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Newry Ship Canal was the venue today for an incredible 'show of strength' from the local boating fraternity, when they were joined by friends in a fun cruise from Carlingford to the heart of Newry City. Around 25 boats travelled up on the morning high tide queueing up at Victoria Lock from after 10.30am. It took three operations of the lock by the Council operators to get them all through.
While it was essentially a fun trip, the underlying message was to the Department for Infrastructure, who are advancing plans to build a fixed bridge over the Ship Canal as part of their Southern Relief Road project. The vast majority of boats in today's flotilla would not be able to get up the Canal if the planned bridge is built and an event of this could never happen again in Newry.
Speaking after sailing up into the Albert Basin Jonny Moneley who manages Carlingford Marina and who organised the event said "That was as fabulous as we had imagined it to be. That little trip coming up the Lough passing Omeath and passing Warrenpoint, past the big industrial port and then suddenly you come up and you're into these beautiful environments where you've got Narrow Water Keep on your bough and you snake up closer and closer with the forest either side of you as you come up to Victoria Lock.
"The guys at the lock today were great. I don't know how many boats we got in total today but we did it in three different locks so that give you an idea there was a good crowd of us."
A beautiful asset
Moneley continued "It's a really beautiful trip. When you do something like this, the weather we had today, you can't really understand why this canal isn't as popular as say the Caledonian or something through the continent, one of the French Canals. It really is such a beautiful asset we have here right on our doorstep.
"The reason that we created this week and came up with this idea was number one, to start inviting not just the racing boats that you get every year to Carlingford Lough but also the cruisers as well. We have an awful lot of young families here today all enjoying everything that Carlingford Lough has to offer. The events that we have organised really promote everything around the lough."
Concluding Moneley added "So we're going to do an event over in Rostrevor Bay, the event up here in Newry Canal. We went out fishing beyond the Haulbowline Lighthouse and are really promoting Carlingford Lough as a sailing destination that has national interest."
See Sailing up to Newry for 'A night in the Albert Basin for a list of events later this week.
See Is Saving £10m worth the loss of Newry's Maritime Heritage?
