Lanesborough to Dromod.
When you get great weather in Ireland you wouldn’t really want to be anywhere else. We untied from our berth in Hanley’s marina near Lanesborough and headed north along the beautiful river Shannon towards Dromod. Now Marion hasn’t drove the boat in quite a while and to be honest with you she needs to get back into practice.
It’s dead easy to steer a boat on the river after all it’s wide, there is very little traffic and there is only a very gentle breeze today. The real test is bringing the boat into a lock or a mooring and trying to do so without causing death or serious injury to anyone!
I reckon that any mooring is a good mooring so long as the boat is still floating and is still fit for purpose afterwards. Well Driftwood is still floating and fit for purpose so i guess Marion did okay.
I always feel that everyone aboard should be able to take the wheel and have at least a reasonably good idea of how to control it. After all if the skipper ever falls overboard who is going to rescue him or her?
I’d really recommend this mooring if it’s peace and quiet that you’re after. It’s sheltered from the wind and seemed to get all the evening sun.
We passed through Tarmonbarry lock and the under the lifting bridge. Liam the lock keeper is always keen to help and he loves a chat to pass away the day. Lock keepers put in very long days in the summer months, while the work might not be hard the day can certainly be long.
Marion took the boat through the lock at Rooskey without a hitch and the lock keeper lifted the bridge for us to pass under. The sun was out and we were cruising in unseasonal sunshine and Dromod was only a twenty minute cruise away. I say unseasonal as though there was a season in Ireland when you could reasonably expect sunshine! I wish.
In our next post I tell you how we got on in Dromod and what there is to see there.
“Driftwood”