The River Slaney
Water glints in sun,
pounds grey rocks, lap green pastures
Rushes to the sea
The Slaney at Ballycarney
This part of Wexford is dominated, and bisected, by the River Slaney. This seemingly benign silver stream, popular with fishers, flows from the mountains of Wicklow south through the countryside to Wexford (Loch Garman) where it meets the sea, often a trickle in summer, barely covering the riverbed gravel but in winter and spring, engorged with heavy rain, a torrent that escapes its banks and floods the quay at Enniscorthy. The river is named after the Irish Chieftan Slainghe or perhaps not since it may also be called the Abhainn na Sláine or river of health. The Vikings used it as a navigable ingress into Ireland from Wexford in 819AD. They called Wexford Weisfiord – the bay of mud flats.
The Slaney, looking north, at Ballycarney
The river is 117 km long and flows from Lugnaquilla south and south east through Tullow, Bunclody and Enniscorthy and at the bottom of the lovely garden at Altamont, between Bunclody and Carlow off the N80.
The Slaney and bridge at Ballycarney
I don’t fish but trout and salmon can be caught in the Slaney.
The Slaney over the weir, south of the road bridge, at Clohammon
A calm Slaney looking north at Clohammon
Beautiful country!
Yes it is – just a bit cold right now!
Here it’s tropical all year around. Lot’s of flowers in bloom. Yesterday I finally understood what you meant by “leap frogging”. You were right, the whole stem of the Ginger plant bends down to the ground with all the keikis on it (I thought it was just the flower that fell off). I have quite several of those keikies now.