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!

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.

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.

26th - 27th July. Along The Royal Canal to Richmond Harbour, to complete the Green and Silver!

Travelling westwards after leaving Abbeyshrule, the Royal Canal is almost parallel to the River Inny for a while and we catch glimpses of the river, off to our left. We were soon passed by traffic on the towpath, well, a tractor anyway! It was nice to see some movement by the canal, even if there are no boats to be seen. This lovely canal is severely under used.

The weedcutters have been doing a good job so far on the Royal, but on this section they have cut, but not collected, the weed. It is the first time that this has been a problem for us, so it was slow going.

There was a great deal of this pretty plant in the water, but we could not identify it. Any ideas, anyone?

Foigha Harbour was a lovely place to spend the night.

In the morning the skies were rather threatening as the canal passed across Cloonbreany Bog. We have left the River Inny behind us as the canal is now heading more to the North, so as to avoid Lough Ree, and join the River Shannon much further north, just to the south of Tarmonbarry, at Richmond Harbour, Clondara.

In lock 43 it was a case of "keep to the left" in the lock, as the right lock wall was extremely leaky.

At Benagh Bridge we had to call for the lockkeeper to open the lifting bridge. The old bridge can be seen behind it.

Soon after that comes the Bord Na Mona lifting machinery bridge, where peat from the bog is carried over the canal.

Our man was determined to see us through the next lock, even though we had told him there was no need. He wants us through Richmond Harbour as soon as possible, as it is officially closed to boats from 2pm today, and we are already later than that.

Once down lock 46, The Puzzler winded and backed downstream to moor below Richmond Harbour, half across the weir. The boom is a good place to tie the stern!

We have now completed the Green and Silver. We already have the burgee, and in due course we will have a certificate and plaque too. The Green and Silver is a waterways triangle, comprising the Grand Canal, the River Liffey, the Royal Canal, the Camlin river and the River Shannon. The Green and Silver was completed by LTC Rolt in 1946 on Le Coq, the boat which is shown on the burgee, and he wrote the book called Green and Silver. The Royal canal was closed for about 50 years, to be reopened completely in October 2010.  To find out more about it, go to dublin.iwai.ie/greenandsilver.html.