Lough Carra, December 5th

Myself and Tom went for a paddle around part of Lough Carra today. It was really good of Tom – I think he suggested it more to help me out than anything else. The weather was cold but glorious; blue skies and little-to-no wind. There was practically nobody else around either.

We headed out from Moore Hall to the Twin Islands and stopped there for tea and a bite. From there we went north through the reeds about half-way to Castle Carra. It’s a beautiful place. It has lots of reeds near the shores and a constantly-varying shoreline. There are little islands dotted around it and a few houses near the shore too. The water is crystal clear and not very deep. There are lots of what Tom called “marl” rocks just below the surface. They’re kind of soft and clay-like from what I could gather.

The reeds are gorgeous and I saw some great views of them reflected in still water. It’s hard to photograph them though, because even staying still for a while leaves ripples that break up the reflections. Despite that I got some good enough shots, though I’d love a good camera for kayaking instead of using my phone in the soft case.

My hands got pretty cold after the break, especially my the ends of my right-hand fingers. I put on my gloves and they warmed up after about 20-30 minutes, despite being a bit too big. That’s good to know, but as usual, I did not enjoy wearing them and it was a great relief to take them off again. Maybe I should give pogies another go.

We passed through a channel in the reeds to the north part of the lake. The east shore is pretty interesting here, with rock formations that are a bit unusual from what I’ve seen of the area. There are a few old ruins further up the lake, though we didn’t get that far. It looks like a great spot for further exploration. We headed back to Moore Hall, along the way checking out a boathouse Tom had noticed on previous trips and wanted to take a closer look at.

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