Cork: A river roars and gurgles during walk

ROARING WATER RIVER WALK, WEST CORK

WE set off from the car park opposite the imposing church. A new bridge, with less character but more strength, carries the N71 over the river just above it. We walk downriver from here.

Opposite, is Kilcoe National School, built in 1897. A large Irish yew, probably as old as the school, spouts through the asphalt in the yard. On the stream, pond skaters dash about the surface on splayed legs. On sunny days, their feet are reflected and magnified as four smudges on the sandy bottom, uncannily like the paw prints of an invisible, underwater dog.