|
If it is only the puppies that you’re interested in, there is an update at the bottom of the page!
With the dark nights drawing in and the river much quieter than it had been when we came North in August, we said our goodbyes to Lough Key and motored down to Carrick on Shannon. The first surprise was scaffolding on the town bridge and the restricted channel under it as contractors were adding a pedestrian walkway outside the upstream stonework. We made it through without incident but were astonished at the wooden cruiser headed upstream which, rather than giving way to the downstream bound Eric, decided that he would motor through. Eric had one of his cloud of smoke moments as he revved his engine hard: first to stop and then to get turned and through the one remaining navigable arch. Not being town moorers (last time we stopped at Carrick we had midnight dancers on the roof) we paused only briefly - the short walk to Lidl seemed a hell of a lot further coming back with a fully laden rucksack but at least we won’t have to use the narrow footpath on the traffic laden old bridge again.
The other reason for stopping at Carrick was for me to visit Trinity Books which has to be one of the better secondhand bookshops we have found in Ireland. I was determined not to buy the beautifully illustrated early edition of Mark Twain’s ‘Life on the Mississippi’ which I had lusted after since first seeing it in August. It was still on the shelf but, at 48 Euros, seemed an expensive treat - particularly as I already have a modern, text only, edition. I returned to the boat with a number of other books and, the Misfit Mariners still being out buying their own essentials, put the kettle on for their return. To my astonished delight, while we were drinking tea and eating cake a little later, Eric, Ted and Joelle presented me with the expensive Mark Twain as a gift and memento of the summer’s cruise. It was a very generous gesture, particularly so given that money is not an abundant feature on Misfit Mariner’s boats, that left me feeling quite humble as we made our way downstream to Drumsna to moor overnight. The following day was a long one - Drumsna to Lanesborough - but we knew that a shorter run followed.
 The last cruise of the Misfit Mariner’s summer season was from Lanesborough to Barley Harbour on Lough Ree. I have written in earlier blogs about the joys of this lesser visited mooring - that hire boats are discouraged from using it and others fear the rock in the middle of the bay, helps keep it quiet. To our delight and surprise it was completely clear. Neither Eric or Ted had been in before so we led the way and, once moored, took the other boats ropes. We were all feeling a little sad at the near end of our joint adventures and the death of one of the puppies on the run down the lough, furthered deepened the melancholy. A proper Celtic burial helped to move things on again and, given that the weather forecast was good, we decided to stay one more day.
It seemed appropriate that we would leave the Misfits almost exactly where we met them back in late July and we all motored out of Barley Harbour knowing that our routes would separate in the middle of Lough Ree. We were to go into the inner lakes to look at a job, while Ted and Eric were headed down to Athlone. With more wind than forecast, we left our handheld VHF on Eric’s boat and waited outside the harbour for the other boats to strap together - a wise precaution given that Ted had his motorbike across his stern deck. There was a bit of chop but, given that it was blowing across from West to East, it seemed likely that we would be in better sheltered waters once clear of Barley Harbour. This turned out to be correct and, after an hour, we cut loose from the pack. Keeping to the correct procedure and terminology we used the VHF to announce our departure to Eric; this soon broke down as Ted and Joelle joined in on the handheld set! I cannot imagine that anyone else heard it but, if they did, we apologise for the lack of professionalism! Within a few minutes of our turning south east towards Hare Island and the entrance to the inner lakes, the folks and boats that we had spent such a happy summer with, were reduced to a tiny dot against the western shore.
We were expected at Portaneena Marina at eleven and managed to arrive just as the customer pulled into the car park a few minutes past. Now, we don’t normally ‘do’ marinas as they are often run by draconian, money obsessed, business people. We were delighted to find that Portaneena was the opposite of our worse expectations: while tidy and quite clearly well run, there was none of the aggressiveness that we have so often encountered in English boatyards (not all, I hasten to add). The owner, Tony, came out personally to see us onto a jetty strong enough to take ‘Hawthorn’s’ size and weight, and to make us feel welcome. After an hour or so of discussing cover possibilities with the potential customer and agreeing to comeback to him with some firm ideas and prices, we were wondering if there was a public mooring nearby, preferably one where we could get the dog on and off, away from roads, and generally peaceful. Asking Tony where best to head for, we were delighted when he pointed across the lake at the jetty nestled amongst the rushes on Temple island opposite his marina. Wow, not just a jetty to ourselves but our own private island for a couple of days.
Temple Island 
Many of these lough islands have ruined dwellings on them so we were not surprised to find an ivy covered shell nestling in the Beech woods. What was not normal was the ice house that stood down by the shore. Our suspicion was that the house had been a summer lodge for the local estate and, having a copy of H J Rice’s ‘Thanks for the Memory’, I looked up Temple Island. Rice lived very close to Temple and his explanation of the ruins was that it was a shooting lodge but on talking to Tony when we were thanking him on our departure, we heard a much more romantic tale: the house had been built by a disgraced son of the local lord who, having fallen in love with a lowly nurse, set up home there early in the 1900’s. We much preferred the second explanation. Jill spent some time drawing the ice house which, due to its thick walls and domed construction, is in much better condition than the lodge.
The fine Autumnal weather was holding as we made our last run of the year across Ree from the Inner Lakes and down the river to Athlone - a reversal of our first trip onto this superb water. To our relief, Athlone was not busy and a mooring convenient for the supermarket run meant that we were not long in the town and were down the lock as soon as it opened after lunch. Clonmacnoise, so busy in the summer, was deserted but the friendly dog with the stumpy legs was soon winding Hobbes up - not being fed on demand he walked round and round the boat on the gunwhales - and our last night on the river was appropriately monastic in its silence. The next day would see us down at Shannon Harbour and a return to canal dawdling.
Puppy Update!
The five pups are now four and a half weeks old and starting to look like proper dogs. The good news is that the Staffie/Pit bull head shape was only a phase and three are now looking like little Collies while the other two are more Labrador. With the mother, Oiche, having stolen a whole packet of chocolate biscuits on the afternoon we caught up with Eric, the puppies were on a strange feed of flavoured milkshake and had a delightful aroma of cocoa about them. Not only did they look impossibly cute, they even smelt it! The puppies at 32 days.  
|
Hawthorn Blog 
