Original subtitles

Lough Erne in County Fermanagh,

the westernmost county of Northern Ireland.

According to myth,

the Erne was named after the goddess Erann,

whose divine power was dissolved into the water,

breathing life into the surrounding landscape.

The Erne has been a centre for human activity for thousands of years,

but with more than 150 islands and 500 square kilometres of water,

there's still plenty of hidden corners,

providing sanctuary for some of Europe's most endangered species.

Filmed over a year,

this is the story of this ancient water world,

told by today's tribe of river people,

as they work hard across the seasons

to preserve and maintain the Erne's precious habitats

for future generations to enjoy.

It's autumn, and as the summer visitors drift away,

the shores and islands of the lough are beginning to change.

The sinking sun and shrinking days

give the lough a different atmosphere.

Every bit as beautiful as any season.

A long winter is coming.

But autumn is the Erne's opportunity for a final hurrah.

It's September, and underneath the Erne's misty waters,

pike are on the move.

In just over a month,

Enniskillen will be hosting the Erne Pike Classic.

Brothers Frankie and Eddie Roofe

are spending today scouting for prize-winning fishing spots.

Their obsession with this mysterious and elusive prey began in childhood.

The story goes that my father went and bought an old boat

round the town and Eddie and I went out fishing with him.

We were probably about eight or nine.

We were going past Sandy Bottom and...the big pike hit.

He started winding it in,

and he wound it in closer and closer all the time.

He handed it to me. He says, "Hold that."

As I held it in my hand like that there,

I looked over the side of the boat,

and this big pike was about 27 or 28 pound, maybe even,

with a mouth on it like that there, full of teeth,

and of course I threw the hand line up in the air

and off it went across the water.

And we'll not tell you the end of the story, but I got a skite.

Come on, fish.

Here's it coming in now on the top of the water.

Look it, just behind.

Wait till you see. Look it. Look. Here, see it?

You have to respect any creature

that puts up the kind of fight that a pike does,

cos he does not want to come into your boat.

And they're a hangover from the era of the dinosaur.

They can be big and dangerous and they've a lot of teeth,

and some people are afraid of them.

I'm famous for...having to go to the hospital

and get hooks taken out of my hand.

Nice fish.

Very small but nice.

As the days get shorter and colder,

the trees in the ancient woodlands that surround the lower lough

begin to turn.

It's an annual spectacle,

much enjoyed by nature writer Dara McAnulty.

Autumn is the season where the entire forest is full of colour

and everything just seems to be exploding with life.

It hasn't really gone into the dreariness of winter just yet,

and it still doesn't have that just intensity

that you just can never escape from in summer,

and autumn is just that perfect balance of it all.

And it also has the mushrooms, which are absolutely incredible.

Mushroom. Woo!

Do not know how I spotted this one.

OK, now I've lost it.

Oh, found it.

There are a number of different types of mushrooms.

We have the saprophytic mushrooms,

which grow on dead organic matter and feed off it, break it down.

They break down the leaves

and bring those nutrients back into the system.

You've also got then the parasitic ones,

which grow on living organic matter,

and they steal away some of the life energy and nutrients from its host,

which is usually a tree or a different type of plant.

And now the final and, I would think, the most interesting of them.

They are called mycorrhizal. There we go.

They're really, really, really, really microscopic,

and they wrap around each other so much

that you can get hundreds of kilometres of them

in just a small handful of soil.

So that's enough to stretch across the country.

Imagine it as a massive underground system of tubes.

It takes in the nutrients from the soil

and from the dead leaves which fell from the tree,

and then it's giving it back into the tree

through this network of mycelium.

You can't really see them,

but they are the binding force that keeps the entire forest together.

There are a couple of scientists working on theories

that it is possible... HE CHUCKLES

..that the trees can be somehow communicating

through this mushroom web.

It's starting to become known as the wood wide web.

I think it's truly magical.

Back in Enniskillen, it's the start of the rowing season.

Situated between the upper and lower loughs,

this island town is home to Enniskillen Royal Boat Club.

Pressure on. Legs. Legs. Drive it through.

Last year's senior teams are now off to university,

but this year's new hopefuls are training hard.

Keep your inside shoulders back. Outside shoulder up.

Around 14,000 people live in Enniskillen,

making it the Erne's largest town.

Morning.

Baker Joe Kelly was born here.

Just be a couple of minutes here. Sure.

Got a lot of stuff.

He was brought up in America but returned 15 years ago

and has been running the bakery for the last two years.

OK.

When I first started, I was doing about 30 loaves a day.

Now I'm up to about 70.

My bread is an old way of making bread,

and basically, it's only three ingredients,

so it's only flour, water and salt,

and those three things create this wonderful loaf

of leavened bread that looks great, tastes great and is good for you.

OK, I'm going to need about a ten- minute break after this, all right?

What I call myself is a community baker, so I bake for my community.

Just leave the delicate stuff till last,

just in case I do fall, you know?

I'm not a large scale.

As long as I can maintain a certain number of loaves every day,

then I can sustain a living out of it.

So I mix the bread, make the bread, bake the bread,

deliver the bread, sell the bread, sweep up the floors at the end.

So I'm scoring the bread

because there's air bubbles trapped inside the loaf.

Allows the bread to expand.

I just do a simple scoring method.

In the old days when they had community bakers,

families would make their own bread at home,

and then they would bring it down to the baker

and he would fire the bread.

They would do a certain kind of cut so that when the bread was baked,

the family would know which bread was theirs.

The Erne sits in a wide basin

on rocks formed 330 million years ago

when Ireland was near the equator.

Above the upper lough in Cuilcagh Mountain,

rivers that eventually feed the Erne plunge through limestone rock

to carve out the 12-kilometre Marble Arch cave system,

which attracts more than 70,000 visitors a year.

Near Moses Cradle,

painter Lorna Smith is working on sketches for oil paintings

that will form the centrepiece of an exhibition later this year.

The greatest teacher in painting is actually the landscape itself.

The colours, the textures, the sculptural effect.

I'm looking at perfection,

and it's natural.

Not all the caves in the Marble Arch system are so accessible.

Upstream where the Owenbrean River pushes through the rock

is Pollasumera.

Yeah, very slippy at this time of year.

It's a favourite spot for husband and wife Tim and Pam Fogg.

Based in Fermanagh, they have explored caves all over the world.

We just don't know what's underneath our feet.

There's no way of telling.

Who knows what might be there? And that is the big attraction.

There's certainly rivers in Fermanagh sinking underground.

We know there must be a cave passage in there,

but we haven't found a way into it.

Maybe we never will.

That boulder in front of you wasn't there before.

That's been blown in by a huge flood. Wow. My God.

Must weigh a tonne or more. Yeah, just shows you.

Water is a huge part of Fermanagh.

The water aggressively wears the rock,

but also chemically, it wears the rock and makes the caves

the size and shape they are.

You can see in this cave the amount of flood debris,

even a full-grown tree.

Huge boulders, maybe a tonne of weight,

have been washed in by the force of the water.

It's incredible.

Well, it just shows you what it's like when it rains heavily.

Not a place for us to be.

Quite low here.

Ooh. When you come into a cave,

you're sort of getting into the heart of things.

You're getting inside geology

and you're also getting inside the hydrology,

the way the water flows and joins together and links

to eventually all join together into the Erne.

Nice little waterfall here!

It's almost like the underworld.

This is what's been going on beneath the surface.

There's a raindrop that's coming through,

and it's just plopping just onto the water,

and I thought it was very interesting,

the reflections of the stalactites, because that's how they're formed.

There's a very interesting thing the Dalai Lama said.

"The smallest of thing is always significant."

Every single drop matters.

This is a fantastic thing. This is a sandstone boulder,

and it's held in place with calcite, which is the same as the stalactite.

And there's another one here, exactly the same thing,

except these are really big boulders,

and they've been cemented in place by the calcite floor.

So this level of infill must have been right across

this part of the cave, and it's all been washed out.

It's incredible how this is just suspended.

Oh, there's a lot of infill here.

The wonderful thing about in here is,

once we get away from daylight, it is completely dark.

There's no natural light.

It doesn't matter how long you keep your eyes open.

Your eyes won't get used to the dark. It is velvety black.

Your hearing becomes much more acute.

And then you start to hear voices,

and you think there's people in the cave or there's people coming,

and you say, "Hello."

There's nobody there.

So we're right away from the water now,

and it's got really, really quiet.

Let's turn the lights out, see what...

That's nice, isn't it?

Inky blackness.

It's October and, above ground,

the temperature is beginning to drop.

At Crom Castle on the shores of the upper lough,

the male deer will soon be rutting.

It's a reminder that winter is on its way.

In Enniskillen, it's the weekend of the Erne Pike Classic,

where fishermen from across Europe battle for a prize fund

of over £12,000.

Competing for local pride as well as the money

are Frankie and Eddie Roofe.

We're a bit nervous, but we, you know, we have a lot of work to do

to get ready, make sure we're ready to go.

Hopefully it'll go well for us.

Two years ago, I had a fish 22 lbs 4 oz.

And it got me second place in the competition.

With your prize, you get a cap.

It's just something I like to wear on the competitions.

Try and intimidate everybody else, you know?

All the best today.

Have a good day. He's supposed to blow the whistle,

but can't even see him.

He must be down there. There's still boys weighing in,

getting their boats checked down there.

But it is half ten. He should be ready to blow the whistle now.

WHISTLE BLOWS Right, boys, have a good day!

I'm just going to try something different.

I'm going to put a bit of coconut oil on to give it a wee bit of taste

and a bit of a smell.

And if that doesn't work, I'm going to try a bit of garlic.

At Castle Caldwell,

Dara is enjoying the last throes of the forest's annual colour show.

Man-made creations like houses, shopping centres -

humans haven't really had those for a very, very long amount of time,

and in all honesty, we're still getting used to them.

And I'm autistic, so I feel everything that little bit more,

and it's that intensity that us humans just really aren't used to.

A sensory overload feels as though the entire world

is collapsing in on you as though you could... It's like...

You can just feel things coming in from you on all sides,

and you start curling up in a little ball,

and it just feels utterly awful,

like the entire world is just collapsing in on you.

And there's nothing you can do to stop it.

I don't really think that that's a coincidence

that I feel so much more relaxed amongst the trees

than amongst people.

I think that everybody has this need to be outside to a certain extent.

Maybe they don't collapse in a shopping centre,

but everybody does get stressed.

We cannot function to the best of our ability

without spending some time in nature to let ourselves recuperate.

Back in Enniskillen,

organisers of the Erne Pike Classic have been having a busy weekend.

Nice and easy.

Beautiful.

That's the heaviest pike here the day for me.

It was 7 lbs 8 oz.

I heard there's one at 18, just over 18 lbs, you know, been caught.

For Frankie and Eddie Roofe,

it has been a frustrating couple of days.

Nothing yet anyway.

There has to be a big fish here somewhere.

Yes! There's now only a few hours left,

and they need to catch a pike of at least 14 lbs to qualify for a prize.

Give me the rod. You're nearly off the boat.

Just have to break it, Eddie. We're not going to get it out.

Don't break the rod, though.

One of those things. A big rock, or... That's right. No doubt.

Or three.

There's a boy after catching fish. Look it.

Good lads. Well done.

This man's catching a fish over here beside us now.

A small one. Aye, looks to be small, yeah.

Regardless of what happens next year,

we're going to sit on the bank, on the edge of the bank,

and we're going to fish out of the boat.

You think so? I do, yeah,

because this has been real hard work for no return.

To me, sitting in the same spot the whole day

wouldn't really be my cup of tea, Eddie.

If it comes down to it, we'll be going out in two separate boats,

and I will sit on the shore the whole day.

I guess the two of us is too set in our ways.

No, no... Oh, you're willing to change, are you?

I'm up for change.

That's a fish. Eh?

Good fish. Good fish. Get the net.

Right. Bring it here to me.

That's it, jump into the boat, mate.

That's good.

We mightn't sit in the hedge next year after all.

Nice and gentle.

25 minutes to go.

We'll weigh it just to make sure. It may not be heavy enough,

because there's been a lot of big fish caught today as well,

so we'll just wait and get it weighed and see what it is.

Take that, would you? Yeah.

Near enough... Not too much above 12, it is. Is it?

Turn her round till we see.

13 pound? 13 it is. Yeah.

13.

That's disappointing, but there you are.

OK, lads. Thanks very much.

Disappointed in that there.

Definitely looked bigger.

Down at riverside,

retired schoolteacher Pat Lunny

is picking up his boat for an evening on the lough.

He has lived in Enniskillen all his life.

The house with the green round the windows there

is the house that I was born in.

And who wouldn't want to be born somewhere like this, right?

Spent my whole life here. I will end my life here.

Excuse me speaking about things like that.

Going to take my brother Dermot up now.

We're going to go down the lower lake,

down along the pump house shore.

Dermot's a Parkinson's sufferer.

When I say sufferer, he's a very good sufferer.

Get the old legs kind of going as best you can. We'll head on down.

He was a PE teacher in his younger life,

so his mobility being restricted has to be a bit of a pain.

Watch out.

Come on ahead. Come on down.

That's you. Now, we'll have to go gently here now,

because there's a lot of activity on the lake today, Dermot.

They're rowing very well, doesn't it?

It's just fantastic. Look to the corner, you see? Yeah.

It must be there's a rowing school for boys in Ireland,

North and South.

Downstream, baker Joe Kelly is taking his kids

over to Inish Doney island for a night of foraging.

OK, we're off.

It's owned by his parents, who now live there full-time.

Coming out here,

it's like you're leaving the rest of the world behind you.

It's always been like that, even when I was younger

and we'd come home for the summer.

The island brings a whole new meaning

to kind of getting away from it, though,

cos it's...like a little slice of paradise all to yourself, you know?

Now, keep your eyes open for the crab apples, Owen.

Yeah, here we are.

To be honest, they don't taste that great.

They have a real sharp kind of pungent taste to them,

but what they're full of is pectin.

So they're really great for making jam with,

and what you do with them is you boil them up

with a little bit of sugar, and then you add some flavourings,

like maybe some star anise and some clove,

and then it turns all mushy,

and then you basically strain it and it becomes crab apple jelly.

I used to have crab apple jelly when I was a child,

and it's really good on pancakes.

That's probably enough there. Let me see.

That'll get us about a couple of jars.

So we are on the lookout for the chanterelle mushrooms, right?

Those we definitely know we can cook those up.

That's a possible chanterelle. Go ahead and grab it out of there.

If you go to a restaurant, you get, like, wild mushrooms

and, you know, mushrooms that are in season.

Usually a lot of time, they're chanterelles

or a type of chanterelle.

We'll keep going here and see if we can find a...

Are you just going to wipe it on me? That's OK, yeah. Go ahead.

What's that there?

That there is a star... That is a star rain cap, I think it's called.

What's interesting about these is whenever you squeeze them,

they do like this here.

They have a gland inside them that carries their spores,

so that's how they reproduce.

Keep an eye out for the blackberries, too,

just there might be a few left still.

Oh, those are great. Look. Eat that one.

Ah, it's really good. Mm.

This is one of my favourite places to come on the island.

Never get tired of looking at it at all.

I spend most of my time trying to figure out a way

to be able to stay out here more.

You want to head on here before we lose the light, guys? Yeah. Yeah.

Across the lough, Pat Lunny and his brother Dermot

are also settling down to enjoy the fading sun.

If you look around here,

all you can see is a ribbon of land.

Because it's a calm evening,

the sky and the lake are basically one.

As the light drops, it will pick up that wee bit more.

No two people with Parkinson's exhibit the same symptoms.

It's really a challenge to the medics.

About seven or eight years ago,

I suddenly discovered that I was dragging my left leg slightly

when I was walking.

And the guy that I worked with said,

"You should go and get that checked out," which I did in the hospital.

I had an idea before I went what was wrong,

cos I had an uncle who had Parkinson's

and he displayed much the same symptoms, you know?

But it's not the end of the world, Parkinson's.

I can tell you, I take it as it comes.

The lake has a calming effect on me.

I like Lough Erne, you know.

In this day and age where mental illness is such a problem

and treatment of it is such a problem,

it's great to have something to distract you

and make you appreciate the environment, you know.

It's heaven on Earth where I'm concerned, you know.

You're closer to God when you're on the lake.

I remember I had a few religious ladies out one time.

I was telling them that I was quare glad

the Pope didn't come down Lough Erne when he came to Ireland.

"Why is that?"

I says, "Sure, it's so pleasurable, he'd have made it a sin."

Growing old sucks.

By being old and being here tonight,

it doesn't suck tonight, does it? No.

Autumn on the Erne is coming to a close.

The caves are just so beautiful and you just want to do justice to them.

OK, girls? Right, ready? Go! Push off!

Soon the lough will fall under its winter spell...

..a time for Erne's river people to step back and take stock

while they wait for spring.

Clean socks make fabulous mitts.

I'm barely able to speak here it's so cold.