Wednesday 6 April 2011

Walk

After a lot of rain overnight the morning looked promising, and the weather got better and brighter as the day progressed. Today was Mrs. Map's day off and we spent most of the day together on our own. A grand day indeed!

In the evening, after feeding all the Maplets, helping with homework, chatting and sharing everybody's news, it seemed a sin to loll on the couch so Mr. & Mrs. Map put on the trackies & tackies and went for an evening walk. Plassey (our walking route for this evening) is an area full of wonderful walks, it's also where the University of Limerick is situated. It's always busy with strollers, runners, fisherman (it's by the river) and obviously lots of students.

One of the first things we passed on our walk was the ruins of Plassey Castle (see pic below). It has very vivid memories for me. As a young teenager I, along with friends would often take this walk by the river, sometimes spending the whole day, during the school summer holidays. (This was before the college gained university status, and hadn't even begun to expand to take up as much space as it does now.) It was our 'Riveria'! Youngfellas jumpin' in the river, auldfellas fishin', wonderful.

That was 35 years ago. It's only recently I've started coming back to the area, and only this week that I started using the river walks again. 35 years ago three friends of mine took shelter from a sudden thunder storm in the castle ruins. A bolt of lightning struck the castle and Killian was killed instantly. The other two lads survived. They were all, like me, 15 at the time. I recently became friendly with Killian's uncle who told me his parents never recovered from their loss.

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In the following pics the large buildings are 'on-campus' student accommodation, the smaller ones are fishermen's huts.












11 comments:

  1. Oh what a lovely place to walk! Lots of history there, and great that you are re-exploring the area with the lovely Mrs. Map. So sad that you lost a friend there, so young.

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  2. Thank you for the tour.
    Did the lightening strike put you off walking this way?
    Sx

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  3. Love the notice for the Good Woman :)

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  4. A tragic story about the boys. But lovely that you and Mrs. Map still enjoy each others company so much. A lot of folks don't make it this far.

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  5. My mum wants to apply for the "Good Woman" position.

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  6. What a haunting story. I hope the walk with Mrs Map has exorcised the tragic memory and you can avail yourself more often of a walk by the river.

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  7. That is a sad story indeed.

    But you have inspired me to get Sarge out for a walk this evening, after he returns from work! Thank you.

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  8. 35 years is a long time to be away pal, let's hope no one recognises you the noo.

    Grand photies by the way.

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  9. what a wonderful day for you and mrs map - and such a beautiful walk you shared with us - it's so great to see the countryside of my homeland away from homeland and i thank you for sharing -

    and such a tragic story of young killian - may he rest in peace - and i'm sure it pleases him that after all this time, you are able to enjoy a place of such beauty and that holds such meaningful memories -

    xxx

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  10. So sorry to hear about the loss. But I can see why the place draws you...wonderful photos! Bet the walk is even better.

    Okay, I don't like digging worms but can I still be considered a good woman for buying Hubby the boat, motor and trailer he wanted for his birthday this year? Hey, you can't put ALL the inheritance money in the bank...and auntie, who loved to fish, would've gotten a kick out it.

    More walks please. As long as Mrs. Map doesn't mind that we tag along. :)

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  11. THat was a long time to be away, Map. Amazing how the things that happened in our youth stay with us...

    Pearl

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