16th - 24th January 2012. In Enniskillen still, but moving!

Waterways Ireland have arrived in force to cut four of the upright supports shorter. This is in preparation for the annual regatta here in the summer. The shorter posts will make it much easier for the rowing eights to be launched.

Their workboat, Inish Davar, is certainly man for the job. We had to move away while metal cutting was going on beside The Puzzler.



 Inish Davar makes The Puzzler look quite small. Hopefully the river water level will never rise so high that the jetty can float off the posts at their new short height!

In Northern Ireland the waterway regulations state that after 48 hours at any offficial mooring, then boats must vacate it for a period of at least 4 hours. During the summer months, Waterways Ireland have had an ongoing problem in Enniskillen with boats overstaying, particularly at The Round "O". They have decide to enforce the regulations strictly, starting this week. It seems to be irrelevant to them that this is not yet the cruising season!
Because of this enforcement of regulations, we are on the move again. Our first trip was just round the corner to Riverview. We went to the Library, went bowling, and collected some wood for the fire. It is amazing how quickly four hours can pass! We then returned to The Round "O".

I have been collecting Catkin's fur to make a cushion. Luckily she enjoys being groomed.

Our next outing was up through Enniskillen Bridge to go shopping. There is less water in the river now, but it still needed some power to get through the bridge.

There are very few boats on the move yet. This is Broadmeadow mooring, near to the Forum Sports Centre.

Catkin has been using her paw as a pillow.

However she approves of the new cushion, made from her fur!

Winter in Enniskillen. 21st December 2011 - 15th January 2012

We are still happily moored at the Round "O". Someone from England asked us whether there are different shaped O's in Ireland!

Soon after Christmas a man from Waterways Ireland arrived to steam-clean the jetty. He made a good job, and it was really clean, until night fell. Then all the ducks arrived to sleep, etc, on the jetty, as they do each night!

Our good friends, Maurice and Janet, from the barge Lasalle, came to see the New Year in with us, and they stayed overnight on The Puzzler. A good time was had by all!
Next morning we walked up through the woods to Portora Castle.

Early in January there was canoe activity on the river. This is better for a dog than putting your head out of the car window!

The single sculler is careful to avoid the rowing eight with its support dinghy.

There are now nine resident geese, although before Christmas there used to be eleven of them. They do not socialise with either the ducks or the swans, and are very much a separate unit.
Sometimes they come to clear the algae off the sides of The Puzzler, usually at about 3am. Having found us, they then shout to each other, to make sure no-one misses this treat!

Although it rains on most days, we have had some sunny weather too, with lovely sunsets over the mooring.

This aerial view of Enniskillen, on its island, was taken a couple of years ago. The main river can be seen, running from left to right across the top third of the picture. A loop flows down the left side to come round the island, rejoining the main river at the top right, having passed the Police Station. The Round "O" mooring is now more extensive than it was then, lying above and to the left of the Police Station, on the left bank of the river, just above the town bridge.

This view of the Round "O" mooring was taken from the town bridge. There is still quite a flow on the river at times. All the water in the River Erne flows on through Lower Lough Erne to the dam at Ballyshannon. When a lot of water is drawn off there for electricity, then it increases the flow on the River Erne here at Enniskillen.

The swans are usually very calm, although one male has recently been chasing intruding swans, and being quite agressive towards them.

Flocks of seagulls come to spend time at the Round "O"
too, especially at the weekends. So many people come to feed the ducks, that there is plenty for all.

On 20th November Andy left our oven door open and Sally walked into it, while walking through the boat in the dark. It shattered into a thousand pieces, as a windscreen would. It was amazing how far the pieces went! We tried for weeks, unsuccessfully, to obtain a replacement door for the cooker, which was fitted in 2004, and is now an obsolete model. Eventually we had to buy a new cooker, which arrived this week. It fits the space available and is working well.
There are two morals to this story. One - Remember to close the oven door after cooking. Two - Put the light on when walking through the boat in the dark, just in case anyone left the oven door open!

On talking about obstacles when walking through the boat! Catkin always likes to keep an eye on the kitchen, just in case any food happens to come her way. At other times the passageway past the dining table is very comfortable, so always look where you are walking!

We had a Bridge party for eight of us in the boat on Friday, which was great fun.

Life in Enniskillen + a visit to Norfolk. 5th - 20th December 2011

Here Catkin is celebrating her 14th birthday. Well, the rain is enough to depress even the jolliest dog!

Sally flew off to Norfolk for a week, to catch up with everyone there. These green fields are in the Emerald Isle near to Dublin Airport. A following wind meant that the flight took 50, rather than 75, minutes to Stanstead.

The coast at Cley was a wonderful place to walk, with
so many seabirds everywhere.
We were lucky enough to see a shorteared owl flying nearby, but I was too slow with the camera!

Cley Windmill is said to be the most photographed windmill in Norfolk, so we kept up the tradition. It is certainly very scenic here.

Back in Enniskillen, we had a light fall of snow, to brighten the jetty at the Round "O" mooring.

Catkin decided to make flying angels in the snow.

The snow did not last long, so we walked down the river to Portora Castle. It is a pleasant walk, but some of the crew do not like to hurry!

Looking down from Portora Castle over the River Erne, we can see Portora Lock in front of the bridge. There are sluices under the arches of Portora Bridge, which can be lowered/lifted to control the water level.
The bouys below the bridge mark the position of the eel nets here. Eel fishing is popular in Ireland.

Everybody on the jetty is very friendly, and show an interest in what we are doing.

The Christmas tree at the road entrance to the Round "O" lights up as dusk comes, and looks wonderful.

One morning the jetty was like ice, which it probably was! Catkin could not stand up until she had her socks on, which really worked well. Everyone was very jealous as she trotted along safely, while we slid our way to dry land.

Our Christmas decorations are now in place on The Puzzler. We have been to one Christmas Bridge party already this week, and have another one tomorrow, so the festive season is well under way here in Enniskillen.

Happy Christmas to Everyone!

14th November - 4th December 2011. At the Round O in Enniskillen.

We are still here on The Puzzler at the Round O in Enniskillen, safely settled in for the winter. As we are on the outside of the outer jetty we have a good view across the River Erne. There has been a lot of rain recently, with very few dry days, and the river is flowing quite fast. However we are out of the main stream of the river here, but can watch the rowing crews every weekend as they pass us by. There is very little other boat movement now.

Today we saw two kayaks with a man overboard but he did not seem too upset about it! No panic here! They made their way back to the slipway quite easily, but he must have been extremely cold.

On walking along there do not seem to be very many ducks. However it all changes when the bread comes out!

They all appear very quickly, as do the pigeons, gulls and a few swans!

This large cygnet crept up behind Andy and bit his hand.

I think it realised that it had not been a good idea! The adult swan soon arrived to save it!

At night the sleeping ducks can be a hazard to any late night traffic on the road past the jetty.

Even walking along the jetty can be hazardous too, although Catkin can clear them pretty quickly!






We are enjoying our stay in Enniskillen very much. It is a lovely town, with a lot going on. Everyone we meet is extremely friendly and we have been made to feel very welcome. We have joined St Michael's Bridge Club in Enniskillen, and also Devenish Bridge Club, which meets at Irvinestown, twelve miles north of here. Friends in Enniskillen give us a lift to this, so we have been lucky. The standard at both clubs is very high, which is good for our game!
We play bowls twice a week too, at different clubs in Enniskillen. It is short mat bowling, which is very strong in Northern Ireland in the winter months.

Update on Maps of Ireland. April to November 2011

This is another update of our route through Ireland.
We started our journey in April near to Athlone, which is straight across Ireland from Dublin, on the River Shannon. We cruised from Athlone across Lough Ree, on up the River Shannon and across the Shannon - Erne Waterway to Upper Lough Erne. We sailed on into Northern Ireland, through Enniskillen and on to the far end of Lower Lough Erne at Belleek. This was as far as we could go!
We then returned back past Enniskillen and through Upper Lough Erne again to Belturbet, which is back over the border in the Republic of Ireland.

Next it was back along the Shannon - Erne Waterway. We sailed up Lough Key to Boyle, then back to the River Shannon. We followed the Shannon back to Lough Ree, and on to Lough Derg, the largest and most impressive of the loughs on the Shannon. We reached Killaloe late in August, and continued on to go through Ardnacrusha Lock.We considered Limerick a step too far.
Since August we have made our way back up the River Shannon, with a detour up the River Suck to Ballinasloe. Having reached Carrick on Shannon, it was then back across the Shannon - Erne Waterway to rejoin Upper Lough Erne, and continue on to Enniskillen for the winter.

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!