Shannon River Cruise 2026

By Kathleen Ennen / September 18, 2026

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Monday September 14

Carrick on Shannon

Arrive yesterday afternoon by bus from Dublin airport after a 950 Gatwick departure. Easy trip and found the flat OK. Located what turned out to be a terrific Indian restaurant for dinner. The flat was, let’s say, basic. It worked, barely, but good enough.

We departed the flat in search of another warm layer for Thom. The second shop provided a wonderfully thick fleece. Just perfect. As I stood waiting outside I realized I may be the only wife waiting on her husband while he shopped in a charity shop!

Found a great little breakfast spot and the name included the word Cake. Oh wow, the pastry display was amazing! We opted for simpler breakfast fare with eggs and toast. Though Thom did the whole thing with bacon, beans, tomatoes, two eggs.

Turns out this town has been granted the privilege of being a Tidy Town. We wandered along a bit and then down to the Le Boat office. Did our paperwork, dropped our bags, and headed for a 20 min walk to the grocery store. Got all sorts of things for the week, though trying not to buy much for dinners. Thom couldn’t resist a certain fish that got packed into an oven baking bag. The boat has propane stove/oven so we’ll give it a try. Surprisingly the bill for a week of groceries, granted without wine, was nearly about we we normally pay at home, even with the euro/dollar conversion.

Had a boat briefing of all systems and then a short drive to get the swing of driving and then backing back into the dock using the bow and stern thrusters. They are so helpful here!!

Oh did I mention it was raining? Of course it was. It’s the first day of our cruise in Ireland. By the time we got the luggage to the boat everything was very wet. My passport which I thought was safely tucked away in a pocket of my bag got wet enough to curl.

And everything has stayed damp and wet. We decided to venture north a bit to the town of Leitrim. Easy one hour drive and easy tie up along-side the quay. After a short walk and learning that pubs don’t serve food during the week, we went to the Leitrim Inn and had a nice dinner. Thom and wine, I had my first beer here…. The Smithwick Irish Ale. Nice.

Sleeping was awkward at first. Everything felt damp. Part way through I took a spare duvet and smoother it out on top of the mediocre mattress. And then put a blanket on top of the other duvet. It was still pretty cold if I stretched out in any direction. The cold spots were freezing. I think it will get better…. Especially if things can dry out.

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Tuesday September 15

Leitrim

Chilly night and up early. Coffee and then departure and then I have breakfast while Thom drives and then I drive. Scenery is river plants along the edge and then trees and occasionally a field and sometimes a nice view of a green hillside in the distance. It seems pretty flat though. We see swans periodically which is great.

We’ll head south today and go past Carrick on Shannon, onto Dromod. We’ll encounter our first lock at Albert Lock.

Turns out the canal to the lock felt very narrow but managing the lock was very simple.

Thom prefers I do the close quarters maneuvering. First off when leaving Leitrim it was a Uturn in a very narrow channel. We appreciate bow/stern thrusters more and more.

The lock was very easy – slow forward speed in, then both thrusters to slide sideways.

It was another 2 hours or so to Dromod harbor which is an interior quay box with a narrow entrance. Luckily not too many boats when we arrived, we did a full turn to face out and tied upclose to the WC.

The rain, came and went. The sun, came and went. We went on an exploratory walk and then it rained again. I think I should invest in a small umbrella, sort of like buying insurance! My rain jacket is fine but it only works if you didn’t leave it on the boat.

We walked along and found restaurant for dinner and that father to a little grocery store. It was really fun to talk to woman at the check out and she explained to me that Treacle Soda bread is not a sweet bread but a dark, dense bread with raisens or sultanas. It might not be good with ham (which is everywhere) but it would be good with cheese. We are still so stocked up with provisions that I couldn’t buy some, but I will look for some when on our road trip in a couple of weeks.

We walked back to the boat and encountered something called a Tiny House. Not sure of it’s significance. After relaxing for a while we headed to dinner and had great meal. I had a terrific curry and Thom had a back salmon with mash and carrots.

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Wednesday September 16

Dromod Harbor

Another chilly night but I learned today on the FB Group Shannon River Boat Club that these boats are designed with enough battery power to keep the heat on all night. Looking forward to trying that out!

We did our first tank pump out this morning. For some reason the hose would only fit on one side and we weren’t up to turning the boat a round to get the other side. Hopefully we can find a longer hose along the way. At the next opportunity we’ll have to pump the tank we couldn’t get to today.

We brewed up the coffee and got underway. We learned on our 910 arrival at the Roosky Lift bridge that it doesn’t open before 930. We hung out for a while at the waiting quay behind some Swiss and then went through and shortly after that followed them into our 2^nd lock. We’ll encounter another bridge and if we want to go farther, we’ll go through another lock. We may just tie up for the night and turn back to go north tomorrow.

Hoping to catch a ballooning event this week in Boyle which is up the Boyle river, north of Carrick on Shannon.

Tied up quayside in Tarmonbarry just upstream of the lock. After a nice short walk we looked into the Purple Onion for dinner and decided we’d like to try it. I felt a cold coming on so went to the boat for a nap while Thom walked and talked to the dive team repairing the weir near the lock. Quite an operation.

The Purple Onion, manned by Paul and Pauline, the married proprietor team, were wonderful. I decided to give my first try at a wagyu beef, a 10 oz sirloin steak. Paul suggested a wine that turned out to be perfect. Even AI concurred!! AI also mention the “manager was an enthusiastic wine lover”. The restaurant also and had an upstairs gallery and vintage shop. There was a decent collection of vinyl LPs and other eclectic stuff.

Dinner was absolutely amazing. Right up there with the top meals we’ve had in our many travels. Paul was also kind enough to recommend a couple of restaurants in Dublin. We will pay attention to Paul’s suggestions.

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Thursday September 17

Tarmonbarry

Seems we can have the heat on at night and it barely impacts the batteries at all. It was great. Also no massive amount of condensation on the windows in the morning. I think things are starting to dry out!

We couldn’t charge off this morning as we are moored between the lift bridge and the lock in Tarmonbarry. Thom went to chat with the lock keeper and learned the lift bridge operator was going to go to the bridge shortly after the lock brought up the boat waiting downstream. He rode by on his bike, chatted a bit, and said the bridge would be up in about 10 minutes. We got ready and then saw it start up. Made a hasty departure and headed back north.

We are facing the current now so I learned we needed a bit more speed to get under the bridge. We’ll have to see how much more time might be needed to go our distances with the current against us.

We are headed to Albert Lock. This was our first lock on Tuesday. We’ll tie up just downstream of the lock, and enter it first thing tomorrow morning.

We have a few things for a simple dinner on board tonight: some fish in a roasting bag, some spinach and beetroot for a salad, and Thom got some coleslaw/potato salad yesterday.

Update 1:

Ok it’s mid day and we’re changing plans. And then changing them again.

We missed the left turn to the Albert lock after thinking, let’s run all day and get up the Boyle river by mid-late afternoon. Once we realized that, we turned back and, of course, got to the Albert Lock just as the lock keeper started his lunch hour. So our 5-6 hr trip to Cootehall Marina got much longer. I luckily got a great photo op as we came upon a beautiful church before we realized we needed to turn around.

On top of that it seems the heater, which worked perfectly last night, no longer wants to go at all. I called the marina base, and fortunately, we are headed north, about 90 min away, and someone will check it out for us.

We arrived at the base marina, where we started on Monday. We were advised given that the wind had come up quite a bit that going farther north was not a good idea. On our approach to the dock, the wind picked up and the boat’s thrusters were not strong enough to keep us along side while tying up. I backed out and came back in and one of the staff caught our lines and really worked to get us in.

He then went to check out the heater. Turns out the advice I got regarding running the heater all night was faulty. “These” heaters start to overheat after 2-3 hours and then they shut down. They can burn out if you aren’t careful. After some fiddling with the wiring and the fuses under the seat, it started up again. Phew. We were told not to run it all night and we need extra duvets, which he quickly provided us. Well, I had one good night with warmth and dryness.

After a nice chat and a visit to a brand new barely used, very fancy, boat tied next to us, we were given advice on a local place to go for dinner. The boat is bigger, has 2 staterooms, 2 heads, a dishwasher, a generator, of Nespresso coffee maker, and full sized frig/freezer. Very fancy.

Dinner was at a nearby hotel where dinner was only being served in the bar. I had a terrific lamb shank and Thom had a “crumbed” haddock which seemed fried. Probably was, just not with the beer batter crust. It was good nevertheless. Aileen was our wait person and had strong opinions about everything. She was lots of fun!

Friday September 18

Today we are starting from the base marina in Carrick on Shannon. It’s raining. Alot.

NO PHOTOS!

We had some questions that Hannah answered for us in the Le Boat/marina office. We inquired about bus timetables, cleanup expectations for when we turn the boat in on Monday morning, and other miscellaneous housekeeping items. She also generously offered an umbrella for the weekend. Either I’ll need it, or it will prove to be worthy insurance!

We are thinking of arriving back Sunday morning early enough to catch a bus to Drumshanbo, to the Shed Distillery. We had some of their whiskey, Drumshanbo Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey, and thought it was terrific. It’s €50 at the distillery and €80 at the liquor store.

We departed around 1115 and spent about an hour up the Boyle River to the Cootehall Marina. This is a simple marina with a guest dock location. There is no office, you have call Jess. If we leave the dock to use the WC there’s no way to get back in. Fobs and keys aren’t provided to guests. Luckily Jess dispatched Barack (not pronounced like B Obama) who appeared in about 5 min, (remember, heavy rain)

Barack brought a bungee cord to keep the gate open and we can leave it that way while here.

We’ll eat at the adjacent restaurant tonight. It seems to have lots of good reviews.