Headed off to Lough Beg today with Andy Carden. We met up at New Ferry (East Side - beside the waterski club). There is a new car park with a nice launching slipway.
Andy's lovely wood gaff-rigged canoe is on the left with Andy watching over it
My battered but highly functional Valkyrie Craft Erne Tourer with Solway Dory Bermuda rig and homemade outriggers is on the right.
We set off with a pleasant force 2-3 breeze from the west and reached most of the way to Church Island. It was calm on the east side where we drew up for lunch.
Check out Andy's lovely bent-wood outrigger (and my Kelly Kettle Hobo stove getting the sausages sizzling)
The sun had come out with our arrival on shore and Andy just had to rest his feet until the fry up was ready
He was brill at stoking the fire
And on and on- the KK Hobo is very small so it needs virtually continuous stoking to keep it cooking. :Campfire:
Then we headed up to see if the Church was holding up alright. The nettles were thigh-deep and the churchyard was ringed with barbed wire but we struggled through and checked out the tower.
It's quite an impressive edifice - constructed as a "Folly" by the Earl Bishop of Derry in the 1780s so he could see it from his new Palace at Ballyscullion.
After walking around the coast of the "island" which is actually joined to the mainland now by a stretch of beautiful sedge and lady's smock covered marsh with orange tip and green-veined butterflies, we embarked again and tacked back to New Ferry. The wind had gone round to the north-west so we were going nearly straight upwind all the way back. Altogether a most enjoyable day out on the water.
Andy's lovely wood gaff-rigged canoe is on the left with Andy watching over it
My battered but highly functional Valkyrie Craft Erne Tourer with Solway Dory Bermuda rig and homemade outriggers is on the right.
We set off with a pleasant force 2-3 breeze from the west and reached most of the way to Church Island. It was calm on the east side where we drew up for lunch.
Check out Andy's lovely bent-wood outrigger (and my Kelly Kettle Hobo stove getting the sausages sizzling)
The sun had come out with our arrival on shore and Andy just had to rest his feet until the fry up was ready
He was brill at stoking the fire
And on and on- the KK Hobo is very small so it needs virtually continuous stoking to keep it cooking. :Campfire:
Then we headed up to see if the Church was holding up alright. The nettles were thigh-deep and the churchyard was ringed with barbed wire but we struggled through and checked out the tower.
It's quite an impressive edifice - constructed as a "Folly" by the Earl Bishop of Derry in the 1780s so he could see it from his new Palace at Ballyscullion.
After walking around the coast of the "island" which is actually joined to the mainland now by a stretch of beautiful sedge and lady's smock covered marsh with orange tip and green-veined butterflies, we embarked again and tacked back to New Ferry. The wind had gone round to the north-west so we were going nearly straight upwind all the way back. Altogether a most enjoyable day out on the water.
The impossible we do at once - miracles take a little longer!