Lough Ree

Today it was the Irish Orienteering Championships Middle Distance Event and we were running at lunchtime so we had something of a slow getup and get ready.  The event was thirty minutes' drive away in Aghrane Wood outside Ballygar.  Tony and I had the same course and he was starting ten minutes behind me so I kept expecting him to catch me up.  As it turns out I had a stormer of a run for me and he made an error towards the end when a photographer got in his way and broke his concentration.  He still did a faster time than me though!  I finished in 3rd place, less than a minute behind Bernie in first place and just a second behind Helen in second place, would you believe?!  I really enjoyed the wood which in places evoked thoughts of ancient temperate rainforest.  Despite his annoying error, Tony finished in 2nd place.  

The results for yesterday's Sprint came through today and I had another 3rd place whilst Tony was 1st in his class, so we are quite pleased with our efforts.  Tomorrow is our last event, Long Distance, as we are not entered for Monday's relay.

After a bite of lunch we left Ballygar and drove back to Roscommon for some shopping and a look at the town, enjoying cuppas in Insomnia Café, then it was just a short run back here to Waters Edge and our holiday apartment.  We put our gear away, put on some washing and took a walk down to the edge of Lough Ree, which we can see out of the patio door, and around the headland in to the town across the bridge over the River Shannon which feeds into the Lough.  The locals are very good about informing visitors about the natural attractions of this area.  There was also a history board which told of how this side of the river is Ballyleague but the other side was gifted by Charles II to Lord Lane who promptly renamed it Lanesborough!  Those British landlords again.  We shall discover more about them on Monday when we visit the National Famine Museum en route to Sligo.

My blip is taken looking out across Lough Ree as a boat came in to the wharf.  It is a Marine Environmental Festival this weekend with lots of family activities and the smell of barbecues drifted across from the marina.