26th - 31st March. River life on the Erne and a trip to the Atlantic Coast.

The swans at the Round “O” are more active now that spring is in the air.

Big Red went up under Enniskillen Bridge earlier today, pushing an empty work barge and has returned with a large digger on board. Work is continuing everywhere in preparation for the G8 Conference.

This new weedcutter was launched at the Round “O” slipway this morning. After a few turns around the river, pretending to cut non-existent weed, he is coming out of the water again. Presumably everything is in working order!

We measured Shannon for a lifejacket, but she had outgrown it by the time it arrived! This replacement jacket is two sizes bigger, and should fit her for a while.

 

We are staying with Maurice and Janet for Easter. This waterfall on the Roogagh River is just above the village of Garrison.

A typical Irish cottage in County Leitrim.

The cliffs above Glencar are as spectacular as ever.

Across on the other side of Glencar, is the shamrock of deciduous trees, which were planted among the conifers.

At Rosses Point, this bronze sculpture of a girl, called Waiting on Shore, is reaching to those out at sea.

This plaque can be seen on the wall below the statue.

The statue of a boy on the rock in the bay is very lifelike. He is made of metal and has a light alongside him to warn ships of danger. The wrecks of some ships from the Spanish Armada were found near here.

Lord Mountbatten’s House stands high above us as we head for Mullaghmore.

The gates of the house still bear the insignia, M of B, for Mountbatten of Burma. It is quite poignant to see this.

The Atlantic rollers breaking over the rocks at Mullaghmore Head were really spectacular.

The wind was bitterly cold as we walked out along the breakwater outside Mullaghmore Harbour.

9th - 14th October. A busy weekend.

The week has flown by, with bowls and bridge to keep us busy. On Friday no-one was allowed to moor on the outside of the jetty at the Round "O". This was to leave plenty of space for the three fishermen who had been allocated this spot today for the Erne Pike Fishing Competition, which lasts for three days.

Later on Friday we sailed up to the Ardhowen Theatre for An Evening of Country with The Stars. Our favourite singer was Hugo Duncan, of Radio Ulster fame. Next day we enjoyed the view from above the Theatre, looking upstream.

Looking downstream from the same track is an interesting view of some building plots. They will have a wonderful view, once the houses are built. They are to have moorings on the river, but it will be quite a climb down to them!

As it is time for Harvest celebrations, we walked on into Enniskillen to visit St. Macartin's Cathedral, and see the harvest decorations there. This is certainly an impressive building. Songs of Praise is to be filmed here this coming week, for broadcast on November 11th, Remembrance Sunday, so we must be sure to watch it.

These flowers were arranged by the St. Macartin's Bowls Club, to make an attractive window display. Each window was decorated by a different group, and are all very good.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited St. Macartin's Cathedral, when they were in Enniskillen in June. These were their chairs for the service.

By Saturday evening there were twenty boats on the mooring at Ardhowen. Everyone had come, as we had, to see ABBA THE SHOW, featuring the tribute band, Smackee. The performance was great, with everyone on their feet to join in with the singing and dancing. Parties on the other boats went on well into the early hours, so Andy tells me. I didn't hear a thing!

We sailed back to Enniskillen quite early on Sunday, and the reflections were really good, with no other boats about yet.

When we arrived at the Round "O" there was nowhere to pull in, as all the fishing boats were there. They had to wait for the hooter at 10.30am before they could set off for their third day of the Erne Pike Fishing Competition. We pulled in beside a small cruiser to wait for a space. It was rather like Wacky Races when the hooter went, with all the outboards revving loudly, as everyone wanted to find the best fishing spots.

Once all the fishermen had departed, they were followed by two barges, as Maco and Glen set off to go through the bridge.

We moved round to the inside of the outer jetty, to leave The Puzzler in the charge of our boating friends again.

31st October - 13th November 2011. In Enniskillen for the winter!

Having sailed on downstream to Enniskillen, which is only a mile from the Ardhowen Theatre, we moored at Broadmeadow, beside the Forum Sports Centre, for a few days. We explored the town, and also walked down below Enniskillen Bridge to see whether there would be room for us to moor at the Round O mooring. Currently the river is running too fast for us to return up through the bridge safely, so we decided to go wood collecting, before going down there.

On our way we saw these swans flying over the river, which was a first for us! At first we thought that they were geese. We have never seen so many swans in the air at once!

Back at Ardhowen, we collected lots of firewood, and cut it into lengths, ready to be chainsawn into logs. We do not feel that this was a very sociable activity so near to the Ardhowen Theatre, so hoped to find an empty mooring at Culky. However, we had to wait until late morning to move on, as the mist was too thick to see where we were going!

Once the mist cleared, it was a lovely sunny day, with the autumn colours reflecting in the water. We sailed on to Ballinaleck for diesel. By now this mooring was above the water so we did not have to paddle to the shore!

On our return downstream we were glad to see the mooring at Culky was empty. We were free to chainsaw all of our wood, splitting logs as needed, ready for the winter ahead.

We filled the cratch with three rows of logs, so the top of the boat is looking much tidier. We have plenty of peat bricks too, some of which can be seen here beyond the wood.

Back at Enniskillen, we set off to go through the bridge. There were very few boats moving, so we went through the centre arch. The flow through the right hand arch was extremely fast, and tended to push boats towards the wall beyond the bridge.

Once through the bridge, there were parts of the river with strange currents, as shown here. There seemed to be no reason for this, but we were glad to keep away from them.

When we reached the Round O, two other boaters came out to move boats and make room for us. There is a real community spirit here.

We found a pleasant wooded walk along the river bank to Portura Castle.

The Round O is a good place to be for the winter. It is in a park, just on the edge of town, but near enough to walk to the centre of Enniskillen in ten minutes. We have electric hookup and water right beside The Puzzler, as do all the boats here. There is also pump-out here, as well as plenty of litter bins. What more could a boater want!

A boat went to another mooring, so we moved The Puzzler to the outside of the jetty. We now have a view across the river, which is very pleasant.

We will be resuming this blog in the spring, so see you then!