Captain's Handbook ©

More than five years ago I wrote on a German boating board a fictional story:

Once upon a time ….

„Stop!“ she shouted „You are on the wrong side! You are driving on the wrong side of the marker!“
„My darling,“ he replied „not this again.“ Since you are on this curious internet forum you are dreaming such crazy things! Wake up my gorgeous little snuggle-bear. I will protect you from all evil navigation markers of the world.“ Whilst saying that he snuggled a bit closer to her. Gently she cuddled into him. Her breath was steady and deep again. Who knows whether she was now dreaming of the cosy berth on the boat or of their shared sunsets on their own with the soft ripples of the water? Involuntarily he moved and the waterbed started a gentle swaying. He sighed, felt satisfied with the movement and went back to sleep.
He was woken next morning by a familiar smell in his nose. That’s just not possible! Where am I? It’s not that …. ???…. has she possibly kidnapped him and put him onto one of those floating locomotives called narrow boats? He raised himself quickly to a sitting position. The waterbed swished. He felt faint. But mentally he thanked all the goddesses of the Irish waterways; he was at home and not on a steamroller. But where did that smell come from?
„Good morning darling,“ said the familiar voice of his sweetheart „I have booked.“ Booked??? He toppled over backwards. It hadn’t been a dream! Help! In his mind’s eye, he saw himself in the pouring rain cranking at historic locks while she was busy photographing and shouting to him: „Come on honey, smile!“
She sat down on the edge of the bed with a cup of steaming and beautifully smelling coffee for him. The realisation kicks slowly in. His senses recovered hesitantly and the numbness went. He raised himself at an angle of 45 degrees with the last of hopeful strength in order to drink his coffee. What has she booked? And where is the other smell coming from? That is definitely turf!
„I wanted to surprise you.“ she said. She has done a good job on that! „I have got fuel peat! Don’t you think that it smells great, a bit like on the bridge at Banagher? Do you remember?“
He held onto the coffee cup and took the first sip …. only the fireplace gives off clouds of turf smoke … thankfully … but what has she booked??? He opened one eye … it cannot be happening … she beams with joy! He gave the cup back to her and sank into the cushions. From a far away world he heard: „I have booked three weeks this morning on a Haines 35 on the Erne.“ He thanked all the fairies of the old world and the temple servants of Inish Rath for their help! Thankfully, the floating and steaming railway wagon was averted! He was beside himself with joy and with immense power rose suddenly. He grabbed his sweetheart, gave her just time to put down the coffee cup and heaved her into bed with him: „Well done! You just made my day!“
Once upon a time …. there was a night full of dreams ….
Five years later the unavoidable happened, one of these locomotive-like barges in Ireland was booked for April 2011.

On the bridge over the canal between the two pubs is a rabbit sitting in the middle of the street when we arrive in the afternoon at Vicarstown on the Grand Canal Barrow Line. Orla and Phillip of Barrowline Cruisers welcome us. We board on ‘Finnery’, a 50ft x 6ft 6in narrowboat. ”Good luck on Saturday in the pencil!” Peter K. had written to me two days ago.

Phillip shows us the boat and explains the usage. Then he gives me a lesson how to turn the boat and lets me drive under the bridge and moor below. “Very good,” he says “I give you the license.” I’m not sure if I had given it to myself but he is confident that I will manage the Barrow after becoming acquainted with the tiller during two more hours on the Barrow Line the next day.

We unpack our luggage and settle down. It is a warm day and we relax in the evening. In the pub on the opposite shore is a fun wedding party tonight and later in the dark a boat arrives with a couple to take part in that event. But we are at an adequate distance and have a quiet evening and night.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 17.3°C Min 7.1°C Rainfall 0

Sunday 10/04/2011 Vicarstown – Ardreigh – Levitstown
Motto of the day: I say hello to the tiller
What a lovely sunny morning!

We start before 10 am after phoning the lockkeeper. Joe Moore, who is  normally in Monasterevin, helps out today in this stretch and will bring us through the locks. After some minutes we cross the River Stradbally on the Camac Aqueuct

The water of the Barrow Line is glassy and clear and we move slowly through an aquarium with many fishes.

The surrounding landscape is flat and gives us some broad views.

We reach Lock 26 in Athy and moor there after passing an unusual looking boat. Doesn’t it look like a floating old van?

Joe Moore arrives and brings us down through Lock 26, 27 and 28, which follow in a short distance.

Then we cross the River Barrow to the east shore above the weir which is under the railway bridge. Below the bridge the first lateral canal or cut starts

Some people enjoy this sunny Sunday, walking on the towpath along the cut.  The lifting bridge before Ardreigh Lock is open. We pass two moored boats there. Joe locks us through and we moor for a lunch break at the jetty below.

Some teenagers arrive and jump from the lock wall and gate and swim inside the lock.

In the afternoon we drive further downstream. This is our first real stretch on the second longest river in Ireland down to Levitstown weir, where also some young people are swimming above the weir.

 

Levitstown cut is the longest on the Barrow Navigation with four bridges across.

At one bridge I had to wait because a man let a horse swim under the bridge in our direction. Instead of bringing it to the shore he lets the horse turn and swim the whole way back. ‘Finnery’ is now diagonal in the canal and, with some effort I avoid not getting stuck in the shallows.

​

The lifting bridge above Levitstown Lock is usually down. We arrive there at the same time as Joe, whom we informed of our ongoing. I wait a couple of minutes while he lifts the bridge.

He has told us about a sunken boat above the lock and we drive slowly around it close to a tree at the opposite bank while Joe is walking to the lock and soon he has opened the gates.

While sluicing us through, he tells me that people are fishing on the jetty below where we want to moor. “Do they have the right to block the jetty?” I ask him. Joe walks to them and tells them that a boat will arrive soon. We drive out of the lock after thanking the lockkeeper for his friendly help. The young people at the jetty still have their rods and a keep net in the water but I approach slowly but definitely. They look angry and remove the fishing gear at the last moment. Willi moors the boat. “Sorry for that, but we had a long drive today.” I tell them. One girl shouts: “Can’t you go down to Mageney Bridge; it’s just 3 miles downstream!” I reply: “I’m too tired to go further on.” The two small wooden jetties above the lock are destroyed and blocked by the sunken boat. They are upset. There are some metres below the boat left at the jetty and they also have more than 3 miles down to Mageney for fishing but none of them are fishing during the following hour they stay beside our boat.

When they leave with their car they leave all their rubbish beside and on the jetty. Later I collect a bag of litter, mostly cans. I ask Willi to bring it to the lock with the hope that the lockkeeper will bring it to the refuse collection. Half an hour later a man comes along with his dogs. “Hello, did you collect the litter?” “Yes, I hope that the lockkeeper will dispose the waste.” “I will do that.” We have a chat and Vivian Cummings, who is living in the rebuilt lockkeeper’s house beside, is shaking his head on the uneducated behaviour of the young people. He tells me that yesterday there was also a party at the jetty. I had collected the result of that too. Vivian walks his dogs after telling me that if we need something we should come to his house. Later he comes back with my litter bag and asks us to take a photograph of it together with us. The Kildare Nationalist newspaper published an article about our litter collection on the 19th of April with the headline: “Germans bale us out again!” and the photo.

A small fishing boat arrives and goes through the lock. What traffic!

The evening is quiet and we relax at this beautiful place below the old mill on our stern deck. Bats are hunting in the last day light.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 19.9°C Min 7.4°C Rainfall 0
5 locks, 1 lifting bridge, 18.1 km, 5 hours 8 minutes
Monday 11/04/2011 Levitstown – Clogrennan – Milford
Motto of the day: The lovely Barrow and a surprise meeting

We start around 10. I try to call the next lockkeeper, William O’Neill, but he is not available at the moment. He was informed by me yesterday about our arrival in his area and called back some minutes later.
We follow the soft windings of the Barrow downstream; it is not really wide in this part.

After Levitstown, the course passes under Maganey Bridge which spans the barrow and towpath with 5 arches about halfway through the course (about 1.5 km) before Maganey Lock. The passage is marked at the middle arch.

After reaching the weir and lock at Maganey the lockkeeper brings us through the lock.

Some hundreds of metres further downstream the River Grease joins the Barrow and every winter brings silt into the navigation. Waterways Ireland is dredging there and we carefully drive around.

A light short shower arrives; we will get later a short second one with hail but in the Bestfield cut the blue sky is back.

The part below the lock is silted and we have to go close along the jetty and towpath.

We reach the remains of the Sugar Factory and Carlow itself. The new jetty opposite the Rowing Club is completely silted.

We moor at the Rowing Club, where William, the lockkeeper, surprisingly awaits us and helps with mooring and to fill up water. What a nice service!

After some jokes about the bucklings of our water tube and some unusual usage of duck tape we turn and go on through the Carlow Bridge, which is the lowest on the navigation. Behind the bridge we have to change to the west side of the river above an impressive weir.

William opens the gates and locks us through. We enjoy a nice drive further down to the Clogrennan cut. The marker at the entrance is missing or hidden but the trees are cut so that it cannot be missed. The cut is leading through greenery and woods.

The lockkeeper opens only one gate and I pass the driving test. The cut below is silted up at the jetty, where we moor for our lunch break and relax on deck. As well the mooring above the lock is silted. A boat coming back from the festival in Carlow last weekend passes. This is the third moving boat in two days!

We go on downstream in the afternoon and reach a good flow below the natural shallows at Clogrennan. The river is winding and the views are changing at every bend to surrounding hills, open landscape and nicely wooded river stretches.

We reach Milford and stay very close to the towpath at the island above the bridge to avoid a well known sandbank.

We moor in the cut above the lock. On the other side are six boats of the Heritage Boat Association ‘Magnet’, ‘Isolde’, ‘Aqualegia’ , ‘72M’, ‘Trust Me Scout’ and ‘68M’ moored.

After a while a friendly greeting man walks along. At last the penny drops! We meet Ronny of 72M again. What a nice surprise! We met him first at Garrykennedy in 2009 where he invited me to have a look inside his boat.

Ruine von Milford Mill is a most pleasant spot – it is hard to believe that this tranquil and picturesque place was once a thriving industrial hub. With an excellent power source in the River Barrow and access to the country’s main cities through a network of inland waterways, this was one of Ireland’s most significant industrial sites in former times and was Ireland’s largest milling site in pre-Famine Ireland. e ruins of Milford Mill (1790 – 1965), established by the Alexander Family are nearby.
We relax in the evening. It is be fresh tonight but the heating of the radiators works very well. For atmosphere I light a turf fire in the small stove.

When we have the usual look at the stuffing box with grease at the shaft in the evening we discover that water is leaking into the hull. I phone Phillip of Barrowline and tell him that we are not sinking but he should better have a look before we will start tomorrow. Phillip has another date next morning so he decides to come tonight. I walk to 72M and call Ronny, who has gone to bed a couple of minutes ago. Ronny comes and has a look and he also phones Phillip. Ronnie believes that the problem can be solved with sealing compound. We chat while waiting for Phillip who has some difficulty to find the right way to us in the dark. At last Phillip arrives with sealing compound and adjustable spanner. He fixes the problem with the spanner in less than 10 seconds. We talk together for more than half an hour under a starlight sky.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 13.9°C Min 3.4°C Rainfall 0.5 mm
5 locks, 20 km, 4 hours 7 minutes

Tuesday 12/04/2011 Milford – Bagenalstown – Slyguff
Motto of the day: Becoming addicted to boating on the Barrow

What a lovely sunny morning? Did I say that before? It’s a bit fresh so I light up the fire again. Today we will be a smoking locomotive on the river. Ronny comes along with a present, a self-made candle (She survived the whole journey!) and locks us down.

Waving we leave to the river. After some miles we reach Aughnabinna Island where the sign with the arrow is hidden behind branches. Also Orchard Island and the following island have to be passed to the west.

 Although Rathvindon cut above and below is silted up we have no problems to go through. We are locking down Rathvindon Lock ourselves with Willi doing the racks and gates.

It goes on to Leighlinbridge with the oldest bridge of the navigation. Here we go again across to the east side of the river.

In a short distance we reach the weir before Rathellin cut and when going through the entrance of the cut ‚Finnery‘ slows suddenly down and glides over silt. A kingfisher is flying before the boat in the cut.

At the lock John O’Neill, the lockkeeper, awaits us and brings us down through the lock. We arrange to meet after the lunch break at the lock in Bagenalstown. Here we moor above the lock. We missed the sunken car, maybe it’s removed, but we nearly hit a metal part in the water just beside the bollard in the back which looks like a part of a former machine.

After lunch we go on through the lock which is the deepest single lock on the Barrow with 3.26 m.

The following stretch demands attention again from the skipper. Further downstream the Royal Oak Bridge awaits us with some current and rocks below in the middle. At the following railway bridge there is some silting visible. We keep close to the towpath the whole way, which is sometimes not easy with the current and overhanging branches and bushes, so that again I have a busy but enjoyable job at the tiller. Sometimes it is going too fast to enjoy really the views and the landscape. How different must it be to go the same way back upstream?
Continuing on the Barrow River towards Fenniscourt Weir and Lock, we can already see the „Royal Oak Railwaybridge“ in the distance. Far in the background Mount Leinster with Radio Mast (Position: N52 37.070 W6 46.769) with its imposing 795 meters can be seen very well. Nice view into the landscape. But we immediately concentrate on the bridge passage which may only be passed through the leftmost bridge arch.The passage is well marked

At Fenniscourt there is another long weir. And John awaits us at the lock and helps us to take on water; it’s the last time we take some on this tour.

He also opens the gate so that we can have a closer look at 77M, which has recently been lifted. Here you find further readings and there a piece in German  about lifting of the more than 70 tons hulk.

We say goodbye after the lockkeper has locked us down (again through only one gate I also passed this driving test) and drive downstream with half a boat length distance to the shore because of the rocks along the towpath side of the river. We pass the silted up harbour of South Star Cruisers and reach the long weir of Slyguff, the oldest one on the navigation.

We moor at this quiet spot above the lock. If the derelict lockkeeper house could speak and tell us its stories … instead John arrives surprisingly again and looks after us. We talk while sitting on a beam of a lock gate and enjoy the magic of this remote place, which in former times has seen the canalboats going up and down.

It has needed a day to become acquainted with the river. On the second day we fall in love with it. On the third day we have become addicted to boating on the Barrow.

The swifts are hunting above the water surface and a pair of moorhens near the jetty is busy. It is cloudy in the evening but spring has arrived. We hear a cuckoo. A pheasant is also heard like we did yesterday. Bats are hunting around the boat.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 13.3°C Min 1.7°C Rainfall 0
5 locks, 15.9 km, 4 hours 6 minutes

Wednesday 13/04/2011 Slyguff – Borris
Motto of the day: In the middle

The day starts with soft rain. We decide to have a half day rest and I bake bread. We start in the early afternoon and lock down. The rain has stopped; it is dry despite a little drizzle for short moments. Below Slyguff Lock I choose a course more to the middle of the river for a short stretch and the wind is forming waves on the surface.

After a small island, the weir and entrance to the cut of Upper Ballyellen appears. The mill race entrance in the cut sits in a bend.

After the lock we again have some current to Goresbridge, but all goes well in this shallow part. We pass Goresbridge and a nesting swan.

We reach the weir and the shallow cut of Lower Ballyellen.

After the lock the current increases again. The following river section is rocky and we have to stay close to the towpath but to avoid the rocks at the bank. Some rocks are visible but others are under the water surface and only indicated by swirls. We reach the three weirs at Balltyiglea Lock.

We reach Ballytiglea Lock. The exit of the cut below the lock is a bit silted and I keep close to the bank although considering the drift by the current. This is also a rocky section to Ballytiglea Bridge and in addition to that also a narrow river section.

After the bridge the current decreases. The entrance of the cut at Borris Lock after the weir is narrow, shallow and silted.

We moor above the lock and sun is breaking through the clouds. Willi opens the racks of the upper gate. The lock fills up and Willi closes the racks again. But the water is dropping as the lower gate is leaking.

We spend the evening on deck listening to a bird concert and the babble of water running over the overflow of the cut.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 11.8°C Min 6.1°C Rainfall 4.4 mm
4 locks, 10.4 km, 2 hours 22 minutes
Thursday 14/04/2011 Borris – Balligrane – Clashganna – Lower Tinnahinch
Motto of the day: Adventure on the Barrow and relaxing at the tiller

The day starts cloudy and calm. Patrick Gill, the lockkeeper, arrives for a painting job at the lock. We have some conversation on the navigation and Ireland in these times. He locks us through after a while.

We are back on the river with a strong current at this point but the river slows down after a short part. We pass a wreck of a wooden boat. We are also slowing down and enjoy the beautiful river valley to Balligrane weir and lock.

Here we have a break with a view to the weir. A few blue spells arrive.

We lock down at Balligrane. The cut below is a bit silted but we get no problems.

Again we have some current for a short part but after, the water surface is like a mirror, only some ripples and whirls indicate rocks underwater.

Clashganna weir welcomes us with some kayakers on it. We have a longer break above the lock and walk around.

Willi also walks up the hill and take some photos from there. The kayakers have a lunch break at the lock before going downstream.

The lockkeeper arrives and shakes his head as well as the kayakers had done when discovering a fire place close to the lock and a lot of rubbish around and partly burned in it. “They should pay a lot of money for burning the plastic rubbish there,” said one kayaker. The lockkeeper leaves but is quickly back with bags, tools, soil and seed. He collects litter (also blankets and clothes), removes ash and sows new grass.

The kayakers launch behind ‘Finnery’ and we watch them going over Clashganna weir.

Patrick brings us down and opens only the left lower lock gate. I drive slowly out of the lock and reverse then to go straight close the towpath and jetty side to avoid a silted bank on the right below the lock in the cut. The mill stream brings a lot of sediments every winter and the dredger only reaches half way in the cut. You can see the colour of the sand at the bank on the photos taken from on the hill (previous page). These are remains of the dredging.

It takes only some minutes to the entrance of Ballykennan cut. Signs mark the entrance well. The trees have been trimmed. The ruin of Clohastia Castle can be seen through the trees as they are still not completely green.

We meet the kayakers again and wait some minutes to let them launch at the mooring, where we tie up.

I had yesterday informed Trevor Cordy, the lockkeeper that we will arrive this afternoon at the first of his locks. I phone him now again. We are in no hurry and relax. I hear a motorboat and suddenly a loud bang. We run down and see a boat grounded on the opposite side of the river where it should not have been. They get off the rock with a boat hook. I’m wondering that they have no hole in the hull, so loud was the bang. They turn and drive back downstream. That was the fourth moving boat we saw. On the whole six days we saw five, one of them grounded on a rock, what a quote!

The lockkeeper arrives and brings us down through the double lock. These two chambers are the narrowest of the navigation with a fall of together 3.4 m. Across the lower chamber is a swing bridge, but usually open.

​After the initially strong current when leaving the cut the river slowed and we enjoy a slow drive to Graiguenamanagh.

A boat is coming upstream (that is the fifth underway). I circle above the bridge but there is no mooring free. After going through the bridge I turn again above the weir which is not an easy thing because of the current and the drift, we are going again through the bridge and after another turn we decide to go to the lock.

​But when coming closer to Upper Tinnahinch Lock I notice a sunken boat in the navigation. It is not visible so I don’t know if there is enough space between it and the weir. I decide to stop at a free space at the quay wall. We walk down and have a closer look. Then we untie and drive carefully to the lock. The mooring on both sides of the Upper Tinnahinch Lock is silted and the propeller swirls up mud. After going down we pass a breeding swan.

Originally we had planned to stay overnight in Graiguenamanagh but for several reasons we decided to go further on. That wasn’t a wrong decision! We drive slowly downstream in the valley surrounded by hills and the view is reflected in the water.

The cut to the Lower Tinnahinch Lock is shallow. It seems to us that Waterways Ireland has done a lot of dredging on the northern part of the Barrow Navigation but that the dredger had not seen this southern part for a long time. We are told that the dredger, which we had seen in Carlow will come down during the next weeks

We moor above the lock and enjoy a quiet evening with great views while sitting on the deck and walking around. In the last of the daylight we watch bats hunting around the boat.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 13.6°C Min 9 °C 2 Rainfall 1.3 mm (Must have been a shower during the last night)
4 locks + 1 double lock, 11.4 km, 4 hours 44 minutes

Friday 14/04/2011 Lower Tinnahinch Lock – Carriglead – St. Mullins Weir – St.Mullins Lock
Motto of the day: A sunny last day on the Barrow

Our last day on the Barrow starts with sunny spells. A dog howls down in the valley and his heart-touching sound is echoed by a hill. I cannot spot him but after a while he stops. Despite that, the place is peaceful and we relax in the morning.

Later the lockkeeper arrives and also a dog. This poor creature has wounds and looks like he has escaped from being stuck. The lockkeeper has a new friend as he shared his lunch with him. I also bring him some food. While talking with Trevor I see a kingfisher flying downstream on the Barrow. After locking down we see a second runaway, a Golden Retriever on the towpath.

We drive slowly down the river that has slight current.

We reach the shallow cut to Carriglead Lock, where we moor inside the lock again for a longer break. A WI engineer is measuring the gate beams; they want to cut them soon. So, these photos are now history. Carriglead Lock is the oldest lock on the Navigation with one of the prettiest lockkeeper house. Setting and scenery are great with a view to the top of Mount Brandon.

​

After locking down with the nice help of the lockkeeper I keep close to the towpath side avoiding rocks in the river and two unprotected weirs which are underwater. This is our last leg on the River Barrow.

​We moor above the weir of St. Mullins and walk to the lock. The lockkeeper lifts the bridge and we have a look at the mooring situation. Three boats have sunk and there is only one space on the left side free. We have to unload our luggage so it is no option to leave the boat at the waiting jetty opposite above the lock (we got permission from Waterways Ireland to moor there if no space is available).

​​We walk back and drive the last metres slowly in the cut.

​We fit only into the left mooring space after rafting three other boats with the friendly help of Trevor. Two of the boats behind us seem not to have moved for years. A fourth boat which we also try to move lies on the bottom. But finally we fit in.

We relax in the mild afternoon and have a look at ‚Safe Return‘ built 1916 in Baltimore and her Lister engine.

At high tide we walk to St. Mullins and have a look at the steamer hole and
some old ruins.

​Later back on the boat we pack our luggage. We will return tomorrow to Vicarstown by taxi. If you ever need a taxi in the Carlow area I can recommend Erin Taxi.

Oak Park (Carlow) Max 15.0°C Min 8.5°C Rainfall 0.4 mm (Must have been a local shower in Carlow)
2 locks, 4.3 km, 2 hours 20 minutes

Thanks to all the very friendly lockkeepers who worked the locks for us! Without their help we would have run out of water and could have never disposed of our waste!

Thanks to Barrowline for their help and the well maintained narrowboat! The safety equipment is exceptional. The boat is fitted with three alarms: a gas alarm, a fire alarm and a carbon monoxide alarm. None of the boats we had ever hired on Shannon and Erne had even one alarm!

The River Barrow is an ideal mixture of boating adventure with a special thrill and relaxing in beautiful scenery and landscapes. The beauty of the Barrow Navigation is totally underestimated! And our reservations about a narrowboat were unfounded. We felt well and truly at home on ‘Finnery’.

What have we missed?

• • Ah yes, to visit the villages and towns along the waterway. But that is a side of this waterway we are not primarily interested in. We love more to enjoy the nature and the silence away from busy streets, shops and pubs.
  • We had also not enough time for walking through the forests and on the hills.
  • We have also missed the beautiful stretch from St. Mullins to New Ross and the other two of the three sisters. Hire boats are not allowed to go on tidal waters below St. Mullins.
  • We also missed doing some kayaking.
  • We missed ducks. We only met one pair. The people in the Barrow area must love shooting them.

Summary

• • We spent nearly 23 hours with boating on the Barrow and drove 79.4km (GPS data) in six days.
  • Max speed: 10km
  • Lifting bridges, which had to be lifted by lockkeepers: 2
  • Locks: 25, 17 managed by lockkeepers, 1 by Ronny and 7 by Willi
  • We met five moving boats, one of them grounded.
  • Longest cut: Levitstown
  • Oldest bridge: Leighlinbridge (one of the oldest stone bridges in Europe)
  • Deepest single lock on the Barrow Navigation: Bagenalstown 3.26 m (ok, the deepest on the whole trip was No. 26 on the Barrow Line with 3.43 m)
  • Deepest and narrowest lock (double): Ballykennan 3.40 m
  • Oldest Weir: Slyguff
  • Oldest Lock: Carriglead

What did I forget to mention?

• • We met Richard beside the motorway on the warm and sunny day when we arrived. He helped us very much and had picked up our two boxes with boating equipment and brought them to the meeting point. Thanks again!
  • I also forgot to mention the many cuckoos, we heard as well as the pheasants; the fishes, we saw jumping; the fragrance of spring and the many butterflies along the river.