River Erne
The River Erne (Irish: Abhainn na hÉirne or An Éirne), in the northwest of Ireland, is the second-longest river in Ulster. It rises on the east shoulder of Slieve Glah mountain three miles south of Cavan in County Cavan and flows 80 miles (129km) through Lough Gowna, Lough Oughter and Upper and Lower Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, to the sea at Ballyshannon, County Donegal. For 30 miles from Crossdoney in County Cavan to Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, it is difficult to distinguish the river as it winds its way through interconnected loughs or parts of loughs nestling among the drumlin hills of Cavan and south Fermanagh. The river is 120 kilometres long and is very popular for fly fishing for trout and salmon, with a number of fisheries along both the river itself and its tributaries. The town of Enniskillen is mostly situated on an island in the river, between Upper and Lower Lough Erne. It is linked to the River Shannon by the Shannon–Erne Waterway. The total catchment area of the River Erne is 4,372 km2. The long-term average flow rate of the River Erne is 101.7 cubic metres per second (m3/s)
Podcasts:
River Run
by: James KeelaghanRiver of blue cut through the valley
Swept past the willows and the sandy bar
Ran so swift, locked in my mem'ry
But the way things were is not the way things are
We used to swim in the crook of its arm
In the summer heat who could be blamed
Avoided the rapids as best as we could
Never thought that that stream could be tamed
Long ago I gave up that riverside valley
Traded coulees for towers of steel
Abandoned the vistas and valleys of childhood
For the things that they told me were real
No more would I run with the speed of a colt
Cross the gravel down by water side
To race with the twig I threw in at the bend
Couldn't beat it though god knows I tried
Now the river's not running as fast as it did
There's a dam there restricting the flow
And I don't run either as fast as I could
Guess that river and I have grown old
Now it's strange in returning to places of youth
It seems your memory has made a mistake
Cause the place that once scared you with white water running
Has been turned by decree to a lake
Makes me think about how too I smoothed out the wrinkles
Made the waters as calm as you please
Makes me think about how that river and I
Were both happier when we ran free
Now the river's not running as fast as it did
There's a dam there restricting the flow
And I don't run either as fast as I could
Guess that river and I have grown old