 1897. Ten years ago the surroundings were much like those of the rural school described by Goldsmith in The Deserted Village, “... Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way. With blossom’d furze unprofitably gay .... ” The hedge is now gone, but furze still blooms on the hillside behind.