Wandering in Waterford

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We were just talking in the family WhatsApp group about how understated County Waterford is – such a beautiful county with a fantastic coastline, mountains and interesting towns and villages.

One of my favourite cycle routes is an out and back jaunt. Parking at Horsewood GAA Club in Wexford, I cycle down by Dunbrody Abbey, over the hill into Ballyhack where I catch the Ferry to Passage East and journey on to Dunmore East. The ferry adds a bit of exotic to a bike trip and there’s always something exciting about getting on board! The route is deceptively hilly with fantastic coastal views and the great Hook Head Lighthouse off to the south.

I take a turn off the Passage – Dunmore road at Woodside beach onto a cul de sac which ends with a short and very narrow walking trail that connects with a local road on the Dunmore side of the headland, named on some maps as “the Black Woman’s Road”; I suspect its a mistranslation of possible Beann Gorm… cycling across the path is an experience as the branches of brambles and gorse bushes wallop your face!

Last week I wandered through the Iveagh Gardens where a gate between the National Museum for Literature and the Gardens bears a plaque with a quote from Maeve Binchey, so it was a coincidence that we ended up in Dunmore East this weekend, a place also associated with the writer, being the location of some scenes in the film of her book ‘Echoes’. We need to be better prepared – the sun was shining and we should have brought swimming gear with us!

Waterford is not too far away and there’s a lot more of it I want to explore so I took another trip on Sunday, this time parking up outside Cappoquinn Affane GAA Club! I’m trying to get miles and hills into the legs as I’ve big cycle coming up in Spain – Camino del Cid at the end of May and today was just perfect. I had only a rough idea of a route and I was delighted with how it worked out. The main road from Cappoquinn to Lismore is extremely busy but thankfully there’s a local road that is part of the beautiful St. Declans Way that I was able to take and avoid the dangerous main road.

St Declan’s Way is a 115km walking route linking the ancient ecclesiastical centres of Ardmore in County Waterford and Cashel in Tipperary passing through the Knockmealdown Mountains and the undulating farmland of south Tipperary and west Waterford. It has become very popular thanks to the efforts of travel book writer,John G O Dwyer .

St Declan’s Way Walk utilises the route of several ancient and medieval pilgrimage and trading routes such as the Rian Bo Phadraig (Track of St. Patrick’s Cow), Bothar na Naomh (Road of the Saints), Casan na Naomh (Path of the Saints) and St. Declan’s Road.

St Declan was a fifth century saint who brought Christianity to the southern part of Ireland and he is particularly associated with the Deise people. He established his monastery in Ardmore and his grave there remains an important place of pilgrimage. Cashel was the seat of the Kings of Munster and St. Declan’s Way follows the route he would have taken from Ardmore to Cashel.

Art deco Handball Alley in Lismore!

Lismore is a really beautiful historic town with a stunning castle over looking the famed River Blackwater. It’s a real West Waterford gem that I haven’t been in too often but I’ll be back as its great base to explore the Knockmealdown Mountains from.

Having stumbled on St Declans Way, I decided I would follow the path back up into the mountains. It’s a steep route out of Lismore but with beautiful views to distract from the effort involved. It wasn’t too long before I caught sight of impressive Mount Melleray Abbey up ahead in the distance.

Mount Melleray is a Cistercian Abbey located in the Knockmealdown Mountains. I was delighted to see a sign for a café where I had a very welcome snack! The Abbey was founded on 30 May 1832 by a colony of Irish and English monks, expelled from the abbey of Melleray after the French Revolution of 1830, and who had come to Ireland under the leadership of Fr. Vincent de Paul Ryan. It was called Mount Melleray in memory of the motherhouse. I had a great chat there with Father Denis Luke, Prior of the Abbey, about cycling and the Camino, a really nice man who had a kind word for everyone.

I left the Abbey and headed uphill again in the direction of Newcastle, County Tipperary but I turned off onto what has to be the roughest and steepest road in Ireland! It was a little local road, that has obviously fallen into disuse, along the side of Knockanask and Knocknascullogue which then linked me onto another loop which gave me a great downhill all the way back to Cappoquinn. A superb route with lots more to see in that area on future cycles.

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