BSW3 15. Along the Owenroe river

Speaker: Sean McMahonFrom the Bluestack Way Part 3 playlist. After your descent, you drop into the valley of Doobin joining the roadway at the bottom of the hill and taking a left turn along the track to Glenties.  With no habitation and little disturbance, the occasional glimpse can be had of the peregrine falcon and merlin; more rarely the hen harrier ranges across the mountains. The golden plover is also found on some of the slopes here but more commonly, the familiar call of the stonechat frequently breaks the silence as it hops along the fencepost. Other birds of note are the wheatear, skylark and the ever present meadow pipit.  The track follows the course of the Owenroe river which has its source in the townland of Croankeeran on the northern slope of Carnaween mountain approx 4 km to the east. When in spate this river can be spectacular during wet spells and provides plenty of interest where it runs over the rock outcrops, with small waterfalls and many rapids. This river is framed by this beautiful valley deep inside the Bluestack mountains. A rock known as 'Carraig an Tabla' on the north side of the river was said to be used as a mass rock during Penal Times. We tell you some more about mass rocks in our audio piece.