We left Rossmoor early in a convoy with Wendy & Fergal. It was a beautiful morning & mum felt much more confident travelling with another boat should anything go wrong plus she didn’t have to worry about whether navigating either
The entrance into Drummaan Harbour was well marked a bit like doing a narrowboat slalom.
There was a good sized mooring along the back wall & it wasn’t too high for me to get out.
We were taken for quick walkies & then mum abandoned us as she set off on Wendy & Fergals boat to see Dromineer & Garrykennedy Harbours.
Their boat went much much faster than Golden Boyz.
They were not gone too long & mum really appreciated being able to see the layout of the harbours before she arrived.
Drummaan is the quietest harbour on the lough. It doesn’t have the usual electric hook up although there is a new toilet block there. There.s also picnic benches & a slipway.
It was a fabulous spot for us as we could go for walkies either up the road towards Williamstown Harbour or either side of the harbour along the quay wall where we were allowed off lead as the water contained us mum said! We could also go for a daily dip at the end of the harbour. We liked Drummaan a lot!
Whilst we were at Drummaan there was a big anniversary event on the waterways as it was 60 years since commercial traffic finished. In recognition of this there was a big lineup of barges by Portumna bridge. Mum had hoped to go but there were no taxis running on a Sunday.
There are about 40 retired canal boats in the country. In 2013 Waterways Ireland decided to auction the last remaining seven, five of which had been raised from the bottom of Tullamore Harbour. The Heritage Boat Association (HBA), lobbied the State body to consider the boats’ cultural and historic value when finding buyers. To the considerable gratitude of the association, it did. The barges, correctly called canal boats, fell out of favour in the 1950s when road and rail decimated the traditional transport network. Mostly run by the Grand Canal Company, they had been known as “Guinness barges” because stout was often their cargo. Many of the boats were eventually sunk, or allowed to sink, to preserve them and as a means of clearing the waterways. Piece by piece, Ireland’s canal history was cast to the depths, or sold for scrap. You might remember us passing the Peter Farrell on the Grand Canal which was a Guninness barge.
I have mostly been seeing the old M barges – there’s a useful glossary here explaining the different boat terms. Golden Boyz is officially a narrowboat but many people over here call her a barge as they’re not so used to seeing English narrowboats.
While I was at Rossmoor I saw the fabulous 4 barges belonging to the Burke family go past & two of them moored up in Drummaan after the Portumna line up. There is a fabulous youtube video about the inspirational Aoife Burke one of Ireland’s young barge owners which is well worth watching although she is not I believe the youngest now as that honour falls to Ben Treacey who is one of the most helpful people on the waterways.
According to records of June 1951, Aoife’s boat, the 33M (the M being for motor), carried just over five tons (4.5 tonnes)of tobacco, glass and wheat to Limerick; 13 tons of manure to Kilgarvin and a row boat to Dromineer.
I’ll try & get more info about the barges off mum to tell you in future blogs as we get to find out more about them although we’re not sure about the story of the sinking of 45M by Parkers Point as we’re already nervous of passing there!!
We stayed a few days at Drummaan awaiting a no wind day for mum to brave the next jaunt which was going right across to Dromineer on the other side of the lake.
Wednesday morning had a 2 hour calm slot at 6am so again we were up early ready to set off. Mum was a tad disconcerted as we went for walkies first as there were waves lapping the quay wall which there hadn’t been before. She then decided it was because the wind had changed direction & was headed from east now which was good as we were going east. This means we’re going against it so we don’t arrive in the harbour with the wind behind us having built up the waves as we’re trying to moor. We’ve been learning that the direction of the wind of course is important as well as how strong it is. Anyway mum deemed it ok & off we went with not another boat in sight at this early hour.
We arrived safely into Dromineer to the splendid view of Dromineer castle in front of us & the Aquasplash park to our right & the sailing school to our left.
Luckily the spot we’d identified as Golden Boyz friendly up the side of the canal stores next to Barge Miranda was free so mum glided into there.
Dromineer is a much busier harbour with the Aquasplash park inflatables course, pedalos, canoes & paddleboads right by the canal stores, a large sailing school past the castle, B&B & hostel accommodation & a cafe. There were food vans – sweets, burgers & ice creams there & a busy picnic area with BBQ grills & a toilets & shower block. It was quite a hub of waterways activity & the polar opposite to Drummaan & Rossmoor.
Dromineer Castle/towerhouse began as a 13th-century hall house, and was later converted into a tower house in the 15th/16th century. It was built by followers of Thomas Butler Esq. in the 13th century. The hall house was originally only two storeys high, but two additional storeys were later added, and vaults added to the ground floor. In 1650, the castle was seized by Cromwellian forces and garrisoned. It was returned the Earl of Ormond following the occupation by Cromwell. It was occupied until 1688. The castle/towerhouse fell into ruin in the late 17th century and was sold by the Earl of Ormond in the late 19th century.
We’re spending a few days here before going on a slightly longer cruise across & down the lake to Mountshannon.
We’ll leave you with an absolutely fabulous photo that Wendy took of the good ship Golden Boyz on Lough Derg. Its not often we get photos of our own boat cruising.
Golden Boyz Narrowboat Blog 