The Hawthorn Blog

A summary of a few weeks wandering around the northern end of the system. We strike a rock and get rocked by a speeding boat.

The journey from North to South across the Shannon Erne Waterway and down the Shannon. Much of this is made in high water levels, which makes life interesting at times. With the levels so high we take the short cut into the Brosna...

We continue to journey south toward the Grand Canal and the winter. Leaving Garadice is a wrench but we soon stop in at Riversdale Barges, another haven of courtesy and welcome, before pausing at Ballyconnell in order to take on fuel. Kiltybarden Lough, with its jetty unattached to the mainland, proves an interesting spot for a night. We are joined by an American couple on a hire boat for a few nights on Lough Key.

The weather comes good on Lough Garadice and we enjoy all that Swan Island has to offer both in its glorious setting and in the activities possible -  I even have a go at wakeboarding with predictably destructive consequences. A genuine Indian Summer and one of the most memorable fortnights of our time here.

We leave Lower Lough Erne, but only just as the river is in flood and the flow under Enniskillen bridge considerable. With a guest on board we pause for a few days at Lough Garadice to make the most of a hire car: Newgrange, The Shannon Pot and Marble Arch caves are all visited.

We, almost reluctantly, leave Lough Garadice and head north though our arrival in the 'United Kingdom' (how strange a notion that seems) is delayed by a detour to Belturbet, not a town to write home about and that is without mentioning the most appalling development of new housing on the Erne below the town. Not wanting to linger we cross the border to explore Galloon Island and Crom Castle before laying up in Trory Bay.