Jean's Journal: Peace on the lake

by Jean Farrell

I’m happy to report that the murder on Lough Derg (see above) did not take place on our boat! In fact, I would never feel ‘murderous’ whilst afloat! Instead, I feel the complete opposite, extremely stress-free.

Water is calming and, as the river flows slowly along, one automatically slows down too. My busy mind quietens and I become, like my husband, peaceful and relaxed. Long may it last!

I came across this book in Killaloe library. We were moored on Lough Derg at the time. The novel, written by journalist, Cormac Quinn, is set in around Dromineer Yacht Club.

All our libraries are wonderful places and offer great services. Members can borrow and return books in any one of them. I left Athlone library with a bundle of books, I returned some in Banagher, exchanged more in Portumna and borrowed more in Killaloe library.

In fact, I love visiting other libraries and spending time in them. I study the books that they have there, as well as reading the local and national newspapers.

I was sad to see that Brenda Fricker has died. Lots about her life is amazing, but what I personally found most amazing is that she wrote her book on her phone!

She told Brendan O’Connor that she typed most of it, with one finger, on her phone, under her duvet. It must have taken her forever! Furthermore, she was unable to manage the prescriptive text button, so it was either on or off (I forget which) and this gave her great grief! I have read her book. It is sad.

Two writers, whose stories I really enjoyed, have the same surname. They are Sinead Moriarty, an Irish writer, and Liane Moriarty, from Australia. Their books are light and good holiday reading. These are amongst the many books I have read so far this summer.

It is very expensive to hire a cruiser on the river Shannon. In high season a big boat, accommodating 10 people, would cost over €3,000 for a week.

A small boat accommodating 4, would cost €800 for 4 night, in high season. These are much cheaper to hire off-season. If all the passengers are adults the cost can be divided between them. This would make it a reasonably-priced holiday.

A Swiss family moored beside us in Portumna. They had one of the very big boats. A father, mother, and three children were on it. They had hired it for two weeks. I studied them well and decided that they must be very rich indeed!

They would have had to pay for their flights to Ireland, pay a fortune for the big boat for two weeks, as well as having to pay for diesel and food! I was glad that they got good weather and were loving their holiday afloat, in Ireland. A group of German men, moored beside them, told us that this is their twelfth year hiring a boat on the Shannon.

We all got friendly because we had a shared problem. We wanted to leave Lough Derg and travel up river. Portumna is at the top of the lake. Boats cannot go under the wide bridge there. A section of it swings open. It’s actually fascinating to watch this. All traffic is stopped, every few hours, to allow the bridge to swing open for boats to pass through.

However, during the very hot weather there was a problem. The intense heat caused the bridge’s structure to expand. It couldn’t open fully, so boats could’nt pass through for a while - a first world problem!

People can hire a boat at The Emerald Star Marina in Carrick-on-Shannon and cruise down river. They can return the boat to The Emerald Star Marina in Portumna. I think this is great.

Carrick Craft have a similar scheme. One can hire a boat in Carrick-on-Shannon and return it to their marina in Banagher (or vice versa.)

We met a couple, our age, who had hired a boat in Carrick and were leaving it back in Banagher. They were from Belfast. I wondered was their car in Carrick-on-Shannon and how would they get up there to collect it.

“Why would we bother driving when we have free-travel,” the man said to me. They planned to get a ‘local link’ bus from Banagher to Clara railway station. From there they’d take a train to Heuston Station in Dublin. The Luas would bring them from Heuston to Connolly Station where they’d get a train to Belfast.

“It’ll take us all day,” he told me. “But there’s no hurry in the world on us, at this stage of our lives, and it’s all free!”

On the subject of Banagher, we met a man from Listowel in County Kerry, who told us an interesting tale. When they were small, if he and his many brothers were misbehaving, his mother would get very cross and frustrated. She’d shout at them, “WELL, ye can GO to Banagher!” (The Listowel man stressed that the words ‘well’ and ‘go’ were greatly emphasised by his mother!)

What she meant was that she wanted to be rid of them all. The man told us that they had no idea whatsoever that there actually was a place called Banagher! To them it was like saying “Ye can go to blazes!” Years later, this Kerry man was driving to Birr and got lost. He couldn’t believe it when he saw a sign for an actual place called Banagher.

We are aware of the expression “That beats Banagher.” Did any of you ever hear “WELL, ye can GO to Banagher?” Let me know if ye did.

jeanfarrell@live.ie