Yesterday was my birthday, (56 if you must know) and most of my family kindly gathered around me to celebrate. Saturday night was the birthday dinner. I had bought a 3 ½ kg fresh rod caught Bass from Liam Burke in Ballybricken on Saturday morning.
It came in the door of the shop as I was there and left with me.
This was my night off the cooker so Sile and Caitriona cooked it (exactly as instructed in “Bass with Pak Choy” under recipes) and it was quite the most delicious piece of Bass any of us had ever eaten.
Thanks Liam and top marks to the chefs.

After dinner we were telling the lads about a marvellous walk we had taken along the old Dungarvan railway line.
This Christmas some friends, who are from Kilmacthomas, had walked us along about 4 miles of the old Dungarvan line between Old Durrow station and Clonea Beach. This is a fabulous walk which brings you through a long tunnel and over a very high viaduct before you get to Clonea.
Fired with enthusiasm Aonghus (the son-in law elect) managed to persuade Caitriona and Eileen that we should try it again on Sunday.It was agreed.

On Sunday morning, fortified with an excellent smoked salmon and scrambled egg birthday breakfast, well wrapped and booted (quite a lot of water underfoot) and furnished with two good torches (for the tunnel) we set off.

To get there you have to drive to Kilmac (thomas for strangers), but pass the turn to the village, take the next left, sign posted Stradbally, and drive straight along this road for about three miles, passing through two junctions as you do. You will then come to a five cross roads, called Carrigahilla Cross on the map, where you take the second right turn along the R675 for about a mile. You turn to the right then and go up over hill and dale for a mile or so, you will go under the spectacular and beautifully arched Durrow Railway Bridge just before you get to a junction where you park the car. From this on you are on your feet. Just cross the road and you will find yourself on the railway line.

A word of caution at this stage, this line has not been used for a great number of years and is not suitable for small children as there are many places where the fences are gone and they could fall considerable distances if unsupervised.

The first bit of interest you come upon is the old station of Durrow. Even though most of the buildings are now ruined it is still very recognisable as a station with its signal box, platform etc. It is a little sad to see it now so gone to seed but still fascinating to imagine it as it was , a once busy halt on a busy line.

As you walk the line you will notice that most of the sleepers and their stays are now gone. The remaining surface is loose granite chips which form a stable if sharp surface to walk along.

There are two advantages of walking on a railway line , one, they are traffic free so you don’t have to spend your time dodging Sunday drivers, and secondly the original railway engineers liked to keep the trains on the level so there is no trudging down valley and hauling up hill . On the contrary if a line hits a hill it just tunnels through it, if it hits a valley it just spans it.
This is wonderfully relaxing walking for creaky ankles (mine) and knees (’s)

After a while you notice that the track begins to bore its way into the hill. At this stage the ground becomes quite wet so that the people wearing wellingtons have the advantage. You also find yourself walking through banks of bright green watercress. The track at this point seems to have formed a handy, but very shallow, canal for the local streams so the water is flowing along slowly, a perfect environment for producing healthy green watercress.
A little further on you round a corner and find yourself facing the tunnel.

It is quite dramatic at this point, as it stretches foreward in a dead straight line to the tiny patch of light at the end.
This is about a mile long and goes under a hill called ,according to the map, Ballykeroge Big. Being a class of an amateur word man I decided immediately this must be a version of Ballykeroge Beag or Little Ballykeroge, beag being the Irish word for little, a quick scan of the map however revealed the next townland to be called Ballykeroge Little.
So much for my etymological expertise.

The tunnel itself is terrific, though fairly rough underfoot so bring good torches. Every so often, along its length, it has escape alcoves like little sentry boxes. In quite a few of these the streams have, over the years, carried lime down from the soil which has created the most amazing natural sculptures. There are a few embryonic stalactites and stalagmites and in one of these alcoves a fabulous petrified stream of pure white which looks like a melting glacier.

Marvellous stuff and all just within a few miles of home!

Aonghus and I leave the tunnel

After the tunnel you go along about a mile of sunken track. Caitriona and Aonghus, who spent some time in the far east, said it was just like the Passage of the Dead on the way to the bridge on the river Kwai on which thousands of prisoners had died during construction
It does have a jungle feel to it, with hanging ivy tendrils and mossy walls making it feel quite foreign. Its difficult to remember that I’m still in county Waterford.
The next bit of excitement is the crossing of the Ballyvoyle viaduct. This crosses high over the Dalligan River and gives one a lovely view of Dungarvan Harbour and across to Helvick. This soaring bridge is probably not for people with vertigo as it is a long way down to the Dalligan flowing underneath (not that this stopped my lot dropping stones down into the river and waiting for what seemed like ages for the splash)
The iron railings here look a bit shaky so I wouldn’t recommend leaning on them!
The track then goes on for about another mile or so (some of it quite high over the road and with no railings) before it comes to a dead stop in a farm. The first time we walked this, we struggled down through this farm and ended up sipping delicious mulled wine (which one of the party had had the foresight to bring in a flask) on the beach in Ballyvoyle.
This time we met some cows on the line so we turned back at the farm and retraced our footsteps for the car.

We had one more mission.

We stopped and gathered a bag of the succulent green Watercress.
ThisI turned into a beautiful dark green Leek and Watercress Soup when we got home.
Recipe follows (I am still, after all, a chef)

Leek and Watercress Soup.
(enough for about 10 but it freezes beautifully)

60g (2oz.) Butter
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 medium Onions
4 Leeks
3 Medium Potatoes
1 ltr.(2 pints) Stock
5 mts. Picking of Watercress

Peel and slice the onions and potatoes and put them to sweat in a large lidded pot.
Fill a sink with water, slice the leeks thinly and swill about in the water to get rid of all grit and dirt. Drain off and add these to the onions and potatoes.
Again fill the sink with cold water and similarly and thoroughly wash the watercress. You should be careful that there aren’t little snails sticking to the stems, however a good shaking about in the water seems to get rid of them.

Once the onions, potatoes and leeks have softened you can add the stock to the pot and bring it up to a good rolling boil. At this stage throw the drained watercress into the pot, bring back to the boil and simmer for 4 to 5 mts. Liquidise , season and serve.

My lot polished off most of it after that walk.

Afterword:
Should anyone like to see some photos of this walk just click on to
http://www.caitriona.net/c/index.shtml
photo blog entries between 15th March and 21st March. Thanks Triona.