27th September - 1st October. From Richmond Lock up the Camlin River. On up The Shannon to Dromod, on to the Carnadoe waters, and up Mountain River.

We winded below Richmond Lock, using the current to push The Puzzler round. The lock can be seen behind us to the left in this photo.

Seeing the Camlin River in sunshine this time showed us what a lovely river it is. We are travelling back upstream to rejoin the Shannon.

It is about three miles from Richmond Harbour back to rejoin the Shannon. The Camlin River meanders through the fields and is rather like the upper reaches of the River Thames.

The Shannon opens out into Lough Forbes. Although it is much smaller than Lough Ree, we are still a long way from the shore here.

After a brief shopping stop in Roosky, we continue northwards into Lough Bofin and on to Dromod Harbour. There are not many boats here, compared to last time, when there were 23 in harbour. The weather today has been glorious, with wall to wall sunshine. It was out with the chairs to spend the afternoon enjoying the heat. Catkin found a doggy friend to play with here too.

The private harbour at Dromod seems to be full, with not much boat movement. Since the end of August we have seen far fewer private boats out sailing.

We leave Dromod next morning to sail up Lough Bofin, with an overcast sky and a following wind. However the clouds ahead keep away from us, and we have another glorious afternoon, heading west across the bottom end of Lough Boderg.

Leaving Lough Boderg we are back on a smaller river system, and moor at Carnadoe Quay. This is a pleasant wall mooring, with plenty of short grass for Catkin. Another glorious afternoon here and then our Indian Summer was over! Friday brought torrential rain and by Saturday we could only manage a top temperature of 18 degrees, compared to 29 degrees on the south coast of England. Still, that would be too hot, wouldn't it?!

We were very taken by this attractive thatched cottage at Carnadoe. Considering how many reeds there are along this river system, it is surprising that there are not more thatched cottages. They must be the wrong sort of reeds!

After crossing Carnadoe Lough, we take the left channel at Carrigeen Cut. The way through the reeds is well marked, and we then go right and up Mountain River.

It is not clear at all where the navigation ends on Mountain River. There are some private moorings after about ten minutes, but we continued for a further half an hour, before discretion kicked in! We managed to wind, with the stern held by the bank, as the current helped the bow thruster to push us round. The bows were over the bank as we turned, and another inch would have made it impossible to turn. This corner mooring was a perfect fit for The Puzzler, although the field was extremely wet under foot.

We launched Mini Puzzle, and set off further up Mountain River. One of these swans flew ahead of us, in short bursts, for most of our trip. He eventually caught up with four more, who all paddled along in front of us.

We cruised on for over three miles before turning back, as the banks were closing in on us. The current was quite strong too, and we did not want to get too close to any thorn bushes.

This young beast was quite interested in our progress back downstream.

On approaching this "three spectacle" bridge, we managed to catch some weed on the propeller of the dinghy. It waited until we were nearly at the bridge before really taking hold, and stalling the engine! The current took us directly into the right pillar, so energetic fending off was needed. We finally spun through the smaller right hand arch, while Andy removed the weed, and all was well. We managed to hook the propeller on one rock beyond the bridge on our way upstream and another, or perhaps the same one, on the way back. It all added excitement!

However, we were quite glad to return safely to The Puzzler.

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.

12th - 18th September 2011 Banagher, Shannonbridge and the River Suck

Meelick Weir is not far below the mooring at Meelick Quay. We are told that when the walkway over the rest of the weir, beyond these sluices, was built, there was an issue of safety. Would people walking across be falling into the water? Indeed they might! So it was decided that a solid railed fence should be built along the walkway to keep the people safe. However, the first time that the water in the Shannon rose over the walkway, as it does in winter, the fence was too good! It caught all the debris from the floodwaters, and created a dam across the river. The waters backed up the river for over four miles to flood Banagher. The fence was removed and now the walkway is no longer useable!

After four windy nights at Meelick, we sailed on to Banagher, and moored in the corner of the harbour, to have some protection from the wind, which was still quite strong.

Catkin is not impressed by the height of the harbour walls. It is a two-person lift to get her to the shore here.

On the far side of Banagher bridge there is a Pitch and Putt course, which  was a good place to walk in this windy weather. There were no golfers in sight!

Beside the Pitch and Putt course, a swimming pool has been built into the River Shannon. No-one was swimming there today, but it would be nice on a lovely summer's day.

From Banagher we carried on upstream. A very young donkey foal viewed us with interest, as we passed by on the river.

We took another detour behind Lehinch Island. It became very narrow at one corner, but we did manage to get through. It is not a detour to be recommended though, as there is a large rock in the centre of the channel, just before rejoining the main River Shannon. As we only grazed this rock lightly, it did not tip us over too far!

At Shannonbridge there is wallside mooring below the bridge. However, we went on to moor on the outside of the long jetty, above the bridge. There are electric hookup points and water taps available right along the jetty.

From Shannonbridge we sailed back downstream and on to the River Suck. This river is a large tributary of the River Shannon, joining it just below Shannonbridge. All black markers are green instead of black on the Suck, which makes them easier to see.

Even near to the junction, the flow of water on the Suck is quite noticeable. As the river narrows further on, it becomes even more interesting on the corners.

On the approach to Pollboy Lock, we pass close to the weir stream. Our channel ahead lies to the right of the red marker, round the corner into the unknown!

The town of Ballinasloe lies near to the harbour, with many resident ducks.

The famous Ballinasloe Horse Fair is held in the town every year in October. This statue, in the centre of the town, is extremely lifelike.

This boat in the harbour belonged to Winston Churchill at one time.

We sailed back down the Suck and through Pollboy Lock, which is the only lock on this river. It was built in 1997, opening up this attractive river to boats.

Cruising on down the Suck, the clouds behind are gathering.

However, in front of us, it looks like a lovely day. During the morning the clouds cleared, and then closed in again, several times.

We were five minutes from Shannonbridge when the heavens opened and Andy got soaked! We returned to the jetty mooring again, after the rain.

On the other side of the river, some swan fury was unleashed, as an intruder was chased away.

Unfortunately, the boat which had been moored behind us made an error of judgement when leaving the mooring. The wind was blowing him towards us and, instead of slowing down to push his boat out, he decided to power forward to get past us. You can see from the new angle of The Puzzler's port taff rail, that he hit us quite hard. Welding will be needed, as soon as possible, although steering should not be a problem until then. Thank goodness it was not the tiller that was hit! The boat which hit us can be seen above, sharing Pollboy lock with The Puzzler.