The Road to Roaringwater: A Walk Down the West of Ireland

by Christopher Somerville (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $3.28

  In the spring of 1991, Christopher Somerville set out to walk the 700 miles from Malin Head, the northernmost point of Ireland, to Cape Clear Island in Roaringwater Bay, the southermost - through some of the loneliest, wildest and most beautiful country in Europe. Down the west coast of Ireland he met struggling smallholders and the elderly inheritors of crumbling estates, rural priests and publicans, the hopeful waltzers in Lisdoonvarna's ballrooms of romance and solitary island-dwellers seeking refuge from the 20th century. This is Christopher Somerville's story. The author also wrote Coastal Walks in England and Wales , Britain Beside the Sea and The Other British Isles .

• Used

  Hardcover
  1993

  $3.28

  The author, in the spring of 1991, set out to walk from Malin Head, the northernmost point of Ireland, to Cape Clear Island in Roaringwater Bay, the southernmost - a distance of 700 miles. His journey took him through the desolate Bog of Erris, Connemara to the Ring of Kerry. Ireland's bleak countryside and ruined, deserted villages bear silent testimony to centuries of hardship, oppression, famine, and emigration. Christopher Somerville met many of the inhabitants of this unforgiving country - struggling smallholders and the elderly inheritors of crumbling estates, rural priests and publicans, island-dwellers seeking refuge from the modern world. All were generous with their time, their hospitality and their talk. In pubs and bars the length of the country he heard, and took part in, the traditional music-making that is such a vital element of the crack in the west of Ireland. He also witnessed the encroachment of the 20th century. The holy mountain of Croagh Patrick, which bare-footed pilgrims have climbed for hundreds of years, is now threatened by mining interests, and there are plans to build an activities centre to exploit the unique and fragile beauty of the Burren. The author spoke to those who oppose and those who welcome such developments. Towards the end of his journey, he came to Castletownshend, in remote West Cork, where his ancestor Edith Somerville and her companion Violet Martin ( Martin Ross ) wrote The Experiences of an Irish RM , The Real Charlotte and other classic novels of the Anglo-Irish ascendancy. Other books by Christopher Somerville include Britain Beside the Sea , The Other British Isles and The Bedside Rambler .