There’s a great idea taking ‘route’ in Rochfortbridge

No one could accuse Mary Fallon and Monica Dolan from Rochfortbridge of not being productive during the pandemic.

Inspired by a renewed appreciation of local natural beauty gained during their walks during lockdown, the two women have mapped out five looped walking routes on Rahanine Bog on the outskirts of the village.

Mary and Monica were among the many local people who took to the network of tracks and roads that criss-cross the hundreds of hectares of inactive Bord na Móna owned bogland in a bid to stave off cabin fever.

Retired science teacher Mary told the Westmeath Examiner that these regular walks opened her eyes to the beauty of her locality’s unique landscape, a landscape that has been shaped almost as much by humankind and industrial endeavours as mother nature.

“One of the really positive things that came out of Covid is that I started walking down the bog and I met someone who asked: ‘Did you ever go down to the swans? They were on the lakes, which are actually in quarries that were dug out. The were full of swans and I got so interested in them. There were mute swans and whooper swans. I watched them have signets and I watched them grow. It was just enthralling.

“I met Monica Dolan, who walks regularly as well. One day she was coming from a different direction and I said ‘Monica will you show me your way?’.”

Mary and Monica started meeting up once a week to explore the roads and paths in the bogs and the germ of an idea took root. “We discovered loads of walks, Monica and I. She showed me what she knew and we linked them up. We actually developed five looped walks. We used to meet once a week and people started asking us to show them.”

“We said we’d put up a few signs but discovered that we couldn’t. You have to get a licence from Bord na Móna, and that is how it all started.”

The two women got in touch with Rochfortbridge Tidy Towns committee, whose members, unsurprisingly, thought it was a great idea. A new committee, Rochfortbridge Community Looped Walks, was formed and talks with Bord na Móna are ongoing. On May 1 last year, members of the community and Rochfortbridge Tidy Towns joined forces for a clean-up of the area where the bogs were located.

Like at many isolated locations, for years the bogland around Rochfortbridge was used as an unofficial dump by a small minority. Over two days, volunteers collected more than 30 tonnes of rubbish, including two suites of furniture, toilets and mattresses, that they packed into 200 large plastic bags donated by Westmeath County Council and a skip donated by Oxigen.

Bord na Mona announced last September that its planning to develop a renewable energy park on the 3,000-hectare Derrygreenagh Bog Group, of which Rahanine Bog is part. Given the vast area that the bog group covers, it also includes Bord na Móna owned bogs in Meath and Offaly, the committee is hopeful that the semi-state firm will be able to accommodate their project.

“We brought them [representatives from BnM] out on the walks and showed them what we wanted. I reckon they have to give it because Rochfortbridge is a Bord na Móna town. I went to school in Rochfortbridge. The school resulted because of the houses in Derrygreenagh Park and the houses resulted because of the Bord na Móna jobs. It all goes back to Bord na Móna. I am very hopeful, but we haven’t got the licence yet.

“There is so much variety. You have the bog and its vegetation. Then you have the ordinary lakes on the bogs and then you have these massive big quarry lakes and then you have the swans and the forest. It is incredible. It is made for an amenity,” Mary says.

Thank-yous

The Rochfortbridge Community Looped Walks committee would like to thank Cllr Denis Leonard, Minister of State Robert Troy and Westmeath County Council for their ongoing support.

They also thank Rochfortbridge Tidy Towns and those who participated in the clean-up, including Derek Keegan, who used his digger to recover heavy items that had been dumped in gullies. The committee are also grateful to Mullingar Credit Union for its sponsorship.