Come Visit the Geocaching Ireland Forum!
As
obviously I live on the other side of the world this cache is being
maintained by a local. The whole reason I was here... and likely
the reason you are too, is to grab The Irish Top 10 Challenge
Cache. This Cache is owned by
Barraseaclaid and he has kindly agreed to maintain this one for me too
:D
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Lough Derg -
(Irish: Loch Deirgeirt meaning "Loch of the Red
Eye")
It is
the third-largest lake (or lough) in Ireland (after Lough Neagh and
Lough Corrib) and the second-largest in the Republic of Ireland. It
is a long, relatively narrow lake, with shores in counties Clare,
Galway, Tipperary. The lake is the last of the three largest on the
River Shannon, with the other two, Lough Ree and Lough Allen lying
further north. Some towns or villages on Lough Derg include Gary
Kennedy, Portumna, Killaloe & Ballina, Dromineer, Terryglass
and Mountshannon.
At its deepest, the lake is 36 metres deep and covers an area of
118 km (45.5 sq miles). The lake is a popular place for leisure
boating, sailing and fishing. Close downstream of where Lough Derg
empties into the Shannon are the falls of Doonass, the largest fall
on the otherwise gently sloping river, with the nearby location of
the world's then-largest hydroelectric power plant at Ardnacrusha
in 1927.
In the nineteenth century, Lough Derg was an important artery from
the port at Limerick to Dublin through the canals in the midlands
of Ireland. Navigable over its full 40 km length, Lough Derg is
today popular with cruisers and other pleasure traffic, as well as
sailing and fishing. The University of Limerick have an activity
centre by the lake, just north of Killaloe, where there are canoes,
kayaks, windsurfing, sailing dingies, and other
recreations.
Plenty of parking nearby and only a very
short walk to the cache if for some reason you cant get out to Holy
Island due to poor weather or the boat man not being around here is
a consolation prize.