The Erne end to end: Bellanaleck to Belleek and back

After the handover at The Moorings, an hour's cruise downstream takes you to Enniskillen, the county town built on an island between the two loughs. Tie up at the Broadmeadow public jetties in the centre, which have toilets and showers; the hotel jetties you pass at Killyhevlin are for its guests. The castle on the riverside, begun by the Maguires in the 15th century, has a Watergate with twin turrets from about 1609 and holds two museums on one ticket. In the evening walk to Blakes of the Hollow, a listed Victorian pub; the Blueway zone by the Erneside footbridge has kayaking and paddleboarding. Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett both went to school at Portora, just downstream.

Through Portora Lock, normally open, and out onto the lough. Stop first at Devenish Island: St Molaise's 6th-century monastery left a round tower about 25 m tall, a hilltop priory and an intricately carved cross, and entry is free. From here the Broad Lough opens out. If the wind gets up, Manor House Marine at Killadeas welcomes visiting boats when it has room (first night free; ring ahead and avoid Friday and Saturday afternoons, when its hire fleet changes over). Otherwise carry on up the east shore to the public forest jetty at Castle Archdale, a country park on the site of a wartime flying-boat base, with forest trails and a small war museum in the old courtyard.

First cross the bay to White Island, where eight carved figures of the 9th or 10th century line the wall of a ruined church; a seasonal ferry runs from Castle Archdale, but you can use the island jetty yourself. Then follow the shore north to the mouth of the Kesh River and wind about a mile up it, under the trees, to the public marina below the road bridge in Kesh, which has toilets, showers and fresh water. The village has shops, a pharmacy and pubs. Walk 3.5 km to the ruin of Crevenish Castle, or go back to the lough shore for the sandy beach at Muckross, busy with families and water-skiers at weekends.

West along the north side of the lough. Boa Island, the largest in Lough Erne, stretches about 8 km beside you, joined to the mainland by road bridges; its Irish name links it to Badhbh, the war goddess. There is no public jetty on Boa, so stop at Lusty Beg, the private island resort next to it: ring ahead to dock and dine (+44 28 6863 3300), then take the resort's free ferry across to Caldragh graveyard and its two carved figures. Further west the lough narrows at Rosscor Viaduct, for which we have found no published clearance, so keep to the marked passage and go slowly. Belleek's public marina has toilets, showers and a pump-out, but no shore power.

Give the morning to Belleek Pottery, Ireland's oldest, open to visitors since 1857, with a free visitor centre, workshop tours every twenty minutes for a small charge and a tea room over the river. One of its founders, John Caldwell Bloomfield, owned the estate where you spend tonight. Castle Caldwell is about 200 hectares of old woodland on two promontories near the west end of the lough, a bird sanctuary watched over with the RSPB. Three waymarked trails wind through the trees, with bluebells in May; the castle ruin is closed for safety, and at the entrance the Fiddler's Stone remembers a musician drowned in the lough in 1770. There are no shops, so buy supplies in Belleek.

Cross to the south shore, which is open water: wait for a calm spell if you need to. Under the 300 m limestone Cliffs of Magho, the Magho jetty has toilets at its car park and a steep 2.5 km path up through the woods to the viewpoint, from where you can see the whole lough and, on a clear day, Slieve League and the Atlantic. The cliffs face north-north-west across the open water, so only stop in a light wind. Then follow the shore east to Tully Castle, whose jetty sits below the walls of Sir John Hume's plantation house of the early 17th century, burned in 1641. The gardens and the cottage exhibition are free.

The longest day, about four hours, so leave in the morning. Inishmacsaint is worth a short stop for its ruined church and tall stone cross, reached only from the jetty. Then head back past Devenish to Portora Lock and up the river into Enniskillen. The Round O jetty in Brook Park has a pump-out and shore power, and Morelli's ice cream beside it, so it is the place to empty the tank and take a last break before the final hour upstream to Bellanaleck. Hire crews spend the last night at the base; the public moorings next to it have toilets and showers, and The Moorings Restaurant is on the shore.