PRESS RELEASE … IMMEDIATE

“THE BIG BOATS ARE COMING”

Itinerary for HBA on the Royal Canal 2013

On St. Patrick’s weekend a fleet of twelve Heritage Canal Boats will depart from Richmond Harbour at the Shannon River close to the town of Longford on route to Dublin via the Royal Canal. The Heritage Boat Association is celebrating the re-opening of this unique navigation. These “canal boats” are the same commercial barges that once carried cargos all across the inland waterways of Ireland. They were indeed the juggernauts of their day and the canals were the highways on which the commerce of the nation depended.

Following decades of dedicated work by volunteer groups (particularly the Royal Canal Amenity Group) as well as county councils and Waterways Ireland, the canal navigation has recently been re-opened. This gathering of the canal boats will be the largest ever in the history of the canal as even when they were carrying cargo they would have moved alone or in small groups.

It will take the boats six weeks to reach the river Liffey in Dublin as they will be interacting and celebrating with schools and community groups at many locations along the canal. Their skippers and crews are particularly interested in meeting with families who would have had friends and relations who worked on the navigation when it was a commercial waterway. Full details of the calendar and ports of call are available from the website - http://heritageboatassociation.ie

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Further details from HBA PR Team.

Contact: Paul Martin, Phone 087 2523908, Email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it