Have you visited Ballycroy National Park, climbed Nephin Beg or negotiated the Bangor Trail? You’ll do worse than put aside 50 minutes and listen to this wonderful podcast called Abhainn Dú by Éamon Little: https://soundcloud.com/littlevision_ireland/owenduff

First broadcast on MidWest Radio in 2020, it’s a sound portrait of the Owenduff or Abhainn Dú river from where it rises in a series of rushing streams above Scardaun. Down to where it winds through the blanket bogs, flowing through many salmon pools to reach the ocean at Aughnis.

The story is told by the local people of these hills and woven together skilfully by Éamon, himself of the same landscape. It explores not just the nature and placenames of the catchment but is punctuated with anecdotes of the lives led there. There’s no mediation or expert analysis, just the place in the words of the local people, a standard that other podcasts/ tv series could emulate. Listen carefully to the local pronunciations.

If you haven’t been to Ballycroy then get a copy of our Wild Nephin map published 2015 on which you’ll find most of these names and start planning your trip!