News From the Hill

Archive for November 9th, 2008

I can’t believe it!! i just popped out after dinner to get the cat food dish and it was snowing!!!

Yahoo – I am a total kid when it comes to snow, I just love it, I don’t worry about any inconvenience, I head straight for 8 year old status!

We have already had more than an inch of snow - I know that by the standards of some places in the world that one inch is not even worth talking about – but I don’t live in those places, I live in Ireland where we don’t get snow very often so I make no apologies for being eight right now, and being a grown up eight year old means I get to be silly and excited but don’t have to go to bed early!

The moon is out as well so I just had a little walk in the snowy moonlight – hey, it might be gone when I get up in the morning!

Meself and himself went for a romantic walk in the woods today. Because we work together and live in a small space we can sometimes get into the habit of taking each other a little for granted so we have lately been trying to spend one day a week, preferably Sunday, doing something which we don’t normally do so today we went for a lovely walk in the oak woods.

The oak woods are on the edge of Lough Gardice in Co. Leitrim and are easy to miss, we only found them a few years ago by accident and love going there to watch the seasons change. In spring they are filled with bluebells and wild garlic and sorrel and all sorts of nice things. There is also the remains of an old ringfort which you can find if you take a path which leads you into the woods and uphill away from the lake.

The wee road to the woods is easy to miss unless you know what you are looking for. If you are heading to Ballinamore from Ballyconnell you drive past Hortons Shore on Lough Garadice and look out for and take the first wee road on the left. It is signposted for Drumreilly Church, a lovely old C of I church and graveyard which you drive past and a little further down the road you find your self in a car park at the lake.

The car park was built to facilitate anglers, it seems to be a popular place for coarse fishing contests through the year and it is sometimes very populated there although it is still very pleasant and quiet for walking even during those times. The fishermen sit, mostly singly, on their wee camp chairs in little clearings at the lake’s edge and they are pictures of quiet contemplation as they await the excitement of a bite.

The woods are the only place I know of around here where there are so many mature oak trees. Unfortunately this is a rarity in Ireland, I don’t know of many old oak woods anywhere so to me it is quite a treasure. There are also hazel and holly trees growing there but it is predominantly oak, some are really quite large and just lovely to spend time with. Ferns grow from branches and provide wonders to look at when you look upwards.

There is a path all which goes along the shore and turns to come around by the old church and bring you back to the car park, it is a gentle one mile walk and the track is fairly even surfaced which means that you can do what I did today, walk for ages just gazing upwards at the contrasts of green, gold, bronze, yellow and the varying blue and grey of the sky.

So after a beautiful walk together we have come home to cook together , doing a little internet stuff (such as this post) and are now enjoying David Attenbrough on dvd as we wait for dinner to cook on the stove and boy – it smells good!

I hope that you have had a lovely day too…