August 16, 2004
Water's Edge
I watched the GAA football qualifier on Saturday in a Westmeath stronghold and things were pretty gloomy after the final whistle, as the dreams of a first All-Ireland were dashed by Derry.
Westmeath has plenty of lakes – nearby is Lough Ennel. Back in 1894, a fisherman caught a 26lb trout there. Later, it was a miracle that anything could live in the water as the town of Mullingar pumped its raw sewage into the lake. In the last decade, the county has restored the waters to its former glory – trout, perch and pike are plentiful. In the Sixties, one of the many Shannon drainage schemes included the river Brosna, which drains Lough Ennel. The level of the lake dropped such that the boathouse (right, above) lies 50 metres from the waterline, necessitating the building of a new one (left).
These photos were taken in Lilliput, an amenity area with a shallow sandy on the southern shore and so-called because Jonathan Swift is reputed to have spent some of his summers there.
Posted by Monasette at August 16, 2004 11:38 PM