Barge In The Canal Expected To Bid Farewell To Tralee Soon

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The beautiful view that surrounds the barge in Blennerville. Photo by Gavin O'Connor.

The beautiful view that surrounds the barge in Blennerville. Photo by Gavin O’Connor.

A BARGE which has become been a bit of a local landmark, could be set to leave us very soon.

Traleetoday.ie has been in contact with the owner of barge moored in the canal who says plans for it to set sail out of Tralee Bay for Galway Bay are firmly in place.

July 2 is the date set for the well known barge’s farewell according to its owner, Joe Goodfellow.

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“The old girl is 111 years old now and needs some TLC,” said Joe. “As a final tribute to her, we intend to re-install the masts, rigging, and sails and bring her back to her former glory as a sailing clipper from years gone by,” said Joe.

“We are aiming for July 2 to sail her back to Galway to hopefully her final resting place,” he added.

Last year we reported the barge would leave that summer, but due to extensive repair work which had to be done to make it seaworthy, the window of time allocated to depart had closed.

“By the time we had her ready to leave, winter was fast approaching with very few safe sailing opportunities,” he said. “It is very difficult to get the right tide, fair weather, and crew all together at the same time. It’s a bit of a juggling act.  Anyway, hopefully the gods will be smiling and let us go on the July 2 high tide,” said Joe.

So then, there’ll be no more striking photographs of the barge in the foreground with the stunning backdrops of Tralee Bay and the Sliabh Mish mountains in the background.

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