A week on Derg

We had a week on the boat before I went to visit my parents in England and before Joe flew to South Africa (Pretoria) to a conference. In between I was doing the final revision of the manuscript for a book that's coming out next year - yes! It's about Winter Solstice and her crew on the waterways. You will be kept informed.

We're still just messing about on Lough Derg, but this time we made it all the way up to Terryglass. Though we began in Mountshannon and got caught there for a day longer than we'd planned partly because we were enjoying it and partly because it was very windy and the dogs get upset when the lake is a bit rough.

Mountshannon

We did a car shuttle to Dromaan using the bikes, and on our way back noticed a gallery open just before the turn down to harbour. Through a courtyard with fabulous views of the lake, in through an open door to a big bright room to find Elizabeth Carrington at her desk (? I'm sure artists don't call the table they work at a desk). We ended up buying two prints of her paintings - big ones, on high quality paper. We paid half the money and left them there as we were on the boat - and we still haven't picked them up. Isn't that terrible. It's just been a bit too hectic the last couple of weeks. But I can't wait to get them home and hang them.

In Dromaan Harbour we found Flynn, Winter Solstice's sister boat who's been bought by someone who is (hooray!) doing her up. It was terrible to watch Flynn steadily deteriorating in Mountshannon. The same people also bought the boat Flynn is tied to whose name I can never remember. Two projects. Not for the fainthearted. Poor Flynn looks terrible at the moment (she's the blue one), but that's because all the bad things are being undone before the good things are done.

Flynn and her companion

Others were able to relax as they don't have a project boat.

On the lunch break

After Dromaan it was Dromineer where we had to avoid Shannon One Designs on the way in - they'd been having a regatta for the past week.

SODs at Dromineer

We were walking the dogs through the Yacht Club, having a look at the other SODs lined up along the shore and got chatting to a couple who also had a small dog. A bit less than Aoife-sized. Aoife loves that - someone shorter than her! Joe got lots of brownie points for naming the little fellow a Norwich Terrier. A game progressed between the dogs as we chatted - not Frankie though, who wasn't impressed. Turned out our new friends, although from Ireland originally, lived in Cheshire not too far from my parents, were members of Nantwich Choral Society (my hometown), had put on an Irish music event with musicians we used to play tunes with... then the small dogs decided they'd had enough grown-up chatter. Time to go. Bark bark bark. Two of a kind.

We met again at Terryglass. Some of us drank too much wine. But not these two:

In the shade

It was hot. Shorts came out, and bicycles. We stayed another night and had dinner in the Derg Inn with our new friends. The Derg Inn is reasonably priced again. For a while, when everything went mad and people were charging stupid money for food, we stopped eating there. Went next door to Paddy's which is perfectly good but lined with televisions showing sport. An excellent burger and chips in the Derg Inn for around €12-13 (sorry crap at remembering prices). Good wine. Good atmosphere.

The harbour was packed, even with the new jetties. We hadn't been in Terryglass since they were put in. And there's electrics too, like so many harbours now. We're getting spoiled, but at least we can charge up our devices.

WS in Terryglass - we still daren't take off the bimini rain cover in spite of the sunshine