September 13 and 14. 2026. Rooskey to Carrick-on-Shannon and Dublin. This will be the last post as our trip is coming to an end. If you are looking for the Thames River Path you need to go back to September 2nd and older.
Ken went to a quiet pub just across the bridge to get away from his two odd travelling companions. It was so quiet it didn’t look open but the door was unlocked and I went into the kind of pub I was hoping to find. No live music with a “crowd pleasing” musician playing country roads, West Virginia take me home in front of a crowd of Americans like the last one. Just a few older folks catching up on the local affairs with the proprietor. Nice and warm and dry so I bought a dollop of Irish whiskey and had a seat next to a guy my age. Turned out he was passing through too, in a caravan. It took me a minute to understand that it was trailer, not an RV and once I did I asked him if it was the same size as the one in the Father Ted episode. That broke the craic wide open and we spent the next hour yakking it up about Father Ted, old cars and music.. It was gratifying to show him some good Canuck stuff he hadn’t heard of, even some Irish musicians he had never encountered. I must say that this was the pub experience I had been looking for and off we went after only a couple back to our lovely wives!
Casting off.Oh no!Whew. Made it.The swallows were flying on this calm morning. A hundred birds had been sitting on the wire over the lift bridge.Some times you needed the binoculars to find the next buoys.And then the drizzle and mist starts. These are what count as “hills” here. We were expecting some topography along the river but it was almost completely flat, with the exception of the esker hills bt the old monastery.Only five locks on this section of the river, which meant only five opportunities for Captain Bligh to yell at what he considers his slow inept rope crew. No comment from the captain as he has to live with the crew he would have preferred to keelhaul. We had a great chat with the lock keeper. First he gave us a gold medal for being the first through the lock tat day. He also told us that as this is the first lock for boaters who start from the Carrick base, and many are inexperienced, he sees some interesting performances from the newbies. The worst was when an old man fell off of boat full of guys who had had beer for breakfast and they left without noticing he was hanging onto an emergency chain in the lock with no life jacket The lock keeper had already left and it was a guy mowing the lawn who heard his cries. The Swiss boaters were already at the next lock and hadn’t even noticed the guy was missing. The next lock keeper told them to count who was on the boat. Oops. Apparently they didn’t learn the lesson and were back at the Guiness for breakfast the next morning. Luckily the guy who fell wasn’t terribly injured. By that standard we had a very proficient performance. (Terry’s thoughts: oooh, is this Ken admitting Peter and Terry were good rope crew?!? Will wonders never cease?) Oh and he hates Trump. A common sentiment especially during Trump’s visit to Ireland to go golfing. We’re glad he’s flying out of Dublin a few days before we are. Top of the morning to yas…is what they said to us. A very short stretch of canal. This is what we were used to on previous boating trips and, to be honest, I much prefer the canals over a wide river and lakes. Peter 3D printed these. Ken thought this tree was giving someone the finger. This guy was literally five feet from the front of the boat and just wouldn’t move. No swans were harmed in the making of this photo.This boat eventually passed us and they yelled out that it was the slowest race ever. Ken told them that on our first boat he was outrun by a 4 yer old on a tricycle who seemed to be having a great time racing the boat. Keep the red to your left and green to your right.Ken was just starting to back into this spot when the engine quit. Peter and I were already in our rope crew positions and had to hold on because our boat slid forward and hit a boat on the other jetty. Ken had to jump down to the inside wheel to try to restart it, which he did. Then he managed a perfect reverse into the spot. We smashed right between the big boat and the green dinghy. No boats or ducks were harmed in the making of this photo. Patiently filling the water tank.Peter sees a map with a walking trail past points of interest so off we go again. 👣I think these are wind harps. His name is Harvey. He’s a labradoodle puppy. Adorable.Two “take one-leave one” libraries, one for children’s books. I have to admit to acquiring a new book even though I had lightened my load by leaving a book in Ballyleague. Maybe Ken will carry it for me. (Ken’s thoughts: eh, no!) Pretty cool to think this was a lovely tree for a couple hundred years and now is a lovely sculpture for a couple hundred more. Hee hee… A dog’s lending library… With sticks.European Robin. Every utity box in this town is decorated. Carrick is a constant winner of the Ireland Tidy Town competition. And it is easy to see why. 100 Kurdish refugees had been sent to Carrick in 2005 by the Irish immigration center. They found a welcome in this town and set up this garden boat as a thank you. Carrick has several memorials to the Irish Potato Famine. The Earl Grey girls – between 1848 and 1850 over 4000 mostly orphaned female workhouse inmates were transported to Australia. This was apparently to reduce numbers of people in the work houses, address the shortage of females in Australia and provide servants. Named after Earl Gray, the secretary of state for the colonies. See the Irish choral scholars video of a song called orphan girl to get a personal view of how it happened. But Earl Grey Tea was named after a previous Earl Grey who was a Prime Minister in the 1830s.Famine pot. There were so many people in the work houses they had to use the huge pots to make soup. Down to the Famine Memorial Garden. This is actually where the dead from the workhouse were buried en masse. The fountain starts when you walk past the motion sensor. The health center is attached. They have a cow and sheep in their garden for a touch of whimsy. We did not make it past this sweet shop. The “I had an ice cream and you didn’t” competition continues! For Mary Ann. Oh no. Ken found a used and rare book store… With music. Turns out the guy was from Canada long ago and the two of them spent an hour talking books and music and old cars and more music and more old cars.See the piece of wood in the photo below? That would be the piece of art called Redwood 2013.Ken was disgusted. He says he has many such artworks lying around his yard. Terry’s thoughts: maybe he should clean up all that artwork lying around our yard. Evidence of the nap. The library. This is made with plastic bottle tops! That’s amazing. I have to say – I really like this town and it deserves the award! The dog was going down to the water and the nasty swan paddled across the marina to hiss at it. The dog wasn’t even close to it. The owner pulled the dog right away. I don’t think swans are nice people.Then this guy swam over as I was getting out of the boat – no parents in sight but he has already learned to mooch. I gave him some bites of apple which he ate…then turned his nose up at it after a while and kept asking for something better. Time for our friends to get packed up as it is our last night on the boat. The adult swan in the back has a dead leg lying over his back. He’s swimming okay but I suspect he cannot fly. I told the LeBoat girl and she emailed Ireland Waterways, whom she says look after the swans in the rivers. The River Shannon is extremely popular with fisherman and the swans get caught up in the fishing line. Poor thing. But his begging skills are still superior. Unlike England, Ireland has a bottle return policy for cans and plastic bottles. The city has set up these bins if you want to donate them. Otherwise, there are places to get your deposit back but you have to insert your can or bottle individually so it can read the bar code. Compare that to the LLB bottle depot where people show up up with a truckload of bags full of bottles. Sad to leave my carnation behind. I hope someone keeps it. Needed a cart for all our bags. And to think we arrived a month ago with a small backpack each. Ken is NOT impressed. He’s back. Breakfast. Hot chocolate in Ireland comes with whipped cream and marshmallows. The Brits could learn something from this.Actually everything seems to come with five pounds of whipped cream. We had left some food on the boat and the flowers I’d found in Dublin over a week ago. But we met a couple from Virginia who were just starting out and happily took all of our leftovers. Including my carnations. Even the train station won an award for Best Station. Ken told the station manager that he’d been in a lot of train stations over the past few years and this was by far the nicest one. She was right pleased 😊Too bad my mouth was full of toast! One final 3 km walk in the rain.
Now to try to pack…a feat of Tetris.
As usual, once we get home and rest in one place for a bit, we’ll look at this trip from a different perspective. But for now, we are grateful for the experience…and we are tired…and broke😬 . Good thing we paid for the plane tickets months ago 😜.
