Read all about our member Jeffrey‘s trip to The Circular Square.
On Saturday 5 September I put my bicycle on an Irish Rail train in Dublin and headed south to Clonmel. With the bike safely in its rack and the panniers packed, it was a pleasantly straightforward start to a three-day trip running through to Monday 7 September.
The main reason for travelling was a weekend of repair and Linux workshops at The Circular Square. Around that, I had plans for some cycling, portable amateur radio and a little monument photography. It sounds like several different weekends packed into one, but they fitted together rather well.
Saturday: learning by repairing
The Circular Square is a community space in Clonmel centred on repair, reuse and sharing skills. It runs a monthly Repair Café as well as a Toy Library, so it was exactly the right place for the weekend.
I delivered two workshops on Saturday. The first covered multimeter skills and electrical fault-finding, and the second moved on to soldering for repair. A multimeter can look a little mysterious at first, but it becomes a very useful tool once you know how to test a cable, check a connection and work through a fault one step at a time.
The best part was that we put the skills to work immediately. Together, we repaired a wooden children’s activity toy and two rocket-shaped LED lights. The toy will now join the Toy Library, where it can be borrowed, played with and kept in use. That is a much better ending than having it sit broken in a cupboard or become waste.
There is something especially satisfying about a repair workshop where the practice item is also something the community needs. People were not only learning how to use the tools. They could see the direct result of the work in front of them, and hopefully left a little more confident about opening up and investigating the next broken thing.
A forest, a radio and not quite enough light
After the workshops, I cycled out to Marlfield Forest for a Parks on the Air activation. Parks on the Air, usually shortened to POTA, encourages amateur-radio operators to set up portable stations in designated parks and protected areas and make contacts from there.
Operating as EI7IRB/P, I made 10 contacts from Marlfield Forest, POTA reference IE-0045. Marlfield had been activated previously by another operator. The radio part went well. Finding my way back out of the forest with only a bicycle light was a little more difficult.
A bicycle light is excellent when it is attached to a moving bicycle and pointing in the right direction. It is rather less convenient when you are trying to find your way through a forest after an evening activation. The practical lesson from that activation was very clear: bring a headlamp for evening and winter POTA trips.
Sunday: radio, Linux and old buildings
Sunday began beside the River Suir, where I set up the radio on the Suir Blueway before returning to The Circular Square. Between that morning stop and another session later near Carrick-on-Suir, I made 24 contacts from the Suir Blueway, POTA reference IE-0303. This was the first time anybody had activated that POTA reference.
Back at The Circular Square, the morning was about helping people keep older computers useful by installing Linux. Replacing the operating system can give a perfectly serviceable computer a new lease of life, without requiring its owner to become a computer expert. Like the repair workshops, it was about getting more use from something people already had.
It was also the end of my workshop time at The Circular Square. I had received a lovely welcome throughout the weekend, and it was great to meet people who wanted to build their repair skills and share what they knew with one another.
I also found time for Wiki Loves Monuments, the annual photography project that helps document historic buildings and monuments. I try to concentrate on places that do not already have a photograph in the collection. In Clonmel, that included the Clonmel Arms Hotel and the former National Irish Bank.
Along the Blueway to Carrick-on-Suir
After the Linux session, I loaded the bicycle again and set off towards Carrick-on-Suir. The route along the Suir Blueway was just over 20 km, with a packed lunch and another radio stop planned along the way.
I had described it as a leisurely cycle. A bicycle carrying two large panniers, a handlebar bag, a saddle bag and radio equipment is entitled to its own opinion on that description.
On the outskirts of Carrick-on-Suir, I stopped for lunch and set up the radio again. The rain waited until I was packing everything away, which was considerate up to a point.
Later that evening I activated Ormond Castle, POTA reference IE-0290. Like the Suir Blueway, this was the first time anybody had activated the park for POTA. It is a lovely place, with wild meadows, sculptures and historic buildings all sharing the same space. I made 18 contacts from the park, although none of them was local. That is simply part of portable radio. The contacts you make are not always the ones you expect.
While in Carrick-on-Suir, I also photographed St Nicholas of Myra for Wiki Loves Monuments.
Monday: onwards to Waterford
On Monday morning I packed the bicycle once more and started towards Waterford. The route brought me onto the Waterford Greenway and past the Waterford Suir Valley Railway. I had arrived before its café opened, so there was nothing for it but to keep moving.
Outside Waterford I stopped for one final short radio session. Operating as EI0TOG, I made 10 contacts from the Waterford Greenway, POTA reference IE-0297, before continuing the journey. This was also the first activation of that POTA reference.
One trip, several interests
What I enjoyed most about the trip was how naturally the different parts fitted together. The train made it possible to bring the bicycle south. The bicycle carried me between a community workshop, river paths, parks and historic places. The repair sessions and Linux installations helped keep existing things useful, while the Toy Library will make sure the repaired toy is used by more than one family. Radio provided a reason to stop and pay attention to the places I was travelling through, and Wiki Loves Monuments added a few more places to the public photographic record.
None of these needed to be separate activities. They all came back to much the same idea: sharing useful knowledge, making the most of what is already around us and meeting other people along the way.
Thank you to Michael FitzGibbon, Sybil Cope and everyone at The Circular Square for the warm welcome. The workshops and visit were made possible with funding from the LEADER Programme through South Tipperary Development Company.
The trip left me with three first-ever POTA activations in the radio log, several new monument photographs, a firm intention to pack a headlamp next time, and the knowledge that one toy and two rocket lights will live on.