The water and the Clan

 My niece, in contemplative mood, at River Roe a few weeks ago:

At Sir Thomas Phillips weir in Roe Valley Park, Limavady.  Sir Thomas Phillips, an English knight, was granted large swathes of land by the City of London around this area back in the 17th Century - land that had previously been reigned over by the O'Cahan clan. The last O'Cahan chief died in the Tower of London in 1626.
OM4ti and most likely 35mm f/2.8 Zuiko; HP5+ on Ilford MG Classic paper.

Over the years the Roe has cut a deep gorge through the rock and at times there's an impressive flood of water coming through the weir - although not so much the day we were there, when the water wasn't particularly high. Still, the flow is mesmerising and you could spend hours just sitting peacefully and clearing the mind of the daily rubbish.  The water is almost as dark as it appears in the print and has a pronounced reddish tinge to it (the name Roe may well come from the Irish word for red, rua).  The colour might be attributed to large amounts of iron found in some places along the river, although we always thought it might be more to do with the peaty soil up in the Sperrin Mountains where it springs from.