27th May - Daingean to Lowtown

8:00 am up for a walk and 9:00 am brekkie. Its another sunny 20s C (70s F) day. I suspect we will be cruising by 10:00 am and this time will will not be a day held up by passing through locks. I think we will just have one today, compared to 7 yesterday. Robertstown is the goal as there are repair people there.

These stocks above are by where we are moored in Daingean, and we assume its for boat owners who fail to pay their Grand canal lock, mooring and permit fees.

Our important goal is to be in Dublin by June 2nd because of a railway swing bridge in Dublin on the Union Canal that opens on June 3rd and then not again until September. That will be quite a flotilla passing over the bridge both directions that day, I believe.

10:00 am, we are still into breakfast and I'm stillblogging. A houseboat passes us at incredible speed, skippered by a man who looks just like Mike Absalom.

I do not know if I have blogged this before, but I have grown to understand why all nautical men seem to have beards. Its a real pain trying have a shave on a boat. I now have a bit of a nautical bristle too. Someone once told me that nautical men are naughty, anyway.

We are expecting an easier pleasant day today as we are now on the peak level of the canal with no locks to pass through for several hours. The weather is still the same warm sunny blue sky summer weather that has blessed our journey so far.

So I will record some of our leisurely site of the day as we sail along the Grand Canal, starting with our interesting maneuver around this classic heritage barge boat moored at Toberdaly Bridge.

We did not stop to try and find the Tobar, the well.

Under this Bord Na Mona railway line lifting bridge, that we were grateful to have up
and allow us through.

Lots of long big sky straight lengths of water now.

... and some other people have fun on these too.

There's a bit of woodland near Edenderry.

... but I did not get any pics of the Edenderry canal branch.

Then we headed into more straight water with lots of sky.

And these fellas having fun around where there was once a bridge.

6:00 pm, we reach our first lock of the day, lock 20 in a wilderness, said to be near Ticknevin.

The woman here looking to me like someone out of an A.A. Milne book, like Now We Are Six, with that hat and frock :-).

Someone here who knows how to relax by the waterside.

We are approaching Lowtown.

7:30 pm we arrive in Lowtown, and have to moor outside of the harbour as all of the spaces are taken up by house boats and wrecked abandoned boats.

A couple of the abandoned dreams here.

There's not much space for passer by visitors here.

But to our surprise, our friends Corrina and John turn up with a picnic again. This time its the full spread with a couple of big wicker picnic baskets full of gourmet goodies. Sharing a picnic on a beautiful sunny Sunday evening by the canal bank, can't beat it. This was so kind of them.