Castlewellan Lake

This was an important weekend. 30 years ago, almost to the day, we were married. Goodness it seems so long ago and since then a whole generation has disappeared and another arrived. I am not even sure I can recognize myself from that long ago.

Anyway, to celebrate we headed off for a very long-weekend in Castlewellan laden with gifts to be consumed on Sunday and best wishes to be relished. It took us a while to get organised and with various delays, including the boys calling over with gifts, eventually we set off in the late afternoon. The weather was already much warmer than it had been the weekend before.

The touring site was quite busy with folk still here from Easter; many would depart on the Sunday leaving only the earnest and ourselves. The weather was indeed glorious with undeniable heat even this late in the evening.

On Saturday, we began with a trip into the farmyard. After Fermanagh, Pauline had a notion to rent a canoe so we arranged a rental for Sunday morning. We also got directions to a bike shop where Pauline could get replacement pedals.

This was our second trip, away from the park into the mountains along country roads. The views over the hills into this part of the Mournes, over to Slieve Donard and the rest and down to the sea at St. John's Point and Dundrum were all amazing. We could even see what must have been the Isle of Man above St. John's lighthouse. The warmth in the air, the country smells and the general silence all reminded me of the good times in Fintona. I for one could be easily persuaded of a move to the country again.

Third trip now back around the lake for our usual jaunt and returning through the Arboretum. Its seems unreal that it was only a couple of weeks since we were last here. Shrubs and trees are in bloom all over the place: purples and whites and reds and pinks floating in the sunshine to a chorus of spring bird-song. Of all the blooms, a pale pink magnolia virtually explodes with colour. A stonger-pink one down by the Sequoia was just coming into bloom, and a smaller proper white flowered magnolia had been and gone but this very tall tree was festooned with enormous magnolia and pink flowers. It was tucked away in the garden so it was rather difficult to get close to but it virtually shouted with spring colour and vigour over the heads of everything else.

On Sunday we set off on our lakeland adventure. Up to the farmyard to get our life-preservers and then down to lakeside where we carried a 15' Canadian-style canoe into the water. We were able to launch without getting wet, only with the help of one of the Centre's leaders. Off we went.

This boat was very difficult to steer. Pauline in the front and me in the rear; we were paddling at different rates and strength of stroke. The boat was yawing wildly and only generally heading in the direction we wanted to go. It took some time till we managed to get better control over steering but it remained pretty poor except for one patch as we were coming up the lake and got into a rhythm and for a time we kept the canoe going in a near-perfect straight-line.

We gradually crept anti-clockwise round the  lake keeping quite close in-shore as we struggled with the dynamics of the boat. Our destination was the larger of a pair of islands in the north of the lake. The smaller, we were told, hosted otters and was out of bounds (we never saw any of the shy creatures). The larger could be landed on. So we carefully manoeuvred our craft in amongst the tree branches dangling into the lake, to somewhere that looked relatively easy to land. Tieing up fore and aft, the boat steady, Pauline stood and with a deft piece of footwork managed to fall out of the boat into very cold but fortunately shallow water. I took especial care to make sure I did not end up in the drink myself.

While P rearranged herself, I searched the island for a corner the sun was able to get through to and we would have some warmth to help P dry off. But the island was encrusted with wild, tangled trees and it was a major task just to get through them. By now there was enough heat in the day that we could share my dry clothes. And so we were ready to take to the water again.

We paddled down to the far end of the lake where there was something resembling a beach and with considerable messing about I was just about able to scramble ashore but with a number of hefty knocks against granite boulders. We gave up on that idea and just set off again spending the rest of the morning paddling around and across the lake. It was wonderful to sit in the middle of the water just looking about at the stillness. The air was so still and heavy voices carried very far so it was possible to listen in on the chatter of the fishermen on the edges of the lake, and the ramblings of joggers and couples circuiting the lake.

It was a wonderful experience and while we were still high on the wonderment of it all, we grounded the canoe on a sandy stretch and hauled it out of the water, still managing to keep ourselves otherwise dry. By now we are convinced we will have to get some sort of a boat. The day before we had seen an inflatable kayak resting by the lake. Turned out this was being photographed for sale on Ebay; we discovered this when we finally got hold of the girl selling a 2-man Kayak on Gumtree. So our hunt for a kayak begins.

We dined in Hilllyard House, or rather had high-tea - Sunday is not a good time for fine-dining unfortunately, to celebrate our anniversary and most of the chat was about getting a boat and what we could do. The rest of the trip we spent recovering from our extertions fortunately in wonderful warm weather.

Gosford

We arrived in the early evening so there was plenty of time to get settled. Once the tent was up, we all set off for the reverse walk through the forest, to the animal paddocks and eventually the mill race and wheel next the entrance to the site.

As we came out of the woods, in the corner of a paddock, a crows of female deer were grazing. We created as much an occasion for them and admire each other mutually. As the rest of the paddock came into view, the males arrived with their antlers bristling. Their interest certainly seemed slightly less than curious.

By now the temperature was dropping and eventually the overcast sky began to shed its burden whipped along by a cutting wind. The rare breeds of black bulls, multi-horned sheep, poultry and other random farm-yard beasts did not get much attention as we sought shelter.

The next day was seriously sluggish. We all must have needed a good break because we all struggled to find any motivation instead preferring to chill, read a book or whatever. When the sad news came that the Planetarium event we wanted to see was booked out, well we just collapsed in a heap of inactivity.

Eventually we got the energy to prepare for home. Before leaving I set off on at least one decent bike ride through the grounds. Following the supposedly "easy cycle trail" for 6K I wandered round the edges of arboretum and into the forest. Although the trees were only getting ready for the spring, the birds were singing loudly about it; hoping about the branches and flitting between trees. By Greer's Fort - a rath - I decided to pause and see if I could get some pictures of these birds who were proving very elusive but tempting with the flashes of yellow, blue and red feathers.

The rath is fairly large with a variaty of trees surrounding it. In one corner I caught a nest of primroses nicely in bloom. In another while tracking some finches I caught sight of a bushy gray squirrel's tail but by the time I had navigated the puddles and water-logged field I lost its owner up a tree.

Emain Macha

We struggled up this morning and took our time breakfasting and packing up to leave. Headed back into Enniskillen to have lunch down by the Castle where we could watch the long boats and cruisers drift by. The wind was up today so the kids launched their kite in the playing fields by the Forum. Not a very photogenic arena: the back-side of the town and the Forum derelict and being renovated.

After lunch we all agreed to head for Armagh and hopefully visit the Planetarium; the sight of Mars had obviously whetted our appetite for some astronomy. On our way we passed Navan Fort so paused for the visitors centre. Proved to be more expensive than we were prepared for; instead walked up to the fort to be blown away. Enough of an incentive for the kite to come out again. This time it was slightly more photogenic with a wild, overcast sky; it needed Ru's SLR to capture the kite as well as the flyer.

By the time we reached Armagh and the Planetarium, the presentations were over so we booked one for the next day and headed for Gosford looking for a curry shop - something Markethill lacks it seems.

White Island

Well, its Easter Saturday and we hurtled down quick as we could with all 3 kids on board. First stop Omagh to take on refreshments and then a final spurt to Kesh and Clonelly just in time for enough light to setup a tent for the boys. The night sky was remarkably clear and according to the sky-atlas on my netbook,we were able to identify both Mars and Saturn - Mars was especially red and quite distinct.

Next day we headed for Castle Archdale. Arrived in the car park with an open-air religious meet in progress; could not rent a boat for while nor even extra bikes so we went a dander till it rained and we retreated to the van for lunch. Timed it well as by then the boat was free.

Tootled off in the Oyster, all 5 on-board. For me, driving, everything felt very strange. Engine was really sluggish - even flat-out - which meant the steering was not responsive and the boat had a tendency to wallow about quite easily. The balance of the boat was easily upset when someone moved or shifted seats or even just hitting the wash of a passing jet-ski.

First stop was White Island. A ruined 9th Century church had a number of carvings mounted on the wall. Several of the faces were quite grumpy. Gave us plenty of photos, in and around the church walls. But the island was more an excuse to land the boat and recover our confidence than anything so we were all eager to get afloat again.

Having docked pointing the wrong way, took some deft heaving by Niall to haul us right-way-round so we could power out without any special tricks. By now Pauline was loving it, yelling how much she wanted a boat. Quite a surprise given her prior aversion to water craft. We headed round a larger island and behind a third. All the kids taking turns at steering the boat. Reckoned there was nowhere else worth traveling to so we just docked at the largest island and decamped.

I am positive this is an island I took the kids to last time we had a boat, way back in the 80's; the remains of an old house was very familiar. The weather today was a bit quieter than it was the last trip.

Everywhere on the island, wild garlic was getting ready to bloom and the aroma already filled the air in still spots. Found a purplish flower that Niall said was very rare and only found in Crawfordsburn; seemed quite happy where it was here. Walked a fair bit into the island hoping to find picnic seats (as informed by the boat people) hoping to reach another jetty currently out of commission. But to no avail - after at least a mile of following what was left of a wide track deep into the island surrounded by silence, we turned back. Along the way we found numerous examples of a rather odd fungi: very firm with a bright red inverted cap and clean white stem. Thought it very odd to be growing in the spring.

Returned to the jetty where we settled in a clearing for a picnic and to paint our eggs. Climbed the hill beside the ruined house to "roll" our eggs down; more a question of finding a target to aim at to ensure the eggs did not survive. A lake warden came by later to check up on things. Gave us a wave but that was our adventure on the "high seas" of Lough Erne.

Back on land, we headed into Enniskillen to re-provision and finally out to the site near Florencecourt. The evenings already beginning to lengthen for it was quite late now but still plenty of light for the tent to go up.