BSW2 23. Safe houses/Upper Eanymore

Speakers: Patsy McNulty and a local farmerFrom the Bluestack Way Part 2 playlist.This bridge is the starting point for a challenging piece of canoeing as far as Inver.  According to Neil Fox, if the rain is dancing on your windscreen, the Eanymore is one of the best river trips in Donegal. However, it is only worth considering during a heavy consistent downpour. If you can see a small rock in the centre of the river 20 metre downstream of Letterbarra Bridge, the level is too low.  The first 1.5km of the trip is fast flowing Grade II, although some good playholes can be found if the flood is high enough. The real fun starts upon reaching a concrete footbridge - from here to Drumagraa Bridge and beyond for a kilometre the rapids come at a constant Grade III, and in high water some grade IV. There are some excellent surf waves and playholes, but the breakouts are small and it is all too easy to let these opportunities slip by as the water races down the valley. Things ease off a little as the Eany meanders the remaining 2 km to the take out.  Many people have passed through these parts over the years - in our audio piece, we hear of one such traveller who came at a perilous moment in the nation's history back in the 1920s.