Walking's healthy and free, so what could be better than turning it into a family holiday – as long as the kids don't kick up a fuss? ORLA BOURKEtook her family along the Barrow Way
GOING AWAY with four children can be tricky. You need loads of cash and a good idea of what you want to do. We come up with the notion of taking a walking holiday. It’s an activity, after all, that’s healthy and free, and the kids will be occupied all day. We’ll get a break from cooking if we stay in BBs, and with all that exercise we needn’t worry about piling on the pounds.
We decide on the Barrow Way in Co Carlow mainly because it is flat and less taxing for our six-year-old than, say, the mountainous Wicklow Way. It follows the towpath that horses once walked as they pulled barges along the river. It’s a route that’s particularly lovely in autumn, because of the colours in the deciduous woodlands.
The full Barrow Way stretches more than 110km, from Lowtown, in Co Kildare, to St Mullin’s, in Co Carlow, although serious canal enthusiasts could start in Dublin and follow the Grand Canal, adding an extra 45km or so to the route.
Before our walk we stay glued to the weather forecast. The children count down the days. The eldest is not hugely enthusiastic. “That means there’ll be no escape,” she says when she hears that we’ll be walking the route together. Which is, to be honest, my concern, too. Friends rave about our “great” idea, but I suspect it’s more in horrified fascination than in admiration. And it could be very intense sharing just two bedrooms. Will the kids end up fighting all the time?
But then I picture the greenways, the lovely wide stretches of river, the barges and humpback bridges, the pretty lock-keepers’ cottages that line the route.
It starts off wonderfully. After spending the night at Máiréad and Tony Heffernan’s BB in Bagenalstown, we are driven, full of sausages and good cheer, to the start of our walk, at the village bridge. Máiréad, a keen walker herself, will transport our rucksack, with all our clothes in it, to the next BB, leaving us with just a little backpack each.
“It’ll be a great memory for them,” she says with a smile as our brood race down to the river, delighted to hear their echoes bouncing back to them as they roar under the big stone arches. The water’s so clean in this canalised river, just an hour and a half from Dublin. No rubbish – and certainly no dumped shopping trolleys – in sight. It’s just a long green corridor that we seem to have to ourselves.
My husband and I smile knowingly. We don’t want to be smug but know we’re on to a winner. To hell with all those cynics back in Dublin. It’s going to a great five days.
Our blissed-out state doesn’t last long. Ten minutes, to be precise. That’s when our youngest folds her arms in protest. She’s tired, she declares. She wants to know if we’re nearly at the BB. She wants to know if they’ll have Coco Pops.
Tired? When we’ve had her in training all year, walking the kilometre and a half to and from school each day? Besides, we’ve another four hours to go. And that’s just for today.
We slow to a snail’s pace. She may only be only six, but she has the power to ruin our holiday. She behaves as if she knows it, too, basking in the glow of our attention, stopping every couple of metres to examine something minuscule in the grass.
Eventually we come to a lock gate that’s being opened amid great gushes of water. So that’s where the OPW van was heading when it passed us on the towpath earlier, the driver on his way with the key. It’s great the way we can just stop and stare at a process that has barely changed since the 18th century.No whizz-kid technology here. Just big, tarred wooden gates smooth to the touch from generations of people pushing them open and closed.
We wave the friendly cruiser couple away. We don’t mind our slow pace so much now.
We fall into a routine of walking between one lock and the next, then stopping for a break. This takes about 45 minutes each time. The recently upgraded berthing bays are ideal rest stations. We’ll even celebrate Aoife’s birthday on one later in the week, with a smuggled shop sponge and eight candles, much to her astonishment.
In fact the Barrow Way allows for a stop at a supermarket midway each day to buy a picnic lunch. This keeps our backpacks superlight, with just an umbrella, water and a black bag to sit on.
After a hearty breakfast and a big lunch we need only a snack in the evening. Such as chips, eaten by the river while watching swallows swoop in the evening sun.
The hardest bit is packing up each morning. We sort out a system using little plastic bags to separate six lots of clothing and cram the lot into one big rucksack that the BBs kindly transport ahead for us.
We walk about eight kilometres a day, calling a taxi just once, when the going gets too tough for our six- and eight-year-old daughters, and one of us goes ahead with them to the next BB.
Some people prefer to do the Barrow Way as a number of out-and-back excursions, starting and finishing at the same place each day. But we find that the novelty of walking from town to town keeps the children motivated. There’s also great freedom in not having a car.
But, oh, it’s so nice to turn a corner of the towpath and finally see a church spire or the flagpoles of berthed boats. We know then that within minutes we’ll be lying on freshly made beds, boots off, taking a well- deserved rest.
More than 30 waymarked routes have been established in Ireland, and all can contribute to local economies. The most successful have good networks of accommodation that allow walkers to spend money locally.
It’s mostly foreigners who walk the Barrow Way, according to the BB owners we talk to. Wedding parties come to town, too, as more and more couples seem to be choosing the route’s picturesque towns as venues for their big day.
Despite this we encounter no noisy crowds, and the BBs are extremely child-friendly. Nearly all offer family accommodation with a separate room for parents. And, with the exception of one BB, we are greeted by still-warm home-made cakes and excellent coffee, with orange for the kids.
Despite an appalling forecast the sun shines for most of our trip. To our delight the Barrow Way seems to have its own microclimate. And there’s the lovely sound of the wind high in the willows – though down below, where we are, it’s nice and still.
The only bum note is hit between Borris and Graiguenamanagh, when it rains heavily for an hour. The younger pair are fine in their wellies, and their dad and I stay dry in our Gore-Tex boots. But water bubbles through the toes of the older pair’s runners.
We cannot find waterproof walking shoes in Graiguenamanagh, which is surprising, as this picturesque town lies on the most popular bit of the Barrow Way. And wellingtons are also difficult to come by, because the hardware store recently closed down, with everyone now driving to Kilkenny city.
We finally get a green lumpy pair in the co-op, which obliges by cutting the tops off to turn them into ankle boots, padded inside with a pair of woolly farmer’s socks.
Amazingly, our teenager doesn’t object. After all, we pass very few people on the Barrow Way, only the odd local walker with a dog. Otherwise it’s just us and the wildlife: swans, kingfishers, frogs and shrews – which can get killed by the rain as they race across the towpath to the water. We hope to see an otter, but these shy, elusive creatures manage to hide from us, leaving only their spraint, or droppings, as clues.
As we’ve done so much bonding with our children during the day we don’t feel too guilty about plonking them in front of a DVD in the evening and nipping out for a drink. The old-fashioned pubs-cum-groceries in most of the towns are nice and quiet during the week, filling up with city folk at weekends. It’s a bonus that two pints cost about €7, compared with more than €9 in our Phibsborough local.
On our final day we take a break from hiking and look around Graiguenamanagh instead. Then it’s a taxi back to Bagenalstown station, and we’re home in Dublin just over two hours later.
Our elder two children claim to have loved the holiday. I’m afraid to ask the younger pair. It has been a bit intense and short on luxury. I’m somewhat reassured when I find them playing with their Barbies the next day. It’s a new game, I’m informed, called Walking the Barrow Way. And despite the high heels and glittery tops, they do seem to be enjoying themselves.
Where we stayed on the Barrow
Orchard Grove BB. Wells, Bagenalstown, Co Carlow, 059-9722140, orchardgrove bb.com. Family-run BB with small farm. Great for kids. Ours got to see next morning’s breakfast eggs being laid.
Step House Hotel. Main Street, Borris, Co Carlow, 059- 9773209, stephousehotel.ie. James and Cait Coady’s four-star hotel incorporates a fine Georgian house in the heart of this heritage town. Excellent food.
Brenda’s BB. Kilcoltrim, Borris, Co Carlow, 059- 9771860. Brenda McCarthy’s long-established family BB is on a quiet road within walking distance of Borris.
Killvarra BB. Barrow Lane, Graiguenamanagh, Co Kilkenny, 059-9724793, killvarra.com. Bridget and Richard Langton’s small, well-run BB is near all the town’s quaint pubs and shops yet is blissfully quiet.
Mulvarra House. St Mullin’s, Co Carlow, 051-424936, mulvarra.com. Friendly, peaceful modern house in overlooking the River Barrow and the historic village and harbour of St Mullin’s.
All of the BBs we stayed in charged about €130 per night for two adults and four children.