I love to do a walking tour when I go away around Ireland or on a short hop abroad, if time and availability allow.

Far from the glossy brochures, ratings and reviews, you learn about the real fabric of the place, what makes it tick, and above all, you’ll get a sense of how our past is constantly influencing our future.

Generally, the walking tours are given by locals who are great storytellers with a bit of knowledge and humour who are willing to share it.

There’s nearly always a great yarn that makes you curious for more and leaves you laughing in equal measure with people from all over the globe. This is generally the fun fact you tell the next person you meet.

But have you ever done a walking tour of where you live or grew up? I had the opportunity recently to do just that recently, as part of the inaugural and very successful Athlone Viking River Fest, and Vincent Harney from Athlone Guided Tours, a former postmaster from nearby Cornafulla in Roscommon, was a most amiable and good-humoured host.

Joining others from abroad and many born and bred in Athlone (I’m a blow-in from nearby Offaly) we enjoyed a saunter around the familiar and looked at it anew. It was an interesting and illuminating experience, to say the least.

You generally rush past places in everyday life with little thought for what has gone before. I lost count of the number of times we collectively exclaimed, ‘I didn’t know that’ as Vincent relayed the social history of the town and rural hinterland.

There was a story of a priest’s illegal lottery or sweepstakes to build one of the town’s magnificent churches and the biggest worldwide contributor coming from a surprising source, or a tale of a country girl who saved many children from drowning in New York in the biggest tragedy to hit the city prior to 9/11.

Sadly, the old street has been in decline for several decades, but now there are efforts to rejuvenate the area. Hopefully, this will bear fruit in time

Vincent reminded us of a time, he and others, marched to stop councillors pressing ahead with plans to demolish Athlone Castle, now the town’s main visitor attraction, to make way for a car park.

And that’s without even talking about the famed tenor and town’s most famous son, John Count McCormack or another lesser-known locally trained bandmaster and composer, Patrick Gilmore, from nearby Ballygar in Galway, who was a superstar in 19th-century America.

Among other things, he was the founder of Gilmore’s Concert Garden, later to become Madison Square Gardens.

Tours like this really get people talking, sharing, and connecting.

I was reminded of this again at the weekend at a lovely Heritage Week event in Connaught Street, Athlone, where a parade led by Athlone Pipe Band, took people through what was once the main shopping street to a nearby park where there was music, entertainment, and a craft market.

Sadly, the old street has been in decline for several decades, but now there are efforts to rejuvenate the area. Hopefully, this will bear fruit in time.

For now, though, the events throughout Heritage Week will put the many retail stories of the street in yesteryear front and centre. It will, it is hoped, lead to a better future with new ideas to bring it to life. It’s not unique to this midlands street; it’s something many villages and towns are grappling with.

So, now is your chance to look at your homeplace with a fresh set of eyes, get involved in Heritage Week, which continues until 25 August, or better yet, bring the future generation to some of the free events in your locality.

Best of luck to them, by the way, with the Leaving Cert results and back to school adventures. Beir bua.