The Gravel Walks

Granny, or Gráinne, is a remote glen between Ardara and Glencolumbkille in southwest Donegal. People from the nearby villages summered their sheep there and climbed gravel paths to gather them in autumn, which Donegal fiddler Caoimhín Mac Aoidh gives as the source of the name.

The reel belongs to a large family descended from the 18th century Scottish tune "The Highland Man That Kissed His Granny," with a first strain in A and a last one in C. It is a Donegal favorite, spread by the Byrne brothers of Kilcar and the travelling Doherty family, and fiddlers there often play it in octaves. Simon Doherty played the third and fourth parts as a tune of their own, "Miss Percy's Reel."