20th - 24th August. On to Dromod, Kilglass, Drumsna, Jamestown and Carrick on Shannon.

John and Brigitte joined us at Richmond Harbour, and we walked up the Royal Canal to the first lock, number 45, which brought back memories of last year.

Next day it was on to Dromod, where once again Noel moved his boat up to make room for us. Your man will be after thinking that we are following him! We do like this sculpture of the herons at Dromod.

We called in at the very short mooring in the side bay between Lough Bofin and Lough Boderg. We are outside the markers here, so came in very carefully. We had to back off the slipway when we grounded on the stoney bottom!

There is a lovely walk through the woods here in the Derrycarne Estate. The house, which was built in the seventeenth century, was demolished in 1952, and the estate now belongs to the land commission.

Carrying on across Lough Boderg, we were treated to another big sky.

Sailing on into the Carnadoe waters, we anchored for lunch in the bay to the left, just before Carnadoe quay. Then it was on to Kilglass for a walk up the road to see the view across the lough.

While at Kilglass we met Terry, Angela, Bruce and Jill from South Africa. Terry asked Shannon if she had run into a bus! She was most affronted! He then tried to dognap her with false promises of steak!

This is the most successful family of cygnets we have seen this year. We are now at Drumsna, having been attracted by the promise of good music at the pub this evening. Our South African friends were there first, keeping seats for us, so Terry was forgiven for maligning Shannon's nose! The 10pm music did not begin until 11.30, and was not worth the wait, so we did not stay for long. Quite a few people left before we did, confirming our opinion.

This view at Drumsna looks downstream to the seven arch limestone road bridge, which was built in about 1840.

On leaving Drumsna, we went along the Jamestown cut to the Ardanaffrin mooring, which is a perfect place to play boules.

Then on to Jamestown village, dating from 1621, with this road bridge which was destroyed by a high truck in 1973.

At Carrick on Shannon the moorings were very busy, so The Puzzler was rafted up to a Riverview barge, near to the trip boat, Moon River. Unfortunately Brigitte hurt her ankle, while climbing over the other barge with Shannon. She bravely saved Shannon from hurting herself. As usual here, we are far out into the river on the finger moorings.

On Friday night Moon River was extremely busy with five separate trips, full of hen parties and stag nights. The girls' costumes were themed, with red dresses, little black dresses, bunny ears, pirates and tutus, to name a few!

28th - 30th July. Richmond Harbour, Roosky, Dromod, Carnadoe, Kilglass, Jamestown and Carrick.

It was strange to see Richmond Harbour with no boats. They have all been cleared out to make room for the National Canoe polo championships which are to take place this weekend.

We stayed on our mooring below the lock and enjoyed a morning's entertainment. There is no quarter given in the mens' matches, as the canoes slide over each other as players try to reach the ball.

On leaving Richmond harbour we set off up the Camlin River, to rejoin the River Shannon and continue northwards. The Camlin River is as pretty as ever.

It is back to reality, as we reach Roosky Lock, going through with more boats than we met on the whole of the Royal Canal.

Dromod Harbour was busy when we arrived. However, friends of ours very kindly  moved their cruiser out to let us moor inside them, against the wall.They could then use our roof for access to dry land.

Near to the harbour, our crew enjoyed the flowers.

The donkey carrying peat is very traditional.

On leaving Dromod, the weather is looking promising, with blue sky behind the clouds.

However, within ten minutes the sky has clouded over, and the rainbow ahead warns us of the rain to come. For a while we were steering quite blind, as no markers at all were visible, through the driving rain.

Half an hour later it was a glorious day again, as we left Lough Boderg to approach Carnadoe. This is so typical of Irish weather!

At Carnadoe Quay, a crew of about thirty sea scouts were preparing to leave. They had been camping overnight. It certainly would not have been a peaceful mooring here last night! A cruiser and  several other small boats helped to transport those who were not canoeing today, on the next leg of their journey to Dromod.

On Kilglass Lough, the clouds were gathering again, but we kept dry this time.

Kilglass jetty is one of the most isolated moorings on the Shannon river system.

On returning to the River Shannon, we continued upstream, through Albert lock and the Jamestown Canal, to visit the Jamestown Rally. The barges are nearly right across the river, but there is still room to pull in to tie on to the outside barge.

We are the seventh boat out from the jetty, in the second of five rows of boats.

After a brief visit, it was back to the end of the Jamestown Canal for a game of boules.

The Irish skies continue to amaze us.

While the reflection is just as good.

Elaine has enjoyed taking the helm.

At Carrick once again, we are still longer than most other boats on the mooring.

The view out of the porthole is interesting, looking upstream towards Carrick Bridge. Elaine and Mary  will leave us early tomorrow morning to return to England.

2nd - 10th October. Kilglass and Grange. Back up the River Shannon to Drumsna, then Jamestown.

A lot of rain fell during the night and by morning there was about an inch of water in Mini Puzzle. There was noticeably more current too, which made it quite exciting on our way back down Mountain River. The extra flow was very noticeable as the river has many sharp corners. We needed power to turn, but could not go too fast, for safety! The bow thruster was extremely useful.

Once back in Kilglass Lough, the reflections were stunning.

We carried on to Kilglass jetty, which has finger moorings, at the far end of the lough. It is a really isolated place.

Mini Puzzle is still full of water, so is not riding very well behind us, on our return up Kilglass Lough.

Grange mooring lies at the next head of navigation, to the north of Kilglass Lough. We had hoped to explore the river here by dinghy, but it is too shallow, so Mini Puzzler will be deflated now for the winter.
The mooring at Grange is much more informal than most, with the pub very handily placed close by.


The clouds over Lough Boderg were as impressive as ever, as we sailed on, later on Wednesday, once the wind had died down.

Instead of continuing on to the Jamestown Canal, we followed the Shannon River to Drumsna. This is a pleasant wall mooring, with plenty of well manicured grass and picnic tables too.

Catkin spends any spare time asleep! It is quite a squash here by the table leg.

This lifelike statue was poised at the far end of the mooring at Drumsna, ready to dive into the river.

After a few wet and windy days at Drumsna, it is back to the Jamestown canal, and through Albert Lock. Jamestown Canal was built in the 1770s  to bypass the great loop in the Shannon here, and the shallows in it between Jamestown and Drumsna.

At the far end of the Jamestown Canal, we turn right for the short stretch up to Jamestown itself. It is quite a small town, but it has a great history. These graves are within the ruins of an abbey in the churchyard.

As you walk round town these Heritage Trail Plaques are there to identify each point of interest. This one is for Jamestown Weir, even though this is as near as you can go!

Jamestown was once a fortified town. James 1 granted it a royal charter and it was surrounded with a wall 6 metres high and 1.8 metres thick. Jamestown Arch is the remains of the original gateway to the town, the top of which had to be removed to allow for large modern lorries.

O'Beirne's Tower stands at the corner of the original O'Beirne estate.