Chronicles of the Glens episode 4 - Summer
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00:00The Glens. Nine glacial valleys moulded in the Ice Age, cutting their way through the Antrim
00:11Mountains towards the Irish Sea. Situated in the northeast of Northern Ireland, they were
00:20once part of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada that included parts of Scotland, often visible
00:27just across the water. The kingdom is no more, but many of its myths and traditions survive.
00:38Told across four seasons, this is the story of moors and farmland, forests and rivers,
00:47all the proud people fighting to preserve their way of life.
00:59It's summer. A time for the Glens to celebrate and show off their beauty. Spring has been difficult,
01:14but now COVID-19 restrictions are beginning to ease. Gardeners at Glenarm are getting ready
01:21for summer visitors. And tourists are tentatively returning to the beaches.
01:26It's summer. It's summer. A time for the Glens to celebrate and show off their beauty.
01:33Gardeners at Glenarm are getting ready for summer visitors. And tourists are tentatively returning
01:40to the beaches. Away from the bustle, in hidden corners of the uplands, Curdu call as they
01:49watch over their young. In the coastal village of Cushendhal, Ruri, Oak, Hurling and Kamogi teams
01:58will soon begin a shortened season. I would like the head like a wee tiny bit bigger. Mine is
02:03a wee bit too heavy. Orla and Amy are celebrating their comeback with some new hurls. We didn't
02:09actually think Kamogi would happen. But thankfully, hopefully that championship will happen this
02:17year and we are preparing well for it. In Carnlock, this will be the first summer season for Robert
02:25and Tiffany's cafe. Our till is broken this weekend, which isn't great, but we're managing.
02:32It was always in our intention to open light during the summer because it can be such a
02:38bustling little village. And we've decided to try it out this weekend that coincides with
02:43the return of the caravaners. It's nice to kind of feel like we're kind of ramping up
02:48into hopefully a bit of a busy summer season. We had our first guests in about, yeah, 10am
02:55this morning. And then it's kind of just been a slow trickle all day. It's absolutely brilliant.
03:01Three months of the season we've wasted. So it's great to be back down around the glens.
03:07On the Devlins farm in Glenshesk, Carol is taking bedding and supplies to their shepherd's hut.
03:17Perched on the side of Knock Lead Mountain, it is now open to tourists. This weekend is their
03:23first summer booking. It's in the first ordnance survey mat from 1830. It wasn't a dwelling house
03:31or anything. It was just, it was a shelter. And this is where they slept and then went out
03:36and checked the sheep that would have been in the fields out around. But no electricity.
03:41Just switch off from the outside world.
03:47Across from Glenshesk, on the McBrides farm at Fairhead, Jess is still training.
03:52Today's task is to bring sheep back from the cliffs to the farm.
03:57Get a drink, Jess. We just try and get her to go for a drink before we start a big move
04:02so she's not dehydrated halfway through it sort of thing. And now we're good to go.
04:12Stay there. Stay. Stay.
04:16Jess, hold up. Way back.
04:19That'll do. Jess is coming on well. She doesn't seem to have a middle gear, to be fair, on her.
04:24She just goes 100 miles an hour the whole time. Stay there. Stay. Stay.
04:31Today, Sean and Gerard are shearing and extended family have been roped in to help.
04:37I suppose on a day like that, you'd love to get here.
04:40Just take the t-shirt off and everything shears. What do you think?
04:43The weather for it. The weather for it. Top's off.
04:45In Glenshesk, the Devlins are also shearing.
04:56Although these days, Frank leaves most of it to his son, Owen.
05:00Because of all the downturn and all sorts of industry this year, it's worth very little.
05:09About 30p for some of those fleeces, probably as much as you want to get.
05:14It's not for the cost. With the hot weather and flies, there's a real risk of fly strikes.
05:19So I just need to get them off.
05:22The sheep? The sheep have been haircut for right of this year.
05:32That's the most important thing for shearing.
05:36Music speaker.
05:38But it's my wee brother, so I need to keep it clean and put it in this bag.
05:43Because he doesn't know I always take it.
05:44There we go.
05:48These boys are going to work harder tonight because the music's on place.
06:05A few miles away, the sea cliffs of Rathlin Island are also buzzing with activity.
06:10RSPBN Eyes Westlight Seabird Centre is closed to visitors.
06:17So Richard Else has the annual spectacle of the breeding season all to himself.
06:23The seabird colony here, a lot of people know it for the puffins, but the vast majority are guillemots and razorbills.
06:31It's all of the birds crowded onto the top.
06:34That's pretty much all guillemots, which are far and away the most numerous species here.
06:44They're absolutely shoulder to shoulder with all of their neighbours, which means they should a predator like a raven or a gull arrive.
06:50It's very difficult for it to get through that great big crowd of pointed beaks.
06:53The puffins have got a bit of a reputation here for being incredibly punctual.
07:02So for the previous three years, we had our first puffin sighting on the exact same date every year, the 27th of March.
07:09And then this year, because it was a leap year, they might come a day earlier.
07:14And sure enough, we came down here on the 26th of March and there was the first couple of puffins there in the colony exactly as predicted.
07:26Most of these species, in many cases, will come back to the exact same ledge or same burrow year after year.
07:33A lot of them are very long-lived birds as well, so they might be coming back here to the same spot for several decades, potentially.
07:42Across the sea on Fair Head, it's rock climbers who inhabit the cliffs.
08:05Climbers like Claire Sheridan and her husband, Calvin Torrens, who have mapped out many of the routes here.
08:12Climbing routes that are regarded as some of the best and most challenging in the world.
08:31Across in Ballycastle, a dedicated band of locals prefer the thrill of water to sheer rock.
08:38There were the mornings then, December and January, where you were scraping the ice off the car and the sand was crunchy with frost and still we went in for maybe just a few minutes.
08:48If we could meet just straight in front of us and swim around for a little bit and then whoever wants to branch off can do that after a few minutes.
08:57I am not from here. I am from the States, but have lived in Ballycastle for about three years and I just didn't think I would like swimming in cold water.
09:07I just thought that would, that sounded miserable to me.
09:08Somebody explained if you just waited out for about two minutes, then your body starts to warm itself up.
09:17You just feel better and then you start feeling amazing.
09:20Apparently this is the coldest water on the island of Ireland.
09:24So we've heard. And yet we get in here every morning with our swimsuits on and we just love it.
09:37along the beach,
09:42This is the coldest water on the island of Ireland, so we've heard, and yet we get in
09:48here every morning with our swimsuits on and we just love it.
10:06Along the beach, artist Deidre Kinney is hunting for treasure.
10:10It's not glass, but it's a nice little piece.
10:15All sorts of things wash up here that she will then incorporate into her work.
10:23If I get a bit of Ballycastle glass, that'll be very lucky.
10:27Shells, a bit of driftwood, anything that looks a wee bit interesting.
10:34And there's been a bit of a swell on. It gets the stuff that's been hidden under the sand.
10:41It gives a wee sift and gets it up to the surface.
10:44Oh, now this is a lovely piece of what's known locally as Ballycastle glass.
10:58It's got a particular blueness and a slight opaqueness to it.
11:02There was a glass factory in the 1700s, I think, just over on what they called Glass Island on the shore in Ballycastle.
11:11They made green bottle glass and they also made plate glass for windows.
11:17So this would have been a by-product of the process.
11:21I mean, that's going on for 300 years old, that little piece.
11:25And to me, that's a little gem of a find.
11:28And it's lovely to be able to put that into a special piece for somebody.
11:32It actually matches the colour of the sea today.
11:35Grey brooding skies and gentle rains are as much a part of a Glen summer as the warming sun, and just as important.
11:58At Glenarm Castle, the walled gardens are a riot of colour.
12:16Today, they are setting up for Dalfest Music Festival, overseen by estate manager Adrian Morrow.
12:23This year's event will be closed to the public and streamed online.
12:29Our host is Stephen Mulhern, so he's flying over from England.
12:35And Sandra Burke is our headliner.
12:38So, or Alexander Burke, sorry, Alexander Burke.
12:42So, if you look out the front, we've got sheep this year for an audience.
12:47Well, I'll bet it's the first time Alexander Burke has performed to 300 UOs.
12:54Because they're going to do 11 hours of broadcasting, I assume that's why they need all these, these rolls and rolls of cable.
13:02Do you think there's as much cable here as we're going to stick a cable out to every television in the country?
13:09There's miles of cable in here.
13:11The most crucial cable, though, is the one that links the event to the outside world,
13:15through the castle home internet of Lord Dunluce, the son of the 14th Earl of Antrim.
13:22Here we go.
13:24And that's that.
13:27The live feed, the lifelink.
13:29Oh, if this works, it'll be a merit.
13:33I don't know how to stream all that out there.
13:37That will let you know how we've got on with this internet.
13:40OK, right, all right.
13:43Lord Dunluce is in the middle of one.
13:46A conference called.
13:47And the connection says it's dropped off.
13:53So there's our first, our first day.
13:56Our internet has dropped off, failed completely, just out of the blue like that, before we even got the plug in.
14:04So there's the first tech up already.
14:07Hang on.
14:08What was wrong?
14:10What?
14:11What was wrong?
14:13I was talking too many people.
14:14If you're going to do that, then are you?
14:15Maybe.
14:27Up the coast from Glen Arm in Cushendall, it's finally Rory Ogue Camogie Team's first league match of the season.
14:34It's the moment Orla and Amy have been waiting for, despite the new COVID-19 restrictions.
14:42You have to come ready.
14:44So you get changed in your car and stuff.
14:46There's no changing room crack.
14:48There's no talking to your peers at the start or anything.
14:51It's literally you're on the pitch, you do your warm up and that's it.
14:56I normally do get a wee bit nervous.
14:58Like I find if I'm eating my dinner before a match or that, you would have a wee jitters, but not too bad.
15:03Normally when you step out onto the pitch and do your warm up, the nerves kind of disappear and you get focused then.
15:10Tonight's opponents are Dunloi, one of the teams they need to beat if they have any chance of the championship.
15:16No matter what age group they are, seniors and hurlers and everything, they try to put the space here.
15:22You work harder and then you see when you scan for a title, everybody has to gun.
15:27You've got to be tossed again.
15:31Okay?
15:32We need to be strong, strong, strong, strong.
15:36Give it your all today.
15:37That's all we ask.
15:38Right girls, there's not much more inside it.
15:40Yeah, let's go.
15:41It's half time and the teams are neck and neck.
15:54It's neck time.
15:55We know where the ball's going.
15:56We have to believe in ourselves.
15:57This is where we do it.
15:58This is where we set the mark for the championship.
16:00We do not look back what has happened in the first half.
16:01We are going forward.
16:02Right?
16:03Hurdon is a massive heart of Cushendall, but within the past couple of years, the club have
16:22started back and the Komugi club as well.
16:25It seems to be taken more professionally than it was before.
16:29than it was before we've been quite a young team and we've been building and adding some younger
16:33players into it everyone wants it even around the community all believe that we will have a
16:37championship in us we've won by eight points i think so it's good to get a win especially by
16:58that margin so but the end of the day it's only two points in the league and we have a long season ahead
17:14it's the day of gal fest at glenorm in a couple of hours they go live
17:19can't help keep logging up the glen to see when the cars is coming
17:22in the festival we know people it's uh madness absolutely madness
17:34and then we're all dependent we're dependent on that wee toy wire there that's that right there
17:45all the technology guys tell me if i keep an end that screen here
17:48that'll let us know that everything's flowing the way it's supposed to be
17:57ladies thank you so much and now they think carter
18:01at night i get lost on and i i get lost on the way that you look at me when you're trying not to look at
18:13me i'm all going crazy what do you dream about tonight are you losing sleep what's on your mind
18:26when you close your eyes
18:36away from the action in glendun john macaulay is out on his farm doing maintenance on ronan's way
18:55the track is named after his son ronan who came up with the idea of building a public footpath on the farm
19:07he died suddenly four years ago before the path was completed he was 38.
19:15uh today we're going to hang a gate here because that gate is too small and it's done anyhow
19:23so we're going to hang another gate on it
19:32this was ronan's project he had wished that the general public would be able to
19:38walk through it and uh see all the views
19:44since we opened back up after the lockdown
19:47it has been extremely busy i suppose people are glad to get back out again
19:54so being silly we didn't take water up with this
19:59we have to use this to get it
20:05if you put your hand in that there do you feel that how cold that water is no matter how warm the weather
20:12is now just out of interest i sent a sample of it away most springs there's various uh things in them
20:22and that came back totally clear
20:27absolutely pure water
20:36it's august
20:48the villages and towns that hug the glens coastline are making the best of the season
20:53flat white cheers as tourists do their best to grab a holiday as safely as possible
21:04all right jim what are we painting
21:11away from the coasts on the high moors of glenwerry the heather is in flower here there is excitement of
21:20a different kind the annual survey of grouse numbers on the moon
21:27this entire green outside doesn't seem to have done well this year just due to heather beetle and
21:32predation and stuff like that i think so all year gamekeeper alex rogers has been managing the habitat
21:40and protecting nests from predators over the next few days with the help of specially trained dogs
21:46he will find out if it's worked so these lads are mostly from like the trialing community
21:53and we've got one two three four about six like six seven lads here all with dogs and good dogs as
21:58well so uh i want to get these lads in now because i'm not a hundred percent sure on how well this is done
22:05this year oh there we go it's not a bad start
22:19that's good brood down there
22:24big brood there look one two three four five
22:30just a whole lot exploded i couldn't believe what i was like this trying to count on my god
22:35i ragged eight out of a ten percent of a twelve
22:40four right and then a single and a single
22:46say this piece of ground is definitely up from last year
22:49i'm really looking forward to getting the rest of it done and so far brilliant count yeah i couldn't be
22:54happy
23:00it's also been a successful summer at tivara community allotments in cushingdall
23:05you just can pick them stick out of the thing you know
23:10maybe there we want to do by there you just you just you just take them
23:15a long hot spring followed by rain has left everyone's plots bursting with produce
23:26i'll get you out of turnip you're gonna take it home with you
23:34there you are
23:35it's not too bad that one it's not that big but it's came well
23:44broccoli's done very well nick said it's just the right kind of broccoli you've got in
23:51i'm happy enough we'll stop us growing it's been a very strange summer for us
23:56most of our fundraising has unfortunately had to be stopped with with regard to covet but it's brilliant
24:03crop this year and i think because people have a lot more time they've been up a lot more and
24:09looking after a wee bit more
24:13there's a lot of competition and see who's got the best
24:16crop and robert only thinks he's an expert
24:24this is this is a real good time now when you're walking around and see everything growing
24:29once you've all the weeds done you just walk about and lie over the fence and look at
24:32that you know i like asked about i like now he's just looking in at everything growing well
24:43keeps you seeing you can't get out of the bubble now but you could spend all day up here you could
24:48look at it it's nice warm weather like just sitting yarn look at stuff
24:53that's what everybody does
25:09summer is nearly over
25:13and the caravanners at cornlock will soon be returning home
25:16the seabirds on rathlin island left weeks ago rain has washed away any sign that they were ever here
25:28in her studio in ballyvoy deidre is working on her beach paintings
25:43on glenarm estate the short horn beef cattle are already in calf
25:48and trees are beginning to turn so traditionally if we went walking this is somewhere i would fall
25:58on ronan's way in glendun john macaulay is enjoying a sunday morning walk with his granddaughter natalie
26:05and his late son's wife paula the main thing especially for natalie because she was so young
26:10with ronan it's important for her to remember that her daddy's always with her nice to be out and
26:15make the most of the views and feel that ronan's with us at all times because i know what he is
26:20good girl pull it up natalie show us your macaulay walk
26:27it's instilled in natalie she's very much macaulay when it comes to kind of her love of the great outdoors
26:33and i think for her whenever she does go to glendun it's with her papa
26:37so her and papa that's their time to be together john's kind of stepped into the shoes of ronan
26:43and making sure that she has got that male role model just helping her and guiding her and reminding
26:48her of you know the things that were important to ronan you know it's lovely that the two natalie
26:57and her cousin katie so much love it that would have been run's delight to see the two children
27:05uh so much enjoying it there you go ronan was the most unmaterialistic man for him it was all about
27:16making the most of nature it was about being true to yourself it's about being humble it was about
27:23enjoying what's around you it's beautiful isn't it
27:29autumn is coming and the glens have new stories to tell
27:36oh she's coming on well definitely well they lost without her big asset to the farm
27:43but when i started with my father he said there's a job for you here if you want it
27:47and they said there'll be some good years some not so good years that's more or less the way it is like
27:56you're proud that they've enjoyed it so much and that you're sharing your land with them
28:05and that's what i'll go on the the belgian will be here that's the state will be here in another two
28:26three hundred years time