Some of the people who took part in the first ‘Siúlach Scéalach’ in Claregalway in April.

Since April, a group of Irish speakers and learners in Gaeltact an Eachréidh have been meeting up and walking together for an hour on Wednesday evenings.

The idea behind the ‘Siúlach Scéalach’ is that people can relax and talk to one another in our native language while exercising and the organisers say you do not need to be fluent in Irish to take part.

For the past four weeks, we have been meeting up at the Carnmore GAA grounds, beginning on a horrible wet night at the start of June and finishing last night in glorious sunshine.

We started this event at the Claregalway GAA Centre in Knockdoe in April and next week, July 1, we are moving to a third location – Merlin Park Woods on the edge of Galway City.

We are in for a special treat next Wednesday as a qualified tour guide who is a regular at our ‘Ciorcal Comhrá’ in Loughgeorge, Hubert Jennings, is going to bring us on a guided tour of this urban woodland.

Hubert has great knowledge of Merlin Woods and is keen to share his expertise on a gentle one hour walk through the woodlands.

While the tour is ‘as Gaeilge’, we will have a special welcome for people who are not fluent in the language or who might need a little translation during the walk.

For the past four weeks, a lovely group of Gaeilgeoirs met up weekly in Carnmore – we found that three circuits of the GAA grounds took us exactly one hour.

Everyone is welcome to take part in the walk, no matter what their level of Gaeilge, and it is a great way to meet people, to practice Irish, and to get some exercise.

The concept of the walk is based on the Irish ‘seanfhocal’ “An té a bhíonn siúlach, bíonn scéalach’ which means that those who travel have stories to tell.

It’s a bit like a mobile conversation circle ‘as Gaeilge’. Instead of sitting together in a classroom or a hotel, people meet up and walk together during the bright summer months, and to practice their ‘cúpla focal’ along the way.

It’s also a great way of getting to know our own area. We are hoping to organise the next one in Annaghdown on July 8 and we will have more details about that soon.

The ‘Siúlach Scéalach’ is organised by Gaeltacht an Eachréidh . All you have to do is turn up at the car park at the entrance to Merlin Park Hospital at 7.30pm on Wednesday next, July 1.

We will be just inside the entrance to the hospital, beside the old morgue. Eircode H91 N973.

Everyone is welcome!

Photograph by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash

 

Hubert Jennings (left) is a qualified tour guide. He has offered to bring us on a tour of Merlin Woods ‘as Gaeilge’ on Wednesday, July 1.