The Hawthorn Blog

TEST ENTRY TO TEST COMMENTS

After a long delay blog service is resumed and we go up the rivers Cappagh and Killcrow. This run, while short and reasonably simple, becomes ever more interesting the closer I look at the landscape, and I'm indebted to Brian Goggin for helping me make sense of it. Oh, and the reason for the long delay in blogs is that the site is now running on up to date software (thanks Colman!) all of which started because the 'subscribe to updates' link above would't work. Well it bloody well does now - it's been one of those nightmares!

The joy of being at one with the river's flow returns as we move away from Athlone. Shannon Harbour and Banagher are exotic enough for our first few days, and we have friends to see, work to do, and bridges to survey.

A run to Lanesborough sees us try the Steamer Channel for the first time. We head up the Inny River and cycle to join the HBA.

With a week long high pressure forecast we escape Athlone for a run on Ree and  Barley Harbour proves ideal for some quiet time

With a need to visit Portaneena Marina to do a little work we make the most of a glorious winter's day for a brief cruise. The CSIG project goes from strength to strength.

Some praise for Athlone, and the joy of shore-power.

As we're paused between the high jinks of Christmas and the coming new year, it seemed a good time to sum up 2012, and to consider what we're hoping 2013 might bring. 

After years of dithering, we've bitten the bullet and gone for a solar set up.

Hawthorn's crew may have been reduced to two, but life goes on.  I reflect on Hobbes's lifetime of boating, and eating. 

What can I say? Hobbes, our beloved companion of over thirteen years, has stolen his last sausage. We suspect we're not going to be the only one's to miss him.

Ok, ok, ok, I get the message from all the vicarious boaters who have been emailing, texting, and even stopping me on the street - it’s time to put another blog up! You might want to put the kettle on and make a cup of tea - it's a bit of a long one.

A, largely photographic, catch up of the last few weeks. The summer finally arrived and with it numerous visitors and events. And yes, we are fine - the delay from posting blogs was a deliberate sabbatical.

We continue to return south down the flooded Shannon. Hawthorn copes well with the high water levels, and Waterways Ireland's staff look after us - a combination that delivers us safely to Shannon Harbour in good spirits having enjoyed a run we'd anticipated being more than a little hairy.  

We move again, upstream to Carrick on Shannon and then down to Richmond Harbour. There's high excitement at Jamestown, and some testing times on the River Camlin.

If you're a subscribed reader to this blog, you might be wondering what's happened to the email notification - sadly the last upgrade wiped out all the saved subscribers and you may need to subscribe again. I believe the RSS feed is as was, should it not be you may need to re-subscribe to that.

Apologies - it's all way above my limited computing skills!

The wet summer means that boating up river from Shannon Harbour has a feeling of deja vu about it: once again the water levels are high, and the going slow, it feels more like autumn than high summer. We put in at Portaneena for a few day's 'island dwelling', and then press on.

Possibly because our first contact with the Irish boating public en masse was at the Shannon Harbour rally back in 09, we've always had a bit of a soft spot for this gathering and, having missed last year's when we were down the River Barrow, we thought we'd return again this year. There is a theory, and one we normally practice, of not returning to an event, or occasion, with high expectations of enjoying it as much as previously. Would this rally match our memories?

The 'Three B's - Byrne, Bevan and Byford - take on the challenge of moving one of Ireland's oldest barges across the Royal Canal. Would 'Rambler's' deep draught and recent engine work prove to be too much of an obstacle? We would see, but there was no doubting our willingness to have a go.

We cruise downstream to Derg, where we are joined by a family visitor and do 'proper' tourist things ourselves for once. Having spent a few days exploring the Burren we return to boating on Derg on what is the hottest weekend in three years.

We boat back down the Shannon harbour from Ballyleague, with a night in Barley Harbour and one in Athlone, to Shannon Harbour. Where we hear noises that will profoundly change the cost of using, mooring, and maintaining, a boat on the Irish canals.