Meet Ireland’s Most Intriguing Local Characters - Part 2

The man himself – John Fitzgerald on the water.

Meet John Fitzgerald, seaweed expert, nature lover, and local historian. Lucky enough to live on the Wild Atlantic Way, John developed a deep love fishing and boating early in life, spending summers as a kid going fishing with his family.

“No matter how much you learn, there’s always more to learn,” John says. “My wife and I used to go fishing together – the sea brought us together. After a while we started paying more attention to the ocean and nature and started learning more about it. It was a snowball effect – the more we learned, the more we wanted to know! So I’ve been running seaweed foraging and fishing tours for 10 years now.”

Recently asked to speak at a conference about the Wild Atlantic Way and seaweed, he is renowned across the island as one of Ireland’s leading experts on seaweed and plant life in the ocean.

A yummy dish of fresh fish, whipped up by John and his wife.

Not only can he give you the history of seaweed from ancient times to today, explain its natural properties and its health benefits, he can also show you how to eat it! But his passion and knowledge extends past just seaweed. If you want to know what is edible that comes out of the Atlantic Ocean, John’s your man. From sea radishes to sea spinach and sea rocket, as well as coastal wild edible plants such as aster, rock samphire and seabeets – John loves to share these tasty green treats with visitors to the Kingdom of Kerry.

While some edible plants can be eaten as one walks along the shore, others need a bit more preparation. Some foraged plants can be combined with fish to create gourmet dishes like ceviche or sashimi, a picnic delicacy enjoyed on a deserted island or quiet beach. 

Along the way, John showcases his other passion – that of local mythology and storytelling, bringing the landscapes alive with tales from Irish legend and history. Once John Fitzgerald gets to talking about local legends, the ocean and its plants, there’s no stopping him…

The old road to Connemara’s Lost Valley

“My name is Gerard Bourke, and I was born and reared here in the Lost Valley, where I farm livestock as my family have done for over three hundred years,” Gerard says as way of introduction. Tradition is important to Gerard as it is to most rural people in Ireland. Passed down through families and maintained by villages and communities, the people of Ireland’s rural regions such as the backcountry of Connemara have long been bastions of tradition.

Nicknamed the Lost Valley, Gerard’s farm has an amazing variety of natural landscapes and spectacular scenery. According to Gerard, it is the ‘Theatre of the Gods,’ and added to this it is also absolutely steeped in authentic Irish history. The Lost Valley is not only unrivalled in its extraordinary natural beauty but is arguably the finest memorial of the Great Famine that remains today, with its long deserted famine village and multitude of potato ridges that have laid undisturbed and unattended since the famine, in such a picturesque setting overlooking the Wild Atlantic Ocean. From its striking scenic beauty and rich cultural heritage to its insightful and interactive telling of life on the farm, the Lost Valley is an unforgettable immersive experience like no other.

“I absolutely love the splendour of this secluded valley which has been preserved and protected by our family for centuries,” he gushes. “As I said before, I’m very passionate about our history. Here in the valley we are walking quite literally amongst the relics of the past….”

Herding the sheep!

Gerard Bourke is shaped not only by tradition and heritage, but also by the past, and its effect on the landscape and culture. “All the inhabitants including my own family were evicted in 1851 to create an extensive grazing farm,” Gerard explains matter-of-factly. “My great-great-grandfather Michael Bourke returned to work as a herd’s man and my grandfather eventually acquired ownership of the valley, but it has always been run as a grazing farm.”

For over three hundred years, the Bourke family trekked over a mile on foot across the rough mountain terrain of Connemara to reach the secluded farm. It was impossible to bring machinery into the valley, and so the history and the way of life of these Celtic inhabitants was written on the landscape and the Irish agricultural tradition in the Lost Valley remains pristine and untouched.

“It is a very great privilege for me to display and interpret this history for our visitors and observe them enjoy the natural beauty of the place,” Bourke concludes.