We had a leisurely cruise leaving Shannonbridge at about 11.30. We drove from down below as it was a grey day with constant light rain.
We passed Clonmacnois but didn’t stop – still overflowing with cows – well at least 6!
We were very aware of the Athlone Lock restrictions due to the Triathlon that was taking place in the town. While we knew we wouldn’t make it for the 1 o’clock cut off, we were hoping to catch the short 14.00 to 14.20 slot.
We arrived at about 13.45 but the boats were quite spaced out on the waiting pontoon. Luckily one boat was getting ready to leave so we got moored up and started to have lunch. We had eaten our crusty ham roll but not the soup when the lock gates opened. In we went. The lock keeper said that we had no chance of a mooring and that the area was being closed off at 3. This didn’t impact us as we were heading straight on through. There was one boat searching in the vain hope of finding a spot but there was nothing available.
We continued past the yacht club into Lough Ree heading for Killinure Lough. There are several private marinas in this area. Our navigation map showed a number of red Ms but we still aren’t sure what this means. Also in this area is the Waveline base. At Killinure Point there are a few public moorings but they were all taken with boats already rafting. We headed on into the bay but none of the private marinas looked to have visitor spaces. We saw one jetty with only one boat. This was the jetty of the Wineport Lodge. As we moored a polite young man informed us that we could only stay is we were going to be dining there. We replied that we would decide when we had looked at the menu. The menu looked fantastic but was definitely fine dining and not suited to the taste buds of a 13 year old. So we set off again. We called to someone at the Waveline base to ask if we could hire a spot for the night but he said no so we moved to plan B.
I had read before we set off that Lough Ree had some mooring at the top and then very little until you reached the bottom – but from our experience there is very little there as well. Our experience of Lough Erne is that there are a number of mooring spots throughout the loughs. Here it was very sparse.
So plan B was head up Lough Ree to Lecarrow or Portrunny. I took the helm to give Captain Bob a break. He helped me spot the markers. Captain Bob took over for the Lecarrow Canal. The approach to Lecarrow Harbour was as nice as we remembered. The small harbour was busy with boats rafted but we were able to tie up at a pontoon being used as part of the harbour development.
Holly was fed and we took a walk up into the village where we got booked into the restaurant (The Yew Tree).
Soon we were tidied up a bit and heading back to eat. Inside the restaurant is fresh and modern with three different eating areas – we were upstairs n the front room. We had the choice of early bird (which is served to 7) but we went for the full menu.
The produce was really fresh with beautiful flavours. I had a black pudding starter followed by cajun spiced salmon and to finish off summerberry cheesecake. We all thoroughly enjoyed every course and would definitely visit the restaurant if we were back in Lecarrow again.
We waddled back to the boat – waist bands a lot tighter than when we went in – and settled for our game of the night – Chinese Checkers.
Cruising around Ireland 