New Ross to Dunmore East

It rained in the night, but we had left the cockpit cover on so the cabin stayed dry. The rain did mean we had to fold the cover away wet, but it would have been any way since Julian wanted to wash off the “message” left by a sea gull.

The tide was supposed to turn about 0945, but it seemed quite slack at 0900 so Julian backed Robinetta out of the finger berth where she had spent the past four weeks, and we re-moored her facing up river on the outside hammerhead of the pontoons. This would make leaving later a lot easier.

Then we headed off for a tour of the Dunbrody replica.

By 1115 we were back on board our own old wooden boat, with Worm in the water behind her, held nicely by the current. I was on the helm, with the stern line in my hand as a return, while Julian was on the pontoon, letting off the spring and bow line. I was supposed to hold her in place against the current with the engine, but the bow swung out as soon as the lines were off, and I had no chance to control her. I could not get her to steer back in, so Julian threw the bow line on board, while I pulled the stern line out of the water.

For a moment I was afraid I would not be able to make it back to the pontoon against the fast running ebb, but once I gave Robinetta full revs I was able to ferry glide back to the pontoon where Julian stepped aboard.

The damp early morning had given way to a warm and sunny day, making it possible to admire the river Barrow at its prettiest. It is a haven for waterfowl, with wet lands and mudflats, as well as woods and farmed land. It was quite a shock to round a bend and see a small cargo boat tied against a dock!

I had given the Barrow Bridge an arrival estimate of 1315, but the tide took us along even quicker than I expectd and we were in sight of it by 1245. My phone rang, and it was the bridge operator. “Is it you just came round the corner?” He told me we would need to give him 15 minutes to move the bridge as he had to walk across to the control tower in the middle, so we turned back into the current and put the engine into higher revs to hold station on a red channel marker.

After five minutes of doing that we decided to turn round, and take up station on the next green down the channel for a change, but almost as soon as we turned towards the bridge I could see it begin to move, so we did not need to wait again.

The river Suir felt very deep once we entered it, with the main channel 8-15 meters deep rather than the 3-5m of the Barrow. A coaster overtook us as we headed towards the ferry crossing at Ballyhack, then we saw a French Briganteen, La Malouine moored up alongside the quay there, obviously allowing visitors aboard as she dried out alongside.

We carried on close to the north side of Waterford Bay to get a good look at Duncannon, a drying harbour with a surprising number of quite large fishing boats in it.

Then we followed the channel as it ran quite close in along Duncannon Strand. The wind was stronger here, right on the nose, and set up a nasty short steep sea with wind over tide in the shallow channel. Half an hour of this had me wondering about heading back up river, but then the waves gradually got further apart as we approached Creadon Head, and once we were round it and heading straight for Dunmore East we just had a light swell.
We headed for the anchorage, just off the main beach, but it felt very narrow and close to the swimmers by the time we were inside the 3m depth area recommended for anchoring. Instead we turned back towards the harbour and the moorings just outside it. There were no visitor moorings, but plenty of vacant named ones. Most looked too flimsy and close together for Robinetta, but there were a few larger ones, so I headed for the one with the most space around it. When Julian picked it up he found a good heavy rope with an inbuilt bridle. It looked well cared for and with no strong winds in the forecast seemed sturdy enough.

There was an uncomfortable amount to swell, and as usual Robinetta was swinging very differently to the yachts around her, so I wondered about moving onto the new pontoon we could see inside the harbour. The boats on that were moving a lot too, so we decided to stay put, and rowed Worm to the pontoon instead.

Dunmore East is a busy place, with an active fishing fleet as well was plenty of tourists. We spent a lovely evening ashore, wandering through the village and its scenic park, looking out across Waterford Harbour. We ate an enjoyable dinner at the Spinnaker pub/restaurant before heading back to Robinetta, over full with food and drink.