Canoe trip

[Kirbstone]

I have a slightly mad old rowing friend, septuagenarian like myself, who invited me to paddle 62Km down the Shannon in three days from Carrick-on-Shannon to Athlone. This would involve traversing the length of Ireland's 2nd biggest lake, Lough Ree, so we had to have unbelievable weather, which we got. Our vessel was a tough 16-foot Canadian-style canoe which one sat on, rather than in.
Day 1 saw us 18Km from our start point and through the first lock. Roosky, a pretty but godforsaken little hamlet bypassed by 'progress' and no accommodation. This we found 3 miles away in a neighbouring village, Dromod.
Day 2 got us a further 18Km to Lanesborough via a short sortie into the Camlin River and lunch at Richmond Hb., where the Royal Canal comes in. Lanesborough also had no B&B, so we had to go to Roccommon town, 9 miles away to put our heads down.
Day 3 was the big one, 26Km right down L. Ree to Athlone, a fine bustling midlands town with all the bells & whistles. The day dawned clear and totally calm, so the trip was a 6 & 1/2-hour slog taken in four bites, the last rest being a pint at the Hodson Bay Hotel, a place to die for, that day. We had a support boat, a RIB, but there was no problem, so he amused himself whizzing off in various directions visiting islands & ruins &c.

Tom

[Big and Bashful]

Looks really nice, Great photos as well.

[melsav]

Sounds like a great trip, would love to do something like that, but with tents and camping gear. So when the sun go,s down you stop, climb into a sleeping bag, after a hearty supper and sleep till dawn and start again. Great pics.

[dillon]

That water is smooth as glass, so, yes, Tom, I would say you were really lucky with the weather. Even a lake is perilous to a canoe with waves of just a foot. I have not seen sit-on-top two man canoes, but sit-on-top sea kayaks are the norm around here for fun on the water, even in the surf, along with some conventional touring kayaks. My own boats are a 14' solo open playboat (whitewater canoe) and a 17' tandem canoe, which has no keel, but also no real rocker to it, so isn't much good on either flat or swift water. We had a 10' whitewater kayak, but when my son outgrew it, I gave it away. I use inflatable float bags lashed into both open boats for swift water trips.

Since open boating requires kneeling, and my right knee, after surgery which left only 20% of the original meniscus intact, does not let me do so for even an hour, my days in a canoe are mostly finished, even though the playboat has a Perception saddle and both have closed-cell foam kneeling pads cemented to the inner hull. I will probably get a sit-on-top kayak before much longer, however, and stick to the Sounds and coastal estuaries close to home. Even salt marsh paddling has its charm.