An Irishman's boating diary
When you go boating in Ireland you hope for weather like this. You don’t always get it but when you do everything looks so much better.
We head from Killaloe up onto the sprawling Lugh Derg and we need to dispose of some refuse we have accumulated, so we visit Mountshannon briefly to use the bins.
Then we take a look at Holy Island with the drone before mooring up in Dromaan Harbour.
I want to show you what boating in Ireland is like, the scenery, the waterways, the lakes rivers, and canals. This video shows a little bit of them all. I hope you like it and if you’re new to the channel, please Subscribe to get notification of our weekly videos. (Just click the red subscribe icon in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen. Thanks
I really like the music on this video and the credit for it goes to Kevin MacLeod. see below.
Music:
Achaidh Cheide – Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100340
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400019
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
The wind is up, on Lough Derg. And we have a rough cruise across the lake in choppy water. Mar gets a bit upset but we eventually settle into a nice mooring in Dromaneer. The wind dies down and the local sailing club treats us to a demonstration of their skills.
This is a lovely boat trip on the river Shannon to Mountshannon village, a lovely quiet village on the shores of Lough Derg. Mountshannon can boast a large and well-protected harbour with floating jetties as well as stone jetties.
The village has a cafe, two pubs and one serves good food if you fancy a nice meal out. There’s a basic shop in the local petrol station but Mountshannon’s charm is in buildings and its old world charm, and of course in its people too.
Continue reading “Boat Trip on the River Shannon to Mountshannon”
A great River Shannon boat trip is the run down river from Portumna to Terryglass. It takes in a little bit of river boating as well as a taste of lake boating as well. A day of River boating can sometimes be a bit cold this early in the season, but that in no way deters us and we cruise the River Shannon to Terryglass on the beautiful Lough Derg. Thanks for watching.
Join us on our River Shannon boating trip to Portumna where the swing bridge divides this river section from the rather large Lough Derg.
We pass a few interesting sights along the way. So come along for a pleasant spin down the river. Even the Irish weather gods spare us the worst of an Irish summer!
Join us on a River Shannon boating to Banagher adventure. We explore some of the lesser seen places on the River Shannon and in the towns along the way. Sometimes these are little hideaway moorings, and sometimes they are hints of a by-gone era.
We start out in Shannonbridge and then we explore around the now disused Fannings locks. This is a great little hideaway on the river that most boaters never stop at. That’s probably because most boaters don’t know that you can still get a boat in there. After all most charts show it as not navigable. In fact, Driftwood draws just over three feet and we didn’t touch the bottom (why does that sound rude!).
After we check out the area at the lock, we continue down the River Shannon to the town of Banagher where you can join me for a little walkabout. And we find a few interesting things along our way.
Ah, there’s nothing quite like some River Shannon boating and it’s lovely to see the sun come out on this lovely voyage from Athlone to Shannonbridge with a short stop off at Clonmacnoise for good measure! While a day of River Shannon boating can sometimes be a bit cold this day starts off chilly enough and a little overcast, you can see as the day progresses the heat builds and we cruise the River Shannon to Shannonbridge in glorious sunshine. Have to say there’s a nice bit of aerial photography at the end of this video that I do hope you’ll enjoy. Thanks for watching.
The sun shows its face for our river Shannon cruise across Lough Ree and the bit of sunshine always makes a difference. Mar gets upset when we have to go broadside to a few waves but all in all it’s a great trip. Hope you enjoy it too.
This is a River Shannon cruise in pretty lousy weather. None the less we cruise south past Dromod, Rooskey, and Tarmonbarry. We get a great welcome into Dromod harbour from a flock of swans that treat us to a fly past.
The weir at Rooskey is almost covered by the high water levels. This is just because of the recent rainfall. The Shannon is a very slow flowing river and only drops a few meters between its source and Killaloe.
Yes, that’s what it is! Believe it or not. This seems, to me anyway, as the greatest insult you can give to a canal that is sadly terminally ill. Well, maybe it’s passed the ill stage by now and we can probably, officially confirm its death. We all know that the railway brought about the closure of many of the canals. But to build the railway line through this canal lock chamber seems a step too far. Locks are the hart of a canal, the levels (pounds) are the arteries.
The railway has become a living beast, no longer is it just steel and noisy diesel. Now it’s alive and it has resolved to confirm its victory over the canal. A track through the lock chamber, like a blade through the very aorta of the canal.
Okay I know it’s not the intercity express! It’s just a narrow gauge railway bringing turf (peat) to the nearby electricity power station in Shannon Bridge. But this sight at Kylemore Lock on the now derelict Ballinasloe Canal is a sad sight indeed. Much of the original lock chamber is still perfectly intact, in fact, the gates are still reasonably complete. Although nature is claiming them back and soon there will be very little left of them. I think they may have been made of oak, but it’s hard to tell. Let me know if you have any information on them, please.
This canal was closed to boat traffic in 1961, which isn’t that long ago really. However, since then the bog has claimed much of it back. The narrow gauge
On this cruise to the River Shannon, we have to pass under some pretty low bridges. The Shannon Erne Waterway is in flood following the recent heavy rainfall. Our Cruise to the Shannon is not easy with low bridges and the River Shannon itself is also very high. The higher water level brings with it some unexpected problems, it’s not just the problems squeezing under the bridges, the likelihood of running aground is also much higher.
Continue reading “Cruise to River Shannon – Low Bridges & High Water”