I bought a meaty volume recently called ‘Ireland’s Rivers’ by Mary Kelly-Quinn and Julian Reynolds. I was attracted by the title, but when I got it home and really started to read it I realised that it is more an academic book than what I was expecting. Nevertheless, I persevered in reading and analysing sections of it - it is not a book that I will read cover to cover, and to be fair I am not sure that was the author’s intent. I have now realised, in spite of poor news lately, what an enviable and incredible resource our river systems are.

It got me thinking as to whether it is feasible to find the source of each of our rivers and walk and hike from said source to the sea (after having walk/hiked to the source in the first place!).

Now, why would I want to do this. I am sure it has been done many times before, but for me it is about understanding more about our upland and riparian landscapes and really what they are about. A river begins as a spring, bog, mountain stream, or lake outlet and gradually becomes a major waterway. I want to experience the entire journey:

• Tiny mountain trickle

• Fast-flowing upland stream

• Rural river valley

• Towns and villages

• Broad lowland river

• Estuary and sea

Many of our towns and cities exist because of rivers be that for trade, water supply, transport, fishing, milling, industry etc. It is like a thread through Irish history. Hopefully there will be things to learn about place - it’s geology, wildlife and maybe some forgotten places such as mills, bridges, monastic sites etc.

Now, of course, most things are feasible, so, to cool my jets a little bit and to ensure focus, I am looking at the ten largest river catchments in Ireland (which interestingly according to ‘Ireland’s Rivers’ gives me 11 rivers to have a go at). These are, in reverse order of catchment size:

• Slaney

• Nore

• Boyne

• Foyle

• Barrow

• Corrib

• Blackwater (Munster)

• Suir

• Erne

• Bann

• Shannon

The intention isn’t to go gung-ho here and walk these in 10 weeks for example. My plan is simple - choose a river, map a route, walk the route (yeah, I know - it won’t be that simple!). Do it when I have the time and it may even be the case that I won’t complete any one river in one-go but may have to break it up. No matter. I am also striving to do this on foot and using public transport where sections are not walkable or are not safe to walk.

The rivers on this list are household names. Most of us live within one of their catchments, have crossed them countless times, or learned about them in school. We know their names, but few of us know where they begin, how they grow, or the landscapes and communities they connect along the way.

So, stay tuned. I will document each river with it’s own page starting with the River Slaney.