Near the end of our trip now. Moored in the centre of Athlone, which is pretty much the centre of Ireland. It’s always been an important crossing point on the Shannon and somewhere nearby are 4,500 year old megalithic tombs. Athlone’s impressive 13th century Anglo-Norman castle is an indicator of the age-old importance of this location as a ford, linking east and west Ireland - Leinster and Connaght.

  The town’s army barracks are apparently the oldest continually occupied army barracks in the world. Oliver Cromwell must be involved in this dubious claim to fame - “To Hell or to Connaght ” – move or die.

  It was the good land east of the Shannon that Cromwell sold or gave to his cronies in England. The dispossessed, landless Irish were forced to move west (to Connaght), and settle in places like the Burren in County Clare - known “to have not wood enough to hang a man, water enough to drown him, nor earth enough to bury him;” (D.M.R. Esson, The Curse of Cromwell).

  My last pint of Guinness on this visit was in Sean’s Pub, confirmed as Ireland’s oldest pub by the Guinness Book of Records – founded in 900 AD. It’s a pretty good pub but to be honest there’s not much of the original pub left, probably just the foundations, still the Guinness was top notch.

  Our last excursion from the barge was to the Killbeggen distillery in County Westmeath – created in 1757 and the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland, or maybe in the world, still producing Irish whiskey (note the extra e which distinguishes Irish Whiskey from Scotch whisky). A fascinating visit and some great whiskeys to sample at the end.

Ireland has any number of castles and we could visit one or two everyday, if we were that obsessed. Portmna Castle and Priory in Co Galway has a typical Norman history of the clan Ricard de Burgh. It’s a fabulously grand manor house but with an extraordinary level of defences – great wall, sometimes double built, large gun emplacements, musket slits, iron grills and a machicolation overhang for defending the front door. As you might guess they were a hated and oppressive family that had to constantly defend themselves from local people. The 15th Earl was a classic absentee landlord, squeezing every penny from local tenant farmers and pissing it away with high living in London’s Belgravia.

Leap castle in Co Offaly was a totally different experience. The O'Carroll’s build the original stone castle in the 1300s, it was extended with additional wings in the 1600s and was burned down in 1922 during Ireland’s Civil War. It has the reputation of being the most haunted building in Europe but I’m sure there’s dispute about that claim. If you want to know more listen to a Radio 4 Excess Baggage programme made in 2004.

Sean Ryan bought the castle ruins in 1991 and  renovated it sufficiently so he and his family now live there. He’s a great story teller as well as being a marvellous whistle player of international repute.

Moored at Banagher, a tiny place I’ve never heard of. It’s a small 17th century town with a lovely 10-12 arched bridge and a Martello tower, so someone thought Napoleon was likely to pass this way. For such a small place it has some big literary connections – Anthony Trollope lived here whilst he was deputy postal surveyor – whatever that is? In 1854 Charlotte Bronte honeymooned in Banagher when she married the Rev Arthur Bell Nicholls but she was dead within a year and I don’t know the significance of that either?

We set off for Galway after breakfast. It’s just as great a city as the first time I came. The Aran Islands are just a short ferry ride away but there’s insufficient time for a trip. Lunch in the Quays was decent pub grub.

A 40-minute trip to Craggaunown castle – a classic Irish fortified Tower House was well worth it as the woodland was full of primroses, bluebells and unfurling ferns. In the grounds they’re recreated a traditional crannog – Iron Age era artificial islands created as a defence from marauding neighbours.

  Tim Severin’s boat, The Brendan, is on display here. He sailed this ash and cow hide boat to America in 1976 to show that St Brendan could have reached America in the 6th century as suggested in a 9th century Irish manuscript – beating Columbus by a thousand years and Leif Eriksson by 400 years – but not the native American Indians!

  As well as being a glorious way exploring midland Ireland’s culture and landscape the Shannon Princess is a real gourmet foodie trip. Our onboard chef Olivia Gibbons trained at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, made famous by celebrity TV chef Rachel Allen, and Olivia’s table is as good as food can get. Olivia’s take on the traditional bacon and egg breakfast is duck egg topped with crispy Palma ham and I just had to have it every day.
  Olivia cooks everything on board including bread, biscuits, cakes, petit fours and as far as possible produce is sourced from farms and market gardens within a few mile of the river.

A typical evening’s dinner was:
Chicken liver pate
Passion fruit sorbet
Roast bass, sprouting kale, leaf salad
Irish farmers market cheeses & walnut bread
Vanilla crème brulee
Tia Maria Irish coffee and petit fours
  Good red and white wines accompanied all meals after which more liqueurs were served and I frequently had a rummage through the complimentary bar.

  Ruairi (Rory), owner and skipper of the Shannon Princess II, picked us up in Dublin in his stylish minibus. Along with our three fellow passengers he transferred us to Killaloe in Co Clare, about 10 miles north of Limerick.
  With just 5 cabins for a maximum of 10 passengers, this hotel barge trip looks set to involve a lot of gourmet dining and excess drinking from the complimentary bar whilst drifting through a stunning landscape.

A beautiful day in Dublin. It's a shame to spend too much time in the pub. But there are so many great pubs to visit. The Central hotel Library bar and The Stag are just too good to pass by.
New smartphone, micro SD card managed to lose all the pub photographs.