The Auld Triangle

THE AULD TRIANGLE - The Royal Canal has been disused and derelict for over half a century and it has now been painstakingly restored. Dick Warner is going to travel on it by barge from from the Liffey to the Shannon. It was 1992 when he first did something like this - travelling from the Liffey to the Shannon on the Grand Canal. Between then and now economic boom and bust has totally transformed Dublin's docklands. Why is he doing this? Because the passing years have failed to quench his thirst for exploration. Unexplored territory doesn't exist any more - but it's not necessary for exploration. And so he joins his boat, which is called Rambler, and is owned and crewed by members of the Connon family - John Junior, Evan and Johnnie Senior. There is another purpose to this journey. Rambler started life, in 1878, as a steam tug on the Royal Canal. The closure of the canal effectively marooned her because the other route west, the Grand Canal, has smaller locks and she won't fit into them. But now, at last, she has a chance to escape and to meet up with her long-lost sister, Chang Sha, and the other heritage boats on the Shannon. Dick and Rambler are searching for missing relatives. It's going to be a difficult journey. Rambler is very large and not very manoeuvrable - and she demonstrates this right from the start crashing into the wall of sea lock on her first day. Rambler needs water over a metre in depth to stay afloat. And the first day takes over half a day to travel just one kilometre. This canal was built for horse-drawn boats. Unfortunately we haven't got a horse - but to make it as far as Croke Park we have to resort to a modern day equivalent. Dick meets Ulick O'Connor on the banks of the Royal Canal at Mountjoy Prison and Ulick recounts humorous anecdotes and stories from Brendan Behan's colourful life and explains the significance of the 'Auld Triangle' that still hangs in the main hall of Mountjoy prison. In Drumcondra, Dick takes his electri