After ten days moored at our little urban spot at Tullamore we decided we needed to get cruising again. The lock was just in front of us but the first job for mum was getting some cans of diesel as there was a diesel depot right near the lock. She trundled off with her cans & her wonky trolley that she got out of the bins at Braunston. Anyway said wonky trolley did the trick & we were stocked up. The lock keeper then arrived & we were off en route to Rahan. First passing Shra Castle that we’d walked to.
Then after the next lock we passed Ballycowan Castle.
This castle was built in 1589 as a fortified house by Thomas Morres on the site of a former O’Molloy castle called Baile-mhic-Abhainn which was destroyed by fire in 1557. The five storey tower of the castle was built in 1626 by Sir Jasper Herbert and his wife Lady Jane Finglas. A very interesting aspect of this castle is its chimneys. There are six visible chimney stacks. Three are bunched together, two sit together and one sits on its own. These are visible from quite a distance and led to the castle being nicknamed the 3-2-1 after its chimneys and it became a meeting point along the canal.
We crossed 2 aqueducts & approached Rahan just as the wind picked up. Luckily there was a fisherman on the jetty who leapt into action helping mum moor up. There doesn’t seem to be the same animosity towards boaters here maybe because there are fewer boaters interrupting their fishing. Tying up was interesting as the mooring points just had a little hole to thread the rope through. Mum managed some inventive tying as she needed to use centre line as stern was off the jetty & the centre line end was too thick to thread through the hole. Anyway we didn’t drift off anywhere so her rope work worked!
It was a nice mooring spot though quite close to a road & sadly a pub that has been closed for 8 years.
Our first walkies we went back the way we came as mum had spotted a nice selection of wild flowers she wanted to look at. Only thing was she made us sit by them for our photos making us look like right girlie wusses. We’d rather eat them than sit by them!
We also made friends with the horses in the nearby field. One of them tried to snog Cosmo. He was scared at first but then he admitted afterwards he’d quite liked it!
There was a very very posh dog bin right by our moorings with posh doggie bags called Mutt Mitts.
We did our best to contribute to it!
Mum then abandoned us & went off in pursuit of a church she’d heard about it. It wasn’t far but the route was on a windy country lane with blind bends hence we couldn’t go. She also discovered when she got there it was through a field with sheep in too so that would have been tricky with too!
The Monastic site at Rahan has been a place of Christian worship for over 1,500 years. St Carthages church at the centre of the large circular enclosure dates to the 12th century. The Church of Ireland still hold service there. On the east end of this church is a circular window dating to the 12th century. With its vivid carvings it is unique in Ireland.
The next day we went for walkies the other way & met some new furry neighbours (are donkeys furry or maybe hairy??!!)
But nothing could prepare us for what we saw that night. We were just going out for our last cockaleggie when we glanced across to the towpath on the opposite side to the boat & there were three hundred million cows walking up it! They stretched as far as the eye could see presumably on the way back from milking. Then funnily we spotted several white goats amongst them who seemed to be leading them & then right in the middle we spotted a llama. I kid you not. It was like Noahs Arks day trip out! Oh & it was a rather nice sunset too which kept mum happy.
The next day we set off to our next location of Pollagh. Just 2 locks & a stop for water.
Another nice mooring jetty in immaculate condition.
Aerial Photo of the Moorings at Pollagh
We moored up right next to an interesting bog sculpture of a turf cutter which is made out of 3-4000 year old bog oak.
Pollagh was a really friendly little village with a small community shop that mum could top up on essentials like milk, bread & malteser cake!!!! Quite a few of the local community welcomed mum & said they didn’t get may boats there. It felt like the kind of place where they’d help you out with anything you needed.
It also of course had another church St Marys which is renowned for its Bog Yew Altar & Stained Glass windows. Saint Mary’s in Pollagh is an important church architecturally with its converging transepts. The idea behind the converging transepts was that the men sat in one aisle and could not see the women sitting in the other aisle and visa versa. Both, however, could see the altar. With its pair of studio of Harry Clarke stained glass windows on chancel wall of church flanking altar, representing The Virgin Mary and The Sacred Heart. Bog yew altar, tabernacle, ambo and chair from local bogs. Created by sculptor Michael Casey and the students of The Celtic Roots Studio Lemonaghan. Through the process of carbon dating the age of the woods is 4,800 years.
We didn’t meet any other animals here though apart from the German Shepherd up by the pub!
The rest of the gang have now caught us up so we’ll now cruise onwards towards the Shannon & the big loughs of Ireland with them. At the moment the plan is to part company with most of them there as they’re going northwards up the Shannon then back along The Royal to complete the Green & Silver triangle whereas mum would like to do that with the Dublin Rally next year. So our plan is to turn left at the Shannon & do Lough Derg this summer & hopefully meet up with other boaters & make friends along the way. Then we’ll come back onto The Grand Canal for winter & hopefully catch up with the gang who will have come from the opposite Dublin direction & hear there stories over a int or two in the pub by then.
And yes the big news is some of the restrictions here are being lifted on Monday so pubs can open if they serve food & we can now cruise outside County Offaly so mum’s hoping for some nice meals accompanied by a drink or two along the shores of Lough Derg.
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Golden Boyz Narrowboat Blog 
Looks like you’re having an amazing time now. Hoorah 😃