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I am guessing it's a different set of islands Iain

I have yet to venture out onto the Shannon Estuary and onto the Atlantic (one day I hope to take my boat to the Arran Islands) so I will start my story in Limerick. Here is a video showing the Limerick Navigation - from Ardnacrusha Power station into Limerick city centre. This trip can only be safely undertaken with a maximum of two out of the four turbines running due to the restricted bridge clearances. The Ardnacrusha Power station has a two chamber lock (upper 60ft, lower 40ft) that allows navigation through the system. Maybe not for the faint hearted or claustrophobic - but it's actually quite safe and easy. my next posts will be about my home territory of Lough Derg... Brian.

Hi Alan, OK, thanks, Will do.

Hi Iain, Thanks for the link, but I suspect it is in the Members Only area as I cannot access it - I suspect it is in the "members only area" and it would be quite some time before I got to make the minimum 50 posts to get in Brian.

Hi Alan, I would be happy to post some pictures of the system over here, but I am unsure which sub forum would be most appropriate - would there be enough demand for an "Other Waterways" section? Brian.

Hi Liz, I'm not an expert on wooden boats but (most) are very beautiful to see - especially when looked after - they can have a very graceful line that shows the love put into them by the builders. I recognised quite a few from the link you posted - and of those they are mostly in good condition, but the boat industry over here is in dire trouble after the financial crisis and wooden boats do not fair so well with neglect over their fibreglass cousins. Shannon Harbour was, for a long time, almost a graveyard for old boats that were either forgotten about or bought as projects by people ill advised on the amount of effort, time and money that is required for renovation and it was a sad place to visit. There has been much effort by Waterways Ireland to clean up the area in the last few years which involved removing most of the 'wrecks' but I am unsure how many were bought to be restored.

Hi Maurice, Thank you for the welcome! It would be quite possible to navigate from Dublin through the Grand Canal on to the Shannon but it would require some planning as I think there is one railway bridge that only opens occasionally. Other than than you would need to go all the way around to the Shannon Estuary on the west coast. It would probably be cheaper to have it trucked over though as it is quite some journey in sea miles. Perfectly sensible to truck it over if you were to think of spending a whole season over here though as it would work out a lot cheaper than hiring for an extended period.

Hi Everyone, I have been interested in boating since my school days when I would go on holiday with my brother in his plywood yacht on the Thames and the south east coast. After many years I cut my 'solo' teeth on the Norfolk broads hiring from Alpha Craft for a couple of years and very soon after that purchased my fist boat - a Seamaster 30 which was kept on the Fossdyke Navigation near Lincoln. Some years later I moved to Ireland and brought the Seamaster over here, but quickly found it to be somewhat limiting on the vast Shannon Erne waterways and traded it in for a Broom Crown which I still own. I am involved with a local group mapping the Shannon Erne system and have, to date, completed the charts from Limerick all the way up to Beleek in Northern Ireland. It is a very diverse system ranging from quiet reed lined rivers through to vast open loughs that require care in bad conditions and I never grow tired of it. There are many harbours and jetties throughout the system from very basic (not even water taps) through to City locations - and all public harbours are FREE! but you are limited to five consecutive days (Two in Northern Ireland) to stop people trying to moor their boats permanently in them. The hire boat industry has been hit hard by the recession and the weak euro but if any of you are thinking of coming over I would be more than happy to give you a few pointers. Brian.