Ahankeesha: One Street# 15

Pass the bridge,
a copper strewn path to the river
stepping stones ,
the ghosts of ancient travellers*

Conditions are abysmal - that's all I'm saying but I've braved a quick sortie out. Another in my One Street project. I've passed Arundel's pub and am about to take a sharp bend to the left but have first detoured and gone down a little boreen to what's officially called the Ahankeesha Stream but is currently a raging torrent. I think this is the what gives Ahakista its name - Atha an Ciste in Gaelige meaning the Ford of the Cist (burial chest). Before the coastal road was built in the 1840s, the old road seems to have come across here by means of a ford - you can still make out old steeping stones (with a bit of imagination). Normally you can wade across and son #1 has had me under the bridge plus tripod but today gallons of water were rushing down to the sea. The cist bit of Ahakista I suspect refers to the stone circle and a burial there. This is a beautful spot - a kingfisher is resident, and copper beeches and tangles of ivy line the bank.

* I'm using parts of my original poem as I waft pass sites mentioned