On the river

The sun still shines but we all have heard that it won't last and we use the last days and hours. Sunday afternoon in Graiguenamanagh at the river Barrow was like a Mediterranean  holiday resort. A beautiful river with one of the nicest bridges in Ireland. Brandon Hill in the background and boats moored either side of the river. Lazy ducks on the river and a party in full flow on the other side with a band belting out popular songs. The club house changing rooms are open, the locals are out, joined by lots and lots of others who know about the best swimming and diving spot in the South East. Here are the steps where the rowing club launches their racing boats and where we non rowers can sit, dangle the legs in the water or push each other in for an involuntary dip. Here are the diving boards, 1 meter and 3 meter where the braver ones jump in and where each very energetic jumper sets the 3 meter board off to a clanging that supports the drummer from the other side of the river.

We have brought our kayak, a double sit on plastic boat, and bring it down to the steps - only to discover that a winter of leaving the kayak in the garden has resulted in an ants nest in one of the seat covers!!! Nasty red biting ants - that thankfully can't swim. We turn the kayak upside down, take off the seat cover and  get bitten and bitten some more as the ants desert the boat and take refuge up my trouser legs instead. Marginally hysterically, we win however and set off up river, leaving the crowds along the diving boards and passing the little beach, which -  in pre-sun times - doubles as  a cattle drinking spot, with a beach line of 2m. In the summer however, it is a beach with  a life guard  present,  flags flying and swimming lessons available. After the beach comes the bend in the river and after that peace and tranquility as you cannot buy. In the background, the band still plays on but all we really hear are our paddles and the shrieks of our  non paddling passengers as he gets splashed and nearly capsizes us all pretending he is on the Titanic.

More lazy than energetic, we paddle on around another bend and drift around a bit, enjoying the sun, the water and the company. Eventually, we turn and head back to civilisation and our picnic, the totally crucial part of any outings. We pull up at the boat slip this time and out comes Pitta bread with tomato sauce, sandwiches, brownies, hot chocolate  and tea.

As the sun looses its power, the swimmers disappear and the last cool dudes climb the 3 meter board and declare they'd jump no problem but it was a bit cold and anyway, tomorrow they'd give a go - and they go down by the ladder again, swagger off hands in pockets, all three the same rolling walk, the same flower shorts.

Too lazy to paddle on, we pack up our boat and our picnic and give the non paddling passenger a run along the river on his BMX. At the little beach there is a log seat which civilised parents use to sit on while their children swim. We play balancing games on it, slapping each other off the log. Last one standing wins. I like it when I can still beat my  children. Not sure it looked great though, when one of them  nearly flew into the river. 

Time to go, the bread round starts again on Tuesday and the bake house still needs its weekly clean up.