Barging through Ireland on the Shannon Princess
by Graham Howe, Upfront and Travel magazine

The Shannon Princess is a friendly family affair. We were warmly welcomed aboard by the owner family – skipper Ruairi (Rory) Gibbons, his wife, Olivia (a true barge romance - he advertised for a chef and found a wife), their young son and his aunt Marina. They live on the Shannon every summer, taking passengers from all over the world on an idyllic six-day cruise between Lough Derg and Lough Ree through the heart of Ireland. The barge moors at a different village every evening with guided excursions to nearby monasteries, heritage sites and historic towns like Galway.

“We run the only hotel barge in Ireland – and this is the first trip of our fourth season” said the skipper who flies the Jolly Roger pirate flag on the river every summer. “Some guests book the whole barge for special occasions (with five double cabins, they accommodate up to ten passengers). The actress Sandra Bullock brought three generations of her family on board. When her mother, a famous opera star, sang Danny Boy in a village pub, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house. We’ve had many celebrity guests from American senators to film stars.”

The cruise is a cultural, ecological and culinary journey through the heart of Ireland – with themed trips for golfers who get to tee-off from the top deck at one of the riverside golf courses. The barge has its own guide who takes guests on intimate excursions to off the beaten track heritage sites – like the sixth-century burial site of Celtic kings at Clonmacnois, Birr Castle (site of the world’s oldest giant telescope and a renowned science centre) and haunted Leap Castle (owned by Sean Ryan, a renowned Irish penny-whistle player).

You’re part of the family for a week with warm, genuine hospitality. Olivia Gibbons, the talented chef who trained at the world-renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School in County Cork, treats passengers to a culinary tour de force of new Irish cuisine, showcasing organic fare and regional specialties from breads to seafood, lamb, duck, cheese and charcuterie. She sources the finest fare from market producers along the way, served with fine porcelain and Irish crystal on crisp white linen. (The cruise is inclusive of all excursions, meals, wines and spirits.) An occasional lunch at a village pub along the way and a platter of oysters in Galway add to the experience.

The river came before the road – and almost every village and town lies on the water. We journeyed through the past on the longest inland waterway in all of Ireland and Britain. The Vikings, the Normans, Cromwell, the Dutch, French and all the invading kings over the centuries invaded Ireland by water, sailing their fleets up the rivers to conquer the coastal and inland settlements. Until the nineteenth century, all goods were transported along a network of canals and rivers from north to south, west to east. Guinness used to operate a fleet of barges to deliver all of its stout by water.

Barging through Ireland on the Shannon Princess continued
by Graham Howe, Upfront and Travel magazine

We passed at a serene pace through a landscape shaped by Celtic mythology. On my on-shore walks curiosity (and the odd hangover) led me to sites like the “Headache Well” and “Eye Well” at the village of Terryglass (meaning the land of two streams). The Shannon is named after Sinann, the grand-daughter of Lear, a great sea-king. According to legend, she drowned after violating Connla’s mystical well of knowledge – a strictly male preserve in those days – causing the water to rise up violently, bursting its banks and creating the great river called the Shannon today.

This mighty river runs through the heart of Ireland. The poet Edmund Spenser writes in “The Faerie Queen” of “the spacious Shannon spreading like a sea”. Consulting the navigation charts on the barge, I traced the 344-kilometre long waterway with its 258 kilometres of navigable waterway from its source in the Shannon Pot via the 39-km long Lough Derg, Lough Ree (29km) and Lough Allen (11) - all the way to the sea at Limerick – a 15 000 square catchment area that represents one-fifth of Ireland.

The crew chatted to third-generation lock-keepers and harbour-masters along the way – the rivermen who operate the swing bridges, locks and quays. Rows of fishermen cast a line from the reeds, checked eel-traps, waved us on our way – and probably cursed our wake. We moored near the sixth-century church of Killaloe, near Cromwell’s castle at Banagher, at an old monastery maze at Mountshannon, and opposite the Norman castle of the Jacobite town of Athlone which fell to a bombardment of 12 000 cannonballs by the artillery of William of Orange in 1690.

We travelled some 200 kilometres along the river – under centuries-old arched bridges and through Victorian locks. The Shannon changed from day to day. The landscape varied from the wide-open sea of the inland lakes dotted with ancient islands to narrow river channels, from the meelick (the low reed-lined marshes) to the callows (the low-lying river meadows), and from the burnished peat bogs to the forested eskers (ice-age ridges which run across Ireland). The Shannon is a twitcher’s heaven, from the swans, swallows and herons to the wagtails, wigeons and warblers.

“Have you noticed how red and brackish the water is?” asked Marina, the cabin steward, “They call Lough Derg the lake of the bloody eye.” Looking out at Scariff Bay, she related the loch lore of the king of Connacht who lost an eye to a bard and washed his face in the water, turning the lake bloody red. Others will tell you the peat bogs on the riverbanks dye the water a brackish red – but that’s the art of blarney.

When it comes to navigating the waters of the Shannon – a maze of waterways ranging from two to 44 metres deep with ancient stone buoys and channel markers – you should watch the swans. According to an old wives tale, a swan never feeds in water deeper than its neck. The moral of the story is never stray near feeding swans.

Visit the Shannon Princess or contact us about a River Shannon Barge cruise here.

back to top

Happy Birthday Actief!

What do Sir Lawrence Olivier, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck, Fay Wray and Gene Autry all have in common with our luxury hotel barge Actief..?

It's incredible to think that during the last hundred years Actief has plied her trade through war and peace, through thousands of breakthrough inventions from powered flight, to modern computer technology and so much in between, and yet she has only had one major life changing event of her own. After almost 70 years of life as a cargo vessel she was converted to a luxury hotel barge.

Although refurbished and updated regularly since then, her raison-d’etre is still the same: to serenely cruise the fabulously unspoilt upper waters of the Royal river Thames in England and ensure you have the most restful, enjoyable vacation of a lifetime.

Some 1907 inventions:

• The Rolls Royce Silver Ghost
• The electric washing machine
• The electric Hoover
• Bakelite
• Colour photography
• The Radio amplifier
• The helicopter

CELEBRATORY OFFER

So why not come and cruise with us in 2007 and help us celebrate Actief’s 100th birthday..? Enjoy a sedate sail on board this grand old lady of the Thames – a trip we're sure you won’t forget!   Contact us about Actief.

back to top

Film Cruise!

Barges are becoming more and more a base of choice for film crews. Our slow-moving friends can provide crew and actor lodging; exciting and highly photogenic film sets, and can even supply catering, all from one source. Very few other companies can provide such varied services.

As far as we know, we are the only barge company with experience in servicing the film industry and with barges in eight countries, we hope we will be able to provide viewing audiences with many more insights into life on the waterways of Europe.

September Competition winner

An irresistible portrait of Burgundy's culture, history, landscape and wines. Burgundy, France's historic wine region, is a unique mix of old towns and vineyards, of great wines, and of thousands of individualistic wine-makers, brokers and merchants. Burgundy and Its Wines takes the reader on a journey where the temptation to linger is irresistible - from the gentle slopes of the Cote d'Or to the treasures of Dijon. The journey concludes with a directory of practical advice and information, including the best merchants and producers.
We announce our Burgundy Wine competition winners here.

October Competition

Scottish Traditions

“Have you started your Christmas shopping yet?” is an ever more popular phrase…!

Although it’s still around 8 weeks off, Captain Dan of our Scottish barge - the Scottish Highlander, is already geared up for Christmas and Hogmanay. The barge looks beautiful and is available to charter for Christmas and New Year breaks.

Here is the first of a trilogy of articles on Scottish Christmas and New Year traditions. We’ll start with Hogmanay.

The origins of Hogmanay stretch back to the pagan practice of sun and fire worship in mid Winter.

For centuries fire ceremonies, such as torchlight processions, bonfires, fireworks and fireball swinging have played an important part in the Hogmanay celebrations, and fire has always been one of those positive symbols of hope and enlightenment.

When the Romans invaded Britain, this was assimilated into their Winter festival “Saturnalia” and when the Vikings arrived, their Yule celebrations became the twelve days of Christmas. Those traditions have been passed through the generations and become engrained in the celebrations of current times.

There is no certainty as to the precise origins of “Hogmanay”. It may have come from the Gaelic “oge maiden” meaning “New Morning” or perhaps from the Anglo Saxon “Haleg Monath” meaning “Holy Month”. Others say it comes from the Norman French word “hoguinane” meaning “gift at New Year” or the Flemish “hoog min dag” meaning “high love day”. Whatever the true origins are, the ideas of love, friendship and a new beginning shine through, and modern-day celebrations certainly bring these positive feelings to the fore.

Celebrations on 31st December start in the late afternoon with a tipple or two with friends and family, music, some dancing, maybe a fancy dress party and lots of fun and jollity, reaching their peak at midnight, with the clock chiming and the bagpipes playing. The revels continue with everyone exchanging kisses, holding hands and singing "Auld Lang Syne", the world famous song by Rabbie Burns. As to when the celebrations finish – that’s anyone’s guess!

Next month: "First Footing"

Contact us here for more information on our Scottish Highlander Winter cruises     back to top

Chateaux and Stately Homes

Villandry is one of the Loire valley’s most stunning Renaissance chateaux, completed around 1536 by a Finance Minister under Francois 1st, Jean le Breton, who had previously spent a lot of time as a French ambassador in Italy. Whilst carrying out his ambassadorial duties, he found plenty of time to study the Italian Renaissance art of gardening (he wasn’t stupid!) and it was this knowledge that he brought back to France and applied to the gardens at Villandry.

The chateau was extended over the passage of time and the interior remodelled during the 18th century but it is incredible to discover that such a treasure was threatened with demolition in 1906. Miraculously it was saved by the current owner’s great grandfather, Dr Joachim Carvallo, who gave up a brilliant scientific career to buy and restore the chateau and gardens to their original Renaissance appearance.

The lovely thing about the Villandry gardens is that there is always something going on there and visitors are encouraged to participate in open and educational days - big kids and little kids love getting their hands dirty!

There are different themed areas in the gardens. Of course, being in France they’ve got to have a Love Garden! Here, the plantings are in the shape of hearts, fans, daggers and swords symbolising the different types of love (tender, passionate, fickle, tragic…) with dramatic infill colours.

The music garden focuses in on musical instruments, the water garden is more open with lawns, ponds and fountains, and the vegetable garden is laid out in chequer-board style where giant purple cabbages sneer over box hedges at carrots and leeks. It’s an inspiration for all gardeners.

Passengers on board our Nymphea barge are in for a real treat when visiting this beautiful gem-stone of a glorious Loire valley chateau.

Visit www.chateauvillandry.com for more on Chateau Villandry.

Chateaux and Stately Homes continued

Cliveden is a magnificent sight for all who cruise on board Actief or Magna Carta.

Although it has origins dating back to 1666, its present day appearance originates from 1850 and is attributed to Sir Charles Barry (of Houses of Parliament fame) who designed it in Palladian style.

The house came into the hands of the Astor family when it was bought by the millionaire William Waldorf Astor in 1893. Becoming a wedding present to his son and daughter-in-law in 1906, his house became a centre for the rich and famous with its guest book listing politicians and presidents (Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt) to actors and writers (Charlie Chaplin, Henry James and Rudyard Kipling).

Lady Astor’s political career (she became the first ever woman MP in the House of Commons) and her personal charisma were legendary and she was certainly the hostess with the most-est, although perhaps Mr Profumo rued the day he came there for a party in 1961!

The house is surrounded by superb gardens, which are open to the public and visitable from Actief, which has exclusive permission to moor at Cliveden. A beautiful rose garden incorporates a mixture of old and new roses whose scent is so bewitching in the summer. The water garden introduces a whole new theme with its Japanese pagoda, azaleas, rhododendrons, cherry trees and a pond in which golden carp bask in bliss.

Many a sculpture and statue ornament the gardens. One of the most photographed is the Fountain of Love (there’s that old devil called Love again!) comprising a giant shell frolicked upon by cupids. More statues can be seen in the Italianate Long Garden, with its profusion of scents, shapes and colours. Here we find characters from the Commedia dell’Arte – Beatrice, Pantaleone, Arlechino and Columbina – which the 1st Viscount Astor had brought to England from a house in Padua.

The formal half a mile long French-style parterre crowning the chalk cliffs offers a superb view down onto the Thames and woodland paths, follies (such as the Octagon Temple and Blenheim Pavillion) and charming riverside walks all make for a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours.   back to top

Family Cruises With Children

Planning a holiday with children can be a bit of a challenge. Making sure the hotel rooms are together, the meals are suitable, and the excursions are fun for all the family are just a few of the components which, if badly planned, can ruin a holiday.

The glory of chartering a barge for your family holiday is that the whole thing is tailored specifically to you, and the fact that your hotel base is moving offers so much more versatility. Gone are the days of packing and unpacking several times during the week, and gone is the worry of having to fit in with a predetermined hotel timetable. This is your show!

A variety of activities can be arranged for all age groups, both aboard and ashore. Older children may enjoy cultural excursions with their parents such as chateaux, museum and vineyard visits, and local markets. Younger children may prefer treasure hunts, climbing, playing on the beach, fishing or a visit to a theme park.

The whole family can choose a simple cycle ride or a walk along the tow-path, or try something which requires a little more exertion like horse-riding, tennis, sailing, windsurfing, paragliding or water-skiing. On-board entertainment includes board games, videos and charades. And after all that activity, it’s possible to relax in the barge Jacuzzi!

Full catering takes a great weight off any parent’s shoulders and the on-board chef is able to provide a combination of menus that will satisfy all, at times to suit the family. The captain, hostesses and deckhands are also at hand to help the smooth-running of the holiday and can even baby-sit if required. We can even provide car seats, highchairs, pushchairs, carrycots and safety jackets, should it be felt necessary.

Visit our Family Barge Cruises here, or contact us today for more information.

That's about it for this 40th edition of the Lockkeeper, and hopefully the above articles have whet your appetite for that well-earned luxury cruise..! Please visit barge cruises and have a look around, or follow the individual links above.

If you have any suggestions, feedback or barging stories to tell us, then please e-mail us. We'll be glad to hear from you and share your inputs in the lock-keeper.

Why not email this edition on to a friend, and let them share the fun. New subscribers can sign-up here, and are very welcome. More people are joining every day, so let's keep building a great Barging community..!

The next edition of the lock-keeper will be out in November 2006, so we'll see you then.

back to top