Advice wanted re Shannon

Renegade_Master

Renegade_Master

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My wife and I fancy a cruise up the Shannon next summer. Any recommendations regarding what one can navigate in a week and the ldeal place to start to see the best the river offers.

Southern most point looks like Lough Derg and northern most Enniskillen.

Any advice would be appreciated. I assume most of the cruisers a single engined diesels.
 
North from Carrick is best, Enniskllen & Lough Derg areas are stunning. Yes boats we've hired have been singled engined diesels, lovely boats, jumping off on to the bouncy pontoons is a horror. The villages along the way make a great effort to create nice moorings near the shops. The locks motorised with a key card operation are great.
 
Hi
Based on the shannon myself this past 4 seasons. i highly recommend you visit here have a browse through the inland waterways section for advice and tips. Ocean froggie is worth a pm on this forum. Very experience with this part of ireland.
My suggestion is to start maybe in Enniskillen or carrick on shannon and work you way down to killaloe on Derg via the shannon erne waterway and onto the main shannon navigation. i am sure you could get this done within the week.
Most hire cruisers are single engine diesels limited to 7-9knots, but that will be fast enough for the narrow channels but will take you 3/4hrs to cross the vast lakes of ree and derg
Derg is certainly a beautiful lake with lots of options along its shores to pull in.
enjoy;););)
 
My advice would be to rent in banagher off silverline cruisers, their fleet is the nicest of all the hire companies (if you are renting). From there i would head north to Athlone for one night. Perhaps spend another night around southern Lough Ree. From there i would head south to Lough Derg and spend a night in Terryglass, which is a days cruising from Athlone.

There are many nice places to visit on Lough Derg but i would try spend a night in each of Dromineer, Mountshannon and Scariff. Kilaloe is nice but its busy at weekends with jet skies etc.
 
Tips for shannon cruising

Hi Clive

I grew up boating in Carrick on Shannon (north Shannon, < 2 hrs from Dublin Airport) and my family still lives there. I have my boat (Broom 39KL) in the Isle of Man but will be moving it to the North Shannon in the Spring for a few years, as the cruising on offer on the Shannon is hard to beat.

I would suggest that you need to do a one way trip so that you maximise your time on the river.

I agree that Silverline have arguably the best boats but they have only one base (between L Derg and L Ree), so they dont offer one way trips. The longest established company on the Shannon is Emerald Star (now owned by the French Le Boat Group I think). They have a base on the Erne (ie the river in Northern Ireland linked to the Shannon by the Shannon Erne Canal), one in Carrick and one in Portumna (on the north end of Lough Derg).

I would strongly suggest that you do a one way trip from Carrick to Portumna, something like the itinerary below. Whilst the Erne is very nice, you have about 17 locks on a canal section to navigate to move from Shannon to Erne. The joy about boating on the Shannon is that you only have 5 locks in about 200 miles of navigable waters (Killaloe is southern limit for hireboats). Why put yourself through days of a narrow canal trip and all those locks when on holiday?!!

Day 1 Carrick to Lough Key (uppriver of Carrick) - 3 hours/1 lock, stop off along way in Cootehall (1 hour) for a pint in one of the 2 old fashioned pubs there. The Stretch from Oakport Lake to Knockvicar Lock (Clarendon) is one of the prettiest stretches of river in the British Isles in my view.

Day 2 Lough Key to Dromod (going back downriver now) 5 hours/2 locks (stop for lunch in Carrick in The Oarsman - best pub grub in Ireland - although I am biased as it's my brothers' place!) www.the-oarsman.com

Day 3 Dromod to Athlone 6 hours/2 locks (stop for lunch in Keenans Tarmonbarry, great pub grub). Or Head into Inner Lakes of Lough Ree and dine at Wineport - luxury 5 star boutique hotel and restaurant with own moorings. Sunset here is magnificent.

Day 4 Athlone to Portumna 6 hours/1 lock

Day 5 -6 Cruise around Lough Derg visiting Killaloe, Dromineer, Terryglass, Garrykennedy, Mountshannon.

Day 7 return to Portumna.

That's a fairly full on trip even one way, but you get to see most of the Shannon and will tempt you back to your favourite places next time.

OceanFroggie is your man for Athlone to Killaloe section of the River as I am a North Shannon man. He will know which is the best pint of Guinness in Terryglass and where is the best homemade soup and brown bread in Killaloe.
Good luck with the planning.

Some good links are

http://www.emeraldstar.ie/destination/ireland
http://www.shannon-river.com/

If you want to PM me, I can give you my Dad’s contact details who has 70 years experience on the Shannon – ask him to limit his time on the phone to 5 hours though, as he can talk!!

Tom
 
If you have a look at this weeks Three men in a boat in ireland, episode 2 features some of the shannon from Athlone to Limerick. Its available on BBC iplayer but not outside the UK.
 
Hi SunCoast :)

Parker Point, Lough Derg on the Shannon
DSCF4411.JPG


Some Pics to give a flavour of the Shannon







Web Sites:

Inland Waterways Association of Ireland
Navigation Authority – Waterways Ireland
IWAI – Shannon Info
Shannon Maps online
CPB – Inland Section (skip the useless sticky threads but worth digging around)
Some Lough Derg Pics
Coastal excursion from Derg (nor for hire craft)

The Shannon offers a wonderful motor cruising experience. As to where on the shannon to hire and cruise, well there isn't a right or wrong answer to that, it very much depends on personal preference for type of cruising, AND time available. On the one hand there is wonderful river cruising which includes transits through scenic small lakes, and on the other there is the almost sea like cruising experience offered by the large majestic loughs (ie Derg, Ree, Erne lower). I'd agree with TommieDee's post especially if you are limted to one week. Suggest you study a copy of the Shannon Navigation charts from Waterways Ireland before you decide on route and therefore a hire operator.

Waking up on the anchor to a misty lough Derg
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We have cruised the entire Shannon and Erne on multiple occasions, and have at various times based our boat in the North, mid Shannon. We are now based at a marina in Killaloe at the southern end of Lough Derg. Having done the whole area over a number of years, some trips for two weeks, some for a week, weekends, or even one night, we have settled on Lough Derg as our boats home. It’s just a personal choice thing as we prefer cruising on such a large inland sea, and it also avoids the constraints imposed by lock and bridge opening times. However that’s less of an issues when your in holiday pace mode. Lough Derg has many more public harbours and marinas to visit than Lough Ree and is more scenic with the mountains on the south, and has an abundance of good eateries and live music pubs. The river also has its attractions especially spots like Shannonbridge, Athlone and Carrick on Shannon. The north Shannon has a lot of scenic woodland and offers shelter when there is a blow, and yet also has many small scenic little lakes to pass through. Plenty of eateries up there two. The bit we personally do NOT like is the mid Shannon, especially the bit between Athlone and Banagher – boring flat featureless bogland. Banagher to Portumna on Lough Derg is quite scenic and stretches are tree lined. While I said Lough Ree doesn’t have many harbours, the inner lakes on the south with Quigleys/Waveline marina and the famous WinePort restaurant (featured on TV) are wonderful, and passing through Athlone on a boat, or indeed staying there in the city centre marina is fun. South of that, keep the throttle up until you get to Portumna, but Shannonbridge and Killeens pub as featured on BBC’s “3 Men go to Ireland” is well worth a visit if passing through (See repeat Friday 8th January a23.05pm BBC2). For me it’s really a toss up between river and small lake cruising on the north Shannon, or the gourmet and inland sea like cruising offered by the vastness and diversity of Lough Derg. Derg is the jewel in the crown of the Shannon navigation so worth seeing at some part of your trip.

Mountshannon on Lough Derg
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Some options:
  • Waveline Cruisers - Athlone to Lough Derg and back. Waveline are a quality small family operator based on the scenic inner lakes off southern Lough Ree. This trip gives you a mix of river and lakes with the option to stay on the river if there was a blow the week you were there. This cruise passes through Athlone city, Shannonbridge, Banagher, Portumna and onto Lough Derg. Two days travelling down to Derg, three days on Derg visiting say MountShannon, Killaloe and Garrykennedy, then return up river over two relaxed days. It is possible to get from Waveline to through Portumna bridge onto Lough Derg in one day during summer as last swing bridge opening time time in Portumna is 19:30, but the trip will take about 6.5 hours assuming you stop for lunch and allowing for the two locks (ie Athlone and Meelick). Derg is a big open lough with many public harbours and marinas to visit, has loads of eateries and is very scenic. Highlights are Killaloe, MountShannon, Portumna Castle Harbour and forest park, Garrykennedy. It's a sporty lake and where most twin engined mobos on the shannon are based.
  • Silver Line Cruisers - Banagher to Lough Derg and back. Same as above, but only a 2hr trip from Banagher on the river down to Lough Derg via Portumna swing bridge. Gives you 5 full days on wonderful lough Derg and hence a more relaxed pace. Silverline are also an excellent independant family operator. One nice feathur of their "haines" cruisers (ie broom like single engine boats) is that they have canopies and folding radar arches. Their boats also have some features normally only found on private boats such as inverters, nav lights, etc.
  • Emerald Star Line – Carrick on Shannon to Portumna/Lough Derg – one way. If you spend four days getting down to Portumna you can then spend three days cruising Lough Derg. As Tommie has said ESL are the oldest and larges hire operator on the Shannon, their boats are good if a little sedate for my personal taste, but they are good quality. Advantage of this is that you get a lot of river cruising but pass through the two largest Loughs on the Shannon, Ree and Derg.
  • Emerald Start Line Portumna– a Week on Lough Derg. You can spend the week on Lough Derg or even venture up river. Advantage here is if the weather was not great you could stay on the shelter of the river and venture up to Athlone. You’d be surprised how much ground you can cover in a week. Before we bought our 1st boat we used to hire, and our 1st trip was one week starting and finishing with ESL in portumna, but we managed to do most of Lough Derg and also got up to Athlone and back. The thing to remember though is not to be on the go the whole time and perhaps be a little less adventurous with too much time under way. Derg warrants a whole week at chill out pace. Same for Northshannon, you could hire from ESL in Carrick and spend a week up there alone. Many folks make the mistake of trying to cover too much ground. Hire vessels typically cruise at between 6-7kt.
  • Shannon Castle Line – Western Lough Derg. Small independent family operator based on Lough Derg. Recommend their Shannon 8 Sports which is a Haines 38 (ie Broom 38 Hull), but in a three cabin hire config. As they are on the western shore I’d recommend flight from Shannon rather than Dublin.
  • ESL or CarrickCraft – Carrick on Shannon and backThese two large operators have big fleets. You could easily spend an entire week on the North Shannon and perhaps also take in a trip down to the inner lakes on Lough Ree, especially one night for a special meal in WinePort who have their own restauraunt jetty.

When to go? Weather is often best during May and September, also less boats around. It is essential to hire either a boat with two helms (ie one inside, one outside), or a boat with an outside helm that can be covered with a canopy in case the weather is less than perfect (eg Silverline Haines boats). Remember if operating on the river locks operate from 0900 until 2000 during summer and close for lunch (1300-1400). Portumna swing bridge opens at 0945, 1100, 1230, 1500, 1730 and 1930. On the north shannon there are two bridges that need to be raised on request for higher flybridge cruisers (ie Rooskey and Tarmonbarry).

Tip: Rent boat with bow thruster.

Watersports - Lough Derg
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Killaloe - Rally week
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Killaloe
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Garrykennedy
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Hope this helps rather than confuses. The Shannon is pure magic - enjoy :)

PS: Remember a less exhaustive pace gives more time to chill and taste the experience
 
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Nice post OceanFroggie - helpful as usual!

You can guarantee that i'll be on the Shannon for a few weeks in 2010 - i'll PM you at a later date ;)
 
Hi Guys I am overwelmed by the amount of wonderfull information from the Shannon folk on here especialy Tommy and Ocean Froggie. I expected a response from this spendid forum but not like this, exceptional. I shall send off for a detailed map of the Shannon, one that I hope shows all the locks and moorings, bit like the Thames.

I cant help thinking my old Broom Crown would have been perfect for such a cruise. The nearest appears to be the Haines used by Silverline, plus I can do a one way cruise.

When my research and planning are complete I will post my intentions, it will be nice to meet some of you Shannon guys on my trip.

Once again many thanks. Clive
 
Ocean Froggie that post was exceptional!

As you can see from those photos Sun_Coast, Lough Derg offers exceptional cruising! Also, if you have younger family members there is a lot to do around derg. For small kids there are a good few playgrounds (Terryglas, Dromineer for sure). Waterskiing/wakeboarding in Portumna. Great pubs and great food aswell!
 
Also check March 2009 edition of MBM for article on Lough Derg.

Also read Tina's account of going from the Erne to Lough Derg here.

Because the whole system is so big and you only have a week, realistically you'll have to restrict yourself to a week on Lough Erne or a week on Lough Derg - unless you're a marathon man!
 
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Sun_Coast said:
according to google that sites not longer available?
Click to expand...

Have you got MapSource installed on your PC? If so, PM me your email address and i'll forward you a copy of Dave McCabe's "ShannonCharts" - He's on powerboat.ie as goboatingnow and I think he's a member here too

Myself and friend are in the process of doing the same for Lough Corrib (West Ireland). So far it is compatable with Garmin BlueChart, Lowrance and hopefully G2 (Testing at the moment)
 
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