Thursday 11 August 2016

O'Cahan's Rock

Finally I got round to developing a few films and so things on this place might get back to normal, whatever that is.  We'd had a busy couple of days with The Brother on my favourite island, Rathlin, just off the North Antrim Coast - more of that later - and I took advantage of a rest day to get the films developed.


So today we are in the Roe Valley Park, a gem of a place situated near Limavady, about 15 miles North West of The Liberties.  The River Roe was where grandpa used to take us boys fishing, a lifetime ago.  In those days there was reasonable chance of catching a fish - that's what grandpa called a salmon - but more likely a few trout or even a flat fish or two.  If you were unlucky you'd get an eel - you'd think it was a salmon, as an eel puts up a terrific struggle.  If you didn't act fast the eel would wind itself around a rock or a branch and you'd have to cut your line and lose your hook and weight.  Even if you landed the eel it was a nightmare, as the thing would have your line wound round itself several times, so you usually had to cut the line anyway and retrieve the hook and sinker any way you could.  Eventually the eel would get tossed back into the river, more often than not in several pieces.  Nowadays top London restaurants would probably pay a small fortune for one, but in them days you just wouldn't consider eating one.  No, it was salmon first, then trout and only if things were really bad did you bring back a few flat fish.  If all else failed grandpa would juke into one of the adjoining fields and dig up a few carrots to bring home.  Nowadays you just wouldn't dream of doing that, but somehow back then you didn't think twice.  Strange looking back at it all, nearly 40 years later.


The Roe Valley is pretty magical, with a few very old oak trees still living there.  Most of the oak around here were felled many years ago when the wood was used for building but the river cuts a deep valley through the surrounding rock and so this area largely escaped the wood-cutters' attention.  In olden days (12th Century), this land belonged to the O'Cahan clan.  The story goes that once upon a time, when the O'Cahan's were coming under attack, a faithful dog leapt over the river, from a high rock on one side to a rock on the other side in order to summon help from nearbouring allies. Today that leap is remembered  - DogLeap Road, DogLeap Bridge, O'Cahan's Rock and even the name of the nearest town, Limavady, comes from the Irish Leim an Mhadaigh, meaning Leap of the Dog.  What a great story.

Even the teenager managed to tear herself away from her phone for a few minutes to contemplate the beauty of it all:




5 comments:

  1. When I was a kid the poorer people used to fish out of the St. Joseph River in my hometown of South Bend, Indiana. People who had means wouldn't dream of fishing in there except for funsies, because the city dumped raw sewage into the river. My uncle Jack used to fish there and give what he caught to people who needed the food.

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    1. Sounds like Uncle Jack was a decent bloke. I can't say that in the 1970s our family needed fish (or carrots) to survive, but in my grandfather's day he certainly ensured his family ate well. Fish in the season and then rabbit, duck, pigeon the rest of the year. As he got older and there was no longer a need, he gave up shooting. He kept at the fishing but by then the rivers were over-fished and catches were few and far between.

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    2. Sounds like Uncle Jack was a decent bloke. I can't say that in the 1970s our family needed fish (or carrots) to survive, but in my grandfather's day he certainly ensured his family ate well. Fish in the season and then rabbit, duck, pigeon the rest of the year. As he got older and there was no longer a need, he gave up shooting. He kept at the fishing but by then the rivers were over-fished and catches were few and far between.

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  2. A nice story mate, and I kind of recognize the "carrot trick" from my days in the river as well... I used to fish every day during the summer holidays back then, and the river was full of brown trout. We still liked our carrots though, my cousin and I ;)
    You might hope for a post from my side soon?! Well, I'm finally back home after some vacation, and will definitely put something together quite soon. Got a couple of projects outside the house though, and need to get them things done as well. Something will be seen quite soon anyway :)

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    1. Cheers Roy - so the old carrot trick is universal, then? :) Cool.

      A bit late to responding to your comment. I hope by now the projects have been done (successfully!). Where there are houses and things there are always projects, I know. You just have to prioritise...and sometimes I find taking snaps gets the higher priority :)

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