Round trip of Upper Lough Erne plus extras. 22nd May - 2nd June

We continued on down the River Erne to Regal Pass mooring, in the middle of Enniskillen, to sit out the winds on Monday. These were blowing at 35mph with gusts of over 70 mph, lifting the tops off the waves as they rolled past us. This is normally a sheltered mooring. A small cruiser, with no one on board, sailed up the inside of our mooring, ending up against the footbridge!

Elaine, Andy’s sister, and Mary, our friend, joined us at the Ardhowen Theatre later in the week. We cruised back to Devenish Island, through wind and rain, on Thursday.
We moored at Devenish West jetty, going into the sheltered part of it, which is reminiscent of a narrow lock!

As soon as there was a break in the weather, we went to visit the ruins. Devenish West mooring is much closer to the ruins and the White Tower.

Elaine found an old rugged cross!

We walked over to Devenish East mooring, which was very exposed in this weather.

The spray from the waves was coming up through the jetty.
Do click on this picture to see it in greater detail!

After leaving Devenish we sailed along Upper Lough Erne, taking the east route this time. We visited Castle Crom and walked along to see the ruins. The original was built in 1610, at about the same time as Tully Castle.

There are two yew trees near to the ruins. These trees were fully grown in the time of Queen Elizabeth 1, over 400 years ago.

We continued on to join the Shannon- Erne- Waterway. This is Skelan lock.

We sailed as far as Haughton’s Shore, which is one of our favourite moorings. We managed to get the prime spot this time!

Before returning down the S-E-W, we sailed round Church Island in Garadice Lough, and stopped on the island to see the ruined church.






On our return to Upper Lough Erne, we cruised round Galloon Island, and visited Rachel and Chris at their mooring. We had met them earlier this year on the Shannon-Erne Waterway. We tied our bows to a handy post, while we went into their boat for a cup of tea. Fortunately there was a fisherman nearby, who gave us a shout, as the wind blew The Puzzler across their bows, and levered the post out. Chris was very quick to react, holding our bow rope while we leapt back on board, before The Puzzler sailed off on her own, with Catkin in charge!

The clouds were very impressive as we sailed up the lough.

When we returned to Ardhowen, the evening light was superb.
Elaine and Mary left us the next morning, after a most enjoyable week.