19th - 26th September Up River Shannon and across Lough Ree. Lanesborough, Tarmonbarry, and up the Camlin River to Richmond Harbour.

 It was an early start as we have a long day today. We stopped briefly at Clonmacnoise Monastery, which we  last visited in early August, before carrying on up the River Shannon to Athlone.

It is surprising how little topsoil there is over the limestone bedrock here, as the grass is so green.

After Athlone, we sailed on to Lough Ree and spent the night at Hodson Bay Hotel. In the harbour actually, not in the Hotel, but it makes a good backdrop!

The port back door will not open completely, due to the damage, so we sailed today with a bungy holding the door. However we have since removed the wooden seat, until the metal work has been straightened and rewelded.

Another early start on Tuesday up Lough Ree with a super sky ahead of us. By cruising early in the day, we avoided the wind and waves of the afternoon.

In the harbour at Portrunny, we joined several speedboats. Are they shut up for the winter already, or just waiting for the Indian Summer which has been promised?

Wednesday was a really wild day, with strong winds out on the lough, but we still managed a walk along the lough shore.
After two nights at Portrunny, we set off with the sun  rising over the lough. We have been very lucky to find such calm water.

By the time we reached the northern end of Lough Ree the sun had disappeared, although the wind did not get up until later in the day. Lanesborough Power Station, the biggest peatburning power station in Ireland, looms up ahead of us.We are burning smokeless compressed peat logs on our stove at the moment and find them very good.

It is quiet in Ballyleague Harbour. Our friends from the North, Maurice and Janet, arrived soon after us so it was good to see them again.

The barge Knocknagow arrived on Friday evening, with friends of ours in the crew. She left the following morning, with a fresh crew, bound for Lough Derg. 

Back on the River Shannon, we sail up to Tarmonbarry Lock, where the top gates have seen better days.

Do you think that this seat, above the lock, will hold Andy's weight?

It must be annoying for the boats with higher topsides which have to circle above Tarmonbarry Bridge, when we can go underneath it, and do not have to wait for it to be lifted.

We move on upriver on Sunday, as strong winds are forecast for tomorrow, and have an extremely wet trip. Three miles above Tarmonbarry, we turn off on to the Camlin River, and head south again towards Richmond Harbour, and the start of The Royal Canal. Here we are moored below the first lock, on a jetty which is new this year. Incidentally, the strong winds never arrived and the weather on Monday was fine!

The converted barge, 58M, fills Richmond Lock as it goes up into Richmond Harbour. This barge is an excellent conversion, and is very cosy inside.

The lock enters at the far end of Richmond Harbour, which has always been a very popular mooring.We will come up here next year, on our way to the Royal canal.

The Royal Canal leads out at the other end of Richmond Harbour, and can now be cruised all the way to Dublin. The canal was reopened as a through route as recently as last September, having been closed since 1961.

Richmond Harbour is in Clondra village, which has two pubs but no shop. This waterwheel has been retained underneath Richmond Mills, which have been developed into apartments.

Richmond Mills, beside the attractive Clondra bridge, operated as a corn mill from 1771 until 1827, when it was converted into a whiskey distillery, producing 80,000 gallons annually. During the Fr. Matthew Temperance Campaign of 1843, it reverted to milling corn, and later operated as a factory for curing hides.

St Brendan's Church in Clondra village was completed in 1835. The graveyard is quite impressive, with many beautiful crosses, and there are also the ivy covered ruins of a 12th century abbey.

On up the River Shannon to Carrick 13-14 April

It was too windy to sail this morning, with waves going upstream past the boat. We were only about 100 yards above the lock, so they had formed very quickly. After lunch we set off and under Tarmonbarry bridge, which has a lifting section for most boats, but we are low enough to go under it.

We sailed on upstream, through Lough Forbes, and on to Roosky Lock. Below the lock is a large development of new apartments with moorings on the river. However most of both the apartments and the moorings are empty. We had planned to go further today but found an attractive mooring soon after the lock. We had our own concrete platform with a wooden edge to protect the boat. There were steps up to the quiet road from the mooring and our own water tap too. Andy washed the cratch cover, after Sally had mended it, on our own piece of mown grass.

We walked to Roosky and found this attractive church, with cherry blossom, which is reminiscent of Japan.

Today there is no wind so we sailed on through Lough Bofin, Lough Boderg and Lough Tap. All of these are quite large lakes but are still part of the Shannon navigation. We met a working tug with three barges, the first two being welded together. At Lough Nanoge, which is merely a slight widening of the river, we go left into the Jamestown Canal. This short canal cuts through to Jamestown,via Albert lock, avoiding an unnavigable stretch of river.

Albert Lock is very attractive, with a flower bed on the approach, and red bollards all round the lock.

At the north end of Jamestown we found a wonderful mooring, just beyond the bridge. The wall was a little high so that Catkin had to be lifted up, but there were benches and mown grass, with bushes in flower beds. After lunch we played boules on the grass and planned to stay there.


However our peace was destroyed when twelve youths arrived with their fishing rods and their beer. As Sally came out to untie the bows, one of the fishermen started to chat.
Fisherman "Do you like Ireland?"
Sally "Yes, it's grand" (lengthening the a in grand as the Irish do)
Fisherman "Oh, you're from Dublin then"
Sally "No,we came from England a week ago"
Fisherman "Oh, whereabouts are you from?"
Sally "Norfolk"
At this the young man turned to his friend and expressed his displeasure in colourful language. Apparently he had thought that I said, "No f***" ! However his friend corrected him and he apologised to me.
His friend then took on the conversation.
Fisherman 2 "You are two lads on a boat then. Oh no, you are a lassie, are you not?"
I agreed that I was.
Fisherman 2 "Well it's beautiful that you are then, indeed you are!"

We sailed off and left them to their fishing.

We continued up the river Shannon to Carrick-on-Shannon, past a superb riverside development.

Carrick itself was not very exciting. This was our first short jetty mooring, but by using both middle ropes to separate mooring cleats, we felt secure.