On a beautiful Saturday morning in November a group of 12 from the Peninsula Pacers met at Rivervalley Community Centre to walk the ‘Jacko’ in the Ward valley. It was organised by Rosaleen O’Reilly, one of our members who lives in the area. She brought along friends Dominic and Margaret to share some of the interesting history of the area.

We set off by the very busy sports pitches and it was great to see so many youngsters out training and playing games. Along our route, led by Dominic, he pointed out some of the local landmarks so we could get our bearings and we marvelled the fact that we were so secluded in nature yet in the middle of a busy urban area.

Our route took us to the Knocksedan bridge, a historic meeting spot for volunteers of the 1916 rising, passing the old mill race on the way. The mill race once provided power to run a flour mill and a saw mill but went out of use when steam and electricity took over.

After nearly two hours of pleasant walking along the Ward river in the lovely autumnal woods we all arrived at Peacocks restaurant for a very welcome drink and some lunch. A lovely day enjoyed by all.