14th - 19th August. Up Lough Ree to Lecarrow and Portrunny, then on to Ballyleague and Richmond Harbour.

From Athlone we set off towards Lough Ree, pausing for a break at Hodson Bay, as the weather was getting worse. However, it cleared up in the afternoon, and we had a calm journey on up the lough. Shannon enjoys resting on the roof, fitting well into this corner at the stern.

She moved inside later on though, as the sky became really threatening again, but there was no more rain.

Along the Lecarrow canal it is obvious from the banks how low the water level is at the moment. The weed has been cut recently and is no problem in the navigation channel. Shannon is inspecting it all carefully!

The harbour at Lecarrow was nearly full, but we managed to moor across the bows of a cruiser, with our bows against the wall. We could get off the roof of The Puzzler on to the harbour wall. In retrospect, we should have ignored the No Mooring sign on the pumpout. It would have made access to the bank a lot easier!

In Lecarrow we went to see Nellie's Rock. These are ancient Dolmen Stones, where a poor woman is reputed to have reared a child under the shelter of the rock. The Yew Tree restaurant in the village provided us with an excellent meal, and this was followed up by music at Coffey's pub. Most of the boaters from the harbour were there.

Moving on to Portrunny, we met up with Gerry and Ann again, and there was good craic all evening.The next day they left us, but new friends, Brian and Elaine arrived with Silver and Magic, two lovely retrievers.

Once again Shannon did her "roadkill" impression. It was the Heritage boaters in Athlone who likened her to this! We thought it was rather unkind!

We left Portrunny late on Sunday, once the wind had lessened, and the sun lit up Dog Island as we sailed past.

Clouds behind us gave a strange effect, but again we avoided any rain.

We moored at Ballyleague overnight, leaving  the barge 4E there when we left to continue up the River Shannon.

We left the River Shannon below Tarmonbarry, to go along the Clondra Canal and up the lock at Clondra. This lock mooring was under water when we came down Clondra lock in the spring.

Our summer lockkeeper wasted no time in bringing us up the lock!

Noel moved his boat up to make room for us, on the lower mooring below Richmond Harbour.

9th - 13th August. Heritage Boat Rally at Athlone 2013. Day trip to Galway.

We moved on up to Athlone on Friday, and tied up outside 68M, below the town bridge. Sonas came in outside us, with a cruiser outside him. On Saturday we went out for an Indian meal with friends, and returned to find The Puzzler, plus those outside us, had moved in front of 68M, on to the wall! (I should say that we had been warned of the impending move before it happened) That night we were wakened at 1am by a young couple climbing over the roof of our boat. They were extremely embarrassed to be found out, as they had thought no-one was on board! We would like to recommend PCWorkshop.ie, based near to the bridge in Athlone, for any work on computers. He retrieved data from our crashed computer in very little time, and the cost was extremely reasonable.

On Sunday we cruised up beyond the motorway bridge to join the procession of Heritage boats down into Athlone.

The boats all moored below the town bridge on the wall, with the barges on the inside. The boats were all tied together to make a solid raft.

We were in the fourth line, and were the fourth boat out. It gets you fit, climbing over three boats, every time you want to leave the boat! There was great craic at every opportunity.

The water levels are down at the moment, and it is possible to walk across the weir. Irish boaters will recognise this couple!

Shannon had a day out on 57M, while we took the train to Galway. We passed the Fields of Athenry on the way.

We bought the new computer at Curry's, where the two assistants were full of craic, competing with each other as to who could be the best one. They were both excellent! Andy paused for a rest beside Oscar Wilde and his father.

Sally chose to relax beside the River Corrib.

It is a pleasant harbour in Galway.

On Monday evening we went to the official opening of the Heritage Boat Rally, where the Mayor of Athlone welcomed us all. Later that evening, after an interesting slideshow of photographs of the River Shannon in 1900, followed by music in the Castle car park, we returned to The Puzzler. It was time to switch on the lights on the boats. They made a lovely display. Next it was more craic till all hours!

7th - 8th August. Back on to the River Shannon at Portumna, Meelick Quay, Banagher, then drama at Shannon Bridge.

We left Lough Derg on Wednesday, to head back up the River Shannon through Portumna Bridge. This bridge opens at set times throughout the day, no doubt annoying the traffic on the road!

Although we have enjoyed Lough Derg, it is quite nice to be on calm waters again, on the River Shannon.

I do not think we have ever seen the River Shannon so calm as it was at Meelick Quay.

Even the horse by the building is there in the reflections.

We called in at Banagher to collect our non-functioning computer. This man, just outside the harbour, has been carved from a tree, which used to stand here.

A favourite walk of ours is through the pitch and putt golf course on the other side of the river at Banagher. Here too is this dinghy marina, which makes them look like toys.

At Shannonbridge we had a major drama, as a man from a hire boat fell into the water, while rafting up to Daisy, in front of The Puzzler. He was not wearing a lifejacket. We were the third boat out, being tied outside the barges 57M and 68M. His two teenage daughters began screaming that he could not swim, while Sally, returning across the barges from the bank, called for Andy to come out and help. Michael arrived too, while a Frenchman from another hire boat dived in after him. As the man went down for the third time the Frenchman went down after him. They both disappeared from view, then our rescuer pulled the unfortunate man to the surface. Andy used our boat hook to get them in beside The Puzzler, and we got hold of his hands. He was a big man, and was weakening by the minute. The Frenchman was also in difficulties by then and had to be hauled out of the water, so that we did not lose him too. All potentially useful ropes were inside the locker, underneath us, as we held him out of the water. Michael organised the two girls to row their dinghy across to The Puzzler, and eventually pulled him into the dinghy, with adrenaline helping! Once the dinghy was taken across to the cruiser by the wall, your man managed to climb the ladder, with help. He was immediately wrapped in blankets, with hot water bottles, and an ambulance was called, which arrived within 15 minutes. He was taken to Ballinasloe Hospital but returned later that evening. Hopefully he will always wear his lifejacket in future, as he will not have a future if he does not do so! Andy and Michael are just off downstream to collect two lifebouys which were thrown in, but drifted past before they could be used in the rescue.

1st - 7th August. Up Lough Derg from Killaloe to Garrykennedy, Dromineer, Rossmore and the Woodford river, then Terryglass.

We left Killaloe before 7am, in fine weather, but within half an hour we could see this rain approaching from the west. Again it was an extremely wet journey up the lough.

However, it cleared before we reached Parker's Point, which is notorious in bad weather. This is where the M barge 45M sank. Once we were round Parker's Point we had a very smooth passage.

 

The inner harbour at Garrykennedy is a private marina, but there is plenty of room for visiting boats on the finger jetties further out. Again there is good walking in the woods here.

We tend to stick out on these finger jetties, but there is plenty of room behind us for passing boats.

All the black markers on Lough Derg are now green, which makes navigation much easier. It is important to go to the correct side of markers, as there are many rocks and reefs lurking close under the surface, just waiting to catch us! Again it was quite a rough passage.

Dromineer is a picturescue harbour.

It was a superb morning on 4th of August as we sailed across Lough Derg to Rossmore.

By the evening the clouds were threatening at Rossmore, but it stayed fine.

Next day Shannon and I swam out to a rock, near to the harbour. A local retriever decided to swim out to join us, but three is a crowd, so we left him to it!

We took The Puzzler up the Woodford River, wending our way through the reeds to find it. We did this two years ago in the dinghy, but this was much more exciting. We pulled in at the mooring, which was quite tricky, as a lake boat had been left there, chained to the jetty. There was only just room enough to turn The Puzzler, and we also met a cruiser, part way back to Lough Derg. Breathe in, everyone!

Carrying on up the lough to Terryglass, there were high clouds behind us.

At Terryglass there is a mini stone circle, but we suspect that it is not medieval!

The Harbour at Terryglass was very busy.

16th - 31st July. On Lough Derg to Mountshannon, Scarriff, Tuamgraney, Mountshannon again and Killaloe.

When I am steering on Lough Derg, Shannon enjoys lying along the handle of the tiller, under my arm. Our friends from Graiguenamanagh left yesterday, but we hope to see them again somewhere on the lough.

Another favourite place for Shannon to travel is on the rope, having rearranged it for her comfort! Andy spent time at Dromaan out in the dinghy, at anchor, reading his book.

Mountshannon harbour was very busy. This has to be our favourite place on Lough Derg and we were there off and on for nearly two weeks. The weather was really hot and we went swimming every day from the boat. One evening the temperature in The Puzzler was 90* at 10pm so Andy went for a swim to cool down!

We found good walking in Wood Park Forest Park, which is just up the Scarriff road from Mountshannon. Shannon enjoyed the cool stream there the best.

The park is near to the harbour and Shannon's dribbling skills are improving.

Shannon Princess came in overnight and towers over all the other boats. She is a hotel boat, based at Athlone, and is a very expensive hotel!

Shannon found some friends on Playtime. They had a lot of fun together, especially playing in the maze in the park!

This sculpture is quite near to the harbour.

A pair of white tailed eagles have been introduced to Lough Derg and are nesting on Bushy Island, which can be seen across from Mountshannon. They have reared two chicks, which are now as big as the adult birds. As we sailed round Bushy Island we could see the adult male, sitting on the rocks. He flew up to a dead tree, which is his main lookout point, as we carried on past him. His wingspan is about 8 feet.

The harbour at Scarriff was very quiet. We went to the library to access the internet and they were extremely helpful there. "Oh, you need a computer each. There is no need for you to share!"

The mooring at Tuamgraney is a short way down the Scarriff river from Scarriff. In the village we were most impressed with the famine memorial garden, which has been built around this oak tree.

On our way back along Lough Derg the sky was threatening, but we returned to Mountshannon without getting wet.

We found the same mooring as last time, on the end of the jetty at Mountshannon. There seemed to be a lot more sailing boats in harbour this time.

Shannon swam at the slipway every day, but dogs were also allowed on the swimming beach after 6pm. Having swum, Shannon would begin her excavations!

By the 29th July it was time to move on, but the weather was inclement, to say the least! We eventually set off after lunch and were glad to have Gus on Lady Anne 111 also out there. He was out on eagle watch, and got some good sightings. We had a quarter sea on the starboard bow so had an extremely rough and wet journey down Lough Derg to Killaloe.

At Killaloe there was plenty of space on the floating jetty. We visited the exhibition about Brian Boru, who was the great High King of Ireland from 941 until 1016 AD. It was really interesting and well worth a visit.

This great earthworks began life as a ring fort and was used by Brian Boru. It can be found a mile or so out of Killaloe on the Scarriff road and is known as Beal Boru.

What a wonderful sunset over the River Shannon at Killaloe!

On leaving Killaloe, Beal Boru can be seen as a wooded hill to our left as we sail up the River Shannon.