These next pair around Ballinea, with new and old bridges.




An opportunity for some voluntary bridge workers maybe ?

WI work-boat, tied up for the weekend.



Lots of these milestone surviving along the system.



Although through this bridge cleanly, Rambler is showing the marks of a long canal season.

The final approach to the harbour in Mullingar and the end of that weekends travelling. Evan's photos capture the days run and Sunday saw the "Rambler gang" make an appearance at a midland town [ other canal ! ] to recieve a well earned accolade. Unusually for me I took no pictures on that occasion [ a little busy ] but maybe someone would post a picture of that occasion.

Joe.

Nice pics Evan....where was that dredging done...??

M(W&W)F

What the show never said and people asked me what was it like so here is how i saw it.

The photos of the royal that i took showed that the Rambler can still travel as a mode of transport which was built over 200 years ago and bridges that were built for horse and cart to travel over. Today you can you put a heavy truck, lorry or farmers tractor topping Forty ton on top of these bridges and yet they are rarely maintained .
But the program showed us hitting the liffey quay wall but the Rambler has a habit of healing herself from damage the crew inflicts on her.
I would ask you, would you put a vintage car, or a vintage tractor to the level of stress that the barge was put on her hull from rocks, trolleys and losing her prop and finding it again and putting it on again and this too was never shown.
On the first day My father welcomes Dick on to the boat but the i believe Dick should have been introduced to the Rambler WHY !!!!
I know the rambler for over ten years and to me it was a boat same as a rowing boat or a rented boat to me. just a boat but the Rambler on this trip showed me the difference between a boat built in England sailed around the English Chanel and across the Irish sea without modern technology or weather forecasts and ended up being used on the Royal with the a steam engine Which was a wonder of a amazement to the Irish farmer in 1870s that the horse was being replaced by steam.
But even as the Rambler was being built the train steam engine would pass out the barge and it was speed was a cost factor.
The Royal canal long level is not just about boating it is really a major turning point in Ireland's history from the horse to steam to speed and there is still key stones telling barges how far you from Dublin or the Shannon you are.
But yet the railway line that runs like a blood vein that heads from Dublin to Mullingar but there was a split in the line one heads to Carrick on Shannon and other still along the Royal then heads to Athlone so the one railway line now serves two areas of the country and this split happens on the long level of the Royal canal.When the program was being filmed i was thought that it missed out on this area completely.
The Royal narrows in the long level and the trees almost stretch out to touch the barge its old friend with a hand shake.
Before i did this program Joe Tracey told me that the canal is a great training ground for how you deal with problems like locks I thought who is this fellow to tell me about learning about barges I am 33 my dad owns the Bona spes and my brother the Rambler.
But Royal started asking me "was i there to look around'. But the Royal is not like the Shannon the Royal made you part of a Crew, it made you felt you had some thing to add. The TV program did not show the value of the crew of the Rambler.
With stones marked by rope from horses pulling barges and no major changes yet and trees and banks with colour of rust with green fields you can just step off no reeds banks just soft banks.
The Rambler will still wander the banks and pass though bridges of the long level as it has done for over a century to the amazement of its modern day crew !!!!!!!!!!!!
I can under stand why everymans boat is a young man dream.

OK Joe - as requested.


The crew of Rambler receiving the Erry Trophy at the HBA AGM last Sunday

Thanks Conor , don't we all " scrub up well "! It's great to stand beside TV stars. Rambler sailed from Mullingar to Lock 25 today in the capable hands of 'Connon, Connon and Connon' and the only little hold-up was an hour spent climbing over something in the water under Nead's Bridge. Will put some pics up when EVAN SENDS THEM !!

Joe.

There on the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Joe

These three in the immediate Mullingar Harbour area, with a pic of the dry - dock in the middle.

Heading past the bridge over the Lough Owel Feeder.



These two heading into and out of the new 'Moran's Bridge.

Just out of Moran's Bridge and heading east.



Saunder's Bridge and beyond.




And out accross the 'sinking' which is cut through rock and narrow in places.

Well along the level and through the Drawbridge.



It's painful waiting for boats to show up !



Face to face with 'Nead's Bridge'.

Nead's Bridge, in all it's glory !






Rambler spent an hour getting through the bridge - something in the channel ? Investigation is needed !

Joe.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 23/11/2011 23:04 by joe treacy.

There certainly is Joe......the concrete base of the bridge...!! If the angles did'nt catch her, given Ramblers draft and water depth through the bridge, it would'nt take very much to catch her bottom and stop her. I was talking with John earlier this evening and from what he was saying it sounded like there was something fairly solid underneath the boat, probably a big stone. He also mentioned that WI were doing some dredging and bank building out near The Downs when he was passing. If they can manage to build the bank up another bit, it should help with water depth through Neads, and maybe allow them to store more winter water on the summit level for next summer...!!

M(W&W)F

PS.....Great pics Evan.

The cut outside Mullingar the Rambler hit hard rocks or something hard as well.This will be have to brought to waterways attention as it is very hard and will have to be removed soon.
I have to say with the cut and Nead's bridge would be very hard on boats and waterways will have do something if they expect boat to travel beyond Mullingar.
We landed at first dropping lock in the dark waiting for Saturday for the next move.

Hi Evan,

Looking at the watermarks in the pics of Neads, I'm wondering if the water level was just at "normal" when yis came through...? Bigger boats really need it up a couple of inches above this to get through. The bridge is about an inch less deep on the Mullingar side than on the Dublin side which is probably why yis got stuck there initially. I would again make the point that bigger boats need to get WI to raise this level before attempting Neads and, if coming from Mullingar, before passing the lift bridge as its quite shallow between it and Neads. Given Ramblers extra depth it might even have been worth seeing if they could raise the level for the whole journey from Coolnahay. John did mention that WI are currently working at raising the dodgy bank near The Downs, so hopefully this will allow them to raise the "normal" water level sufficiently to let bigger boats through Neads. Until this happens, I would reccommend letting WI know beforehand, when you plan to tackle Neads...!!

M(W&W)F

NORMAL WATER LEVEL AT NEADS BRIDGE is just above or below the 5th rung down, on the ladder in the quay wall east of Neads. Thats 1 inch. 31B needed the level 2 inches ABOVE the 5th rung,but still touched at the Mullingar side of the bridge, but was pushed out by hand with engine in neutral.

Mick
I cant see how you could get the royal level any higher as there is a water off let between the lifting bridge and Nead's bridge.
There is a river that follows beneath the royal canal just before Nead's bridge with a pump to fill the royal if the level is down and if the canal is to high the over flow flows in to the river, The Canal water was at the highest limit at the moment.
But Barges would have been fully loaded years back and would have been at least five to six feet if not more in draft underwater and moved with ease. The canal before start of the long level the rambler was averaging about 6 to five knots its only getting three two knots on the long level due to the fact the long section needs to be dredged.
There is a section before Nead's bridge were the waste can be dumped or dried and waterways are fencing this area reclaiming the land back of farmers and is quite a bit of land.
Waterways Ireland are working on this at the moment and this can be seen with new fences both sides of the canal and new toe pass to be able to get the trucks and diggers to the areas i just hope the read this and ask us boaters where the problems are but they all ready know i believe.
Mick But we came to first dropping lock there was stones cleared from the bridge entrance this is allot different from when we came though it with TV crew as the rambler got stuck and this was shot were the train passed the rambler in a areal shot. We got stock for over 30mins last time now we just sail though with the rubbish on the bank to see.

Hi Evan,

To raise the level you raise the spillway. Usually done by putting in deeper boards or by building up the retaining wall. I'm not sure exactly how it was done for me in the summer, but WI did get the level up at least 2" above normal to get me through Neads. Thay had possibly done this for Rambler too when you were heading west, as they would have known you were on the way. I ended up staying East of Neads for a week longer than planned, and then did'nt let them know when I was moving on, so in hindsight, its not surprising that I had problems. This of course, should'nt be the case, but its the way things currently are and we'll just have to work around it till its fixed. In fairness to WI, this is the first year that big boats have been back on The Royal, and it has thrown up a number of issues which they may not have been aware of. Bear in mind too, that The Royal east of Mullingar was restored over the last 30 odd years, and is probably overdue a dredging in places.

It is very true that the canals, both Royal and Grand are much less deep than they were in the trading days. 31B was designed to travel at 4 1/2 feet deep, at 4 MPH, pushed by a 15HP engine. Its now only 3' 4" deep, has a 110 HP engine and is lucky to average 2 MPH....!! I also had problems from L 25 to Footy's Bridge in June. As I recall it took about 20 minutes for the 100yds from the lock up to and through the bridge. I'm delighted to hear that WI are doing a bit of dredging here.

I gave WI about 40 pages of snags from me G&S trip and I know some other people also submitted written reports of the issues they met along the way. It does seem that WI are making an effort to deal with some of these issues, and while they probably wont all be fixed this winter, from whats been done so far I reckon it'll be an easier journey next year.

M(W&W)F

PS....I will of course be submitting new lists next year if I find snags...!!

Mick
I remember that they did not do it as they were pumping water from that river as we passed buy.When we went though Nead's bridge with the film crew we got up at 0730 in the morning and we dragged the Rambler though and it took over an hour half to get it though.
I believe that the base of Nead's Bridge was laid to high as i was on the bank as the rambler went though this time i saw the stern raise up as the rambler was under power and as soon as we took of the power and the stern lifted she almost floated though with out power.

Hi All,

We were fortunate enough to join Evan, John Snr and Ben T below Lock 25 this morning. It was my first time assisting with a lock through on a flight... rather enjoyable! I'll include 3 photo's... don't want to leave myself nothing when I do a blog post in the week...

Winter blue... with a touch of green...


Out of the 'skinny' lock she comes... no problems!


The old and the older... which is which?


Hopefully there'll be a few more tomorrow... they're heading right though my 'home' strip...

Cheers,
Vossie aka AJ

[ouchmybackhurts.wordpress.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/12/2011 18:24 by AJ Vosse.