Evelyn keeps a weather eye on Burren trails

HAVING visited Clare with her father as a child, senior meteorologist Evelyn Cusack returned this summer to experience some of the county’s famous walking trails.
The popular weather woman’s journey through North Clare will feature on Tracks and Trails and will be broadcast on RTÉ One at 7pm on Sunday.
“We were thrilled when we found out that the Burren was to be included in the Tracks and Trails television series, produced by the Sherwin Media Group, and delighted too that Evelyn Cusack was to be the well-known personality to walk the route for the programme,” said Eimer McCarthy, rural recreation officer with Clare Local Development Company.
“I was completely honoured to be asked to accompany Evelyn on her trek, to show her the Fanore to Ballyvaughan walking route and introduce her to some Burren experts we met along the way.
“When the programme is aired on Sunday at 7pm on, it will be a fantastic boost for walking in Clare and particularly in the Burren. When the series aired last year, the places featured saw a huge boost in visitor numbers using the routes, staying locally and eating locally, so this will be a welcome fall-out of the show for Clare,” Ms McCarthy continued.
Evelyn took in the Burren Way and Blackhead Loop walk and while she concedes the scenery is spectacular, she was most impressed by the locals.
“It was a bit wet but the company was so good that I didn’t really notice the rain. I have to say before I went to Clare I had never heard of a rural recreation officer and so I felt like I found a new species while I was there. Eimer was a beautiful person to be with and we had a great time. The crew were great fun too and I would really recommend people go to the Burren but I think they should try to get guides while they are there,” she told The Clare Champion.
“I was very interested in going to Clare because one of my hobbies is geology and I am very interested in how the limestone formed. So when Jim Sherwin suggested it, I had no hesitation whatsoever. Then he said we could meet and talk to people along the way and suggested GAA or sporting people but I thought it would be a waste to have me meeting them because I know nothing about GAA.
“So I asked to meet a geologist and a botanist. I knew the Burren has a selection of exotic plants but I didn’t know much more about it. I wanted to learn about the flora and fauna and if the weather was bad, I said I wouldn’t mind going into a cave and meeting a speleologist,” Evelyn added.
“I was really interested not just in the physical element of the walk but also in what I could learn from it. It was more an exercising of the mind and the body I suppose in that regard. While lots of places in Ireland and across the world are very interesting, Clare is particularly so when you think that the limestone that makes up the Burren was formed from the skeletons of sea creatures, who died at the bottom of a warm sea near the equator,” she continued.
The meteorologist was very impressed by the local experts, who shared their knowledge with her along the route.
“We spoke to an archaeologist, who revealed that in the Burren they had possibly found the oldest remains of human habitation. She showed me some artifacts that were about 5,000 years old and let me hold some of the implements used then and that was a great thrill for me. Unfortunately, this ended in disappointment because she wouldn’t let me take the pieces home,” Evelyn joked.
“Another highlight was meeting a botanist, who showed us the latest flowering spring gentian on record. We just admired it, though, we couldn’t take that with us either,” she added.
Though Evelyn’s previous walking trips were in Nepal and Cuba, in aid of Multiple Sclerosis Ireland, she believes Clare can hold its own.
“We met a geologist who was very interesting and a speleologist who was fascinating. I learned about geological features like stalactites and stalagmites but having them explained where they are is so much better. I would recommend that schools and anyone doing geography in fourth and fifth year go to the Burren but get tours from experts. When things are explained in a meaningful way, you would learn more in two hours than from a geography chapter in two weeks,” she concluded.
The programme is the fourth of five programmes in the new series, which features well-known personalities including broadcaster Tracey Piggott, comedian Colin Murphy, broadcaster Jim Sherwin and senator /businessman, Feargal Quinn taking on the challenge of walking, cycling and paddling on trails around the country. The series was developed to follow the popular first series, which aired on RTÉ in 2010.