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Great Ballinasloe First Weekend
by Pete O'Brien

We missed the Friday opening of the Ballinasloe marina but the Sunday/Monday
were very good. The marina can cater for about 30 boats of various sizes without
having to double up. The floating jetties are well lit and the area around nice and tidy with a grassy area for picnics etc. There is a stainless steel sculpture of a bird (heron?) on a pole as the centrepiece.

The run is a couple of hours from Shannonbridge with new red and black markers keeping you away from trouble. The the depth gauge stayed well over 15 ft for
most of the trip.

About 20/30 minutes from the town you reach new Pollboy Lock The lock is
completely mechanised and controlled by a full-time lock keeper. One good feature is that the lock chamber has ladders on either side. The lock chamber is huge. It seemed bigger than Athlone lock but I'm sure someone has the exact figures. The sill on the breast gate goes out a few feet into the chamber though.

One thing you should get when going through the lock is a smartcard key, similar
to the cardkeys on the Shannon-Erne. The cards cost five and ten pounds and can
be used for showers, laundry, pump-out and of course the loo at the marina.. The cards do not dock units off for using the loo but they are the only way into the toilets. How long a card is good for we forgot to ask, but they should be good for a season.

It may be possible to get cardkeys in the town but I am not sure of this. Close to the marina is a Lidl shop which should be useful to most boaters. They sell mostly German stuff and some strange hardware items.

I got a "Swiss Army" type knife and some pot noodles and socks there. I declined to buy the fold-up multi-shovel in combat olive green, or the vibrating neck collar?? The grocery range is good though with plenry of tinned and dried stuff. There is a good supermarket (COSMO) on the square in front of the RC church. They have the full range of Irish groceries.

There is no cinema in the town or shopping centre, but Ballinasloe has a good pub culture. Egan's was mentioned in ispatches and Declan Egan, the boss there, was a sponsor of the weekend opening. He and Terry Noone came down on Sunday evening to see how we were getting on and they gave us a free biro.

The main business centre is about 200 yds from the marina. Athlone is a 20 pound taxi ride away but we were told there is a regular bus service to Athlone. The people in the supermarket said it was an hourly service.

There were several hire boats in the marina which bodes well for it's futureas a hire boat stop-off.

So best of luck Ballinasloe and all who sail to her.
(c) 2001, Text: Pete O'Brien, Bilder: Conor Nolan

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