Sunday June 11/17. 0600
Today is the day. We or I should say I get up early full of
excitement! I walk out to the kitchen feed the cat (Jasper) put the kettle on
wait for the boil put the cat out and gently wake Sally up. We have a cup of
tea Sally is packing and the cab arrives early. Oh my what to do? Well, I speak
to the nice lady cabby who is on her cell phone and just kind of nods. So I
figure what the!and go back inside. Sally gets ready and we both load up the
trunk for the long ride to the train station.
10 minutes later we unload the cab at the station and no tip
later the cab drives away. Sally goes to buy our tickets that we tried to get
on line without any success to be told a ridiculous price by the station
attendant . Who, then suggest’s we go and buy them on line as half the price!
Run over to the coffee shop or actually hobbled (stiff knees ankles and
feet) Coffee and sticky bun and no
cigar. So back to the station explain the problem but had to pay the full fare.
By now I’m sure your wondering what the heck is he going on
about? So I’m about to tell you just wait patiently and I’ll get there.
The train arrives we rush frantically to the door on the las
car to make sure or at least try to get two seats together on the Starboard
side as that is the side with the view of the sea as we’re heading North. We’re
fortunate we even get a table! So we throw some backs on the opposite seat’s
the train whistle goes and we’re off. A nice trip with stunning scenery and a
short while later we stop and more people get on. This happens quite often but
eventually we arrive safely in Connolly Station where we disembark and rush to
find the platform for the next segment. Easy Peasy, A short stroll up a ramp
and bob’s ypour uncle there is our train waiting patiently for us. We climb
aboard find two seats make our selves comfortable Sally goes off to get some
coffee whilst I guard our stuff.
We eventually start up and head out of Dublin alongside the
weedy Royal Canal we follow this for quite a while and then head off overland
to Dromond. Where John met us with the car. We loaded it up and away we went
for a very long drive to the Marina. 10 minutes later we were unloaded and
loaded on the Ron Ruadh (Red Seal) as the boat is actually a Seal 26 with a
lifting keel, Betta 20 engine, Esparpacher furnace, gas cooker, v berth and a
real head. This by the way is a sailboat san’s mast for this trip. With four
people onboard everything is done by the numbers. I of course was number 1
behind the captain John, First mate and chef extraordinary Carol and of course Crew Sally. My cup for
the voyage was cabin boy. Our cruise was
about to begin.
Monday June 12 2017 We all got up in turn had a leisurely
breakfast and got underway about 10ish we motored about 2 miles to the first
lock and had to wait for two hours for the hydro to re connected as a Swan had
taken out the wires! So we had coffee and visited with other stuck travelers.
Eventually everything started to work and we locked dooown to a lower level and
then travelled another hour and stopped
for lunch. We arrived at our destination Lanesborough. The next 6 days were a repeat of
the above. With overnighters at, Glasson, Shannon bridge, Ballinasloe, Meelick
and finally Banagher. Clonmacnoise was the highlight of the trip with Birr
Castle telescope a close second.
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