10. SVT Murdered by tea!

After your stop off in Fuerty, you will be taking a left at the T-junction and making your way to Castlecoote. It's a short, but beautiful drive through some of the best countryside in Ireland all the while surrounded by the swooping Suck river. Take note of the old schoolhouse on the right. Here we present a poem by local poet, Jane Clarke, whose family still farm the lands you are traveling through right now and for whom the Suck is a recurring theme: -

Where the river deepens

Bewildered among pillows, tubes and drips,
she grips my hand with every kick of pain.
I ask if she remembers those days in June,
humming with sunshine and hoverflies in purple
 loosestrife when she'd meet us at the mill gate
 on our way home from school.
She carries a basket, heavy with sadness,
buttered scones, bottles of lemonade,
a crochet hook, balls of unravelled wool.
We run through flaggers to where the river deepens,
leap from low branches, stub our toes on stones, splash and scream.
She watches from the beech-shaded bank,
loops wool through her fingers, closes her eyes for a while.

Jane Clarke 

From the sublime to the ridiculous, the accompanying audio piece also features Jane, this time enjoying Eamonn's wit.