Inis Saimer Island
The Views
On Inis Saimer you are immersed in visions
of salmon leaping, herons fishing, radiant sunsets,
seatrout slicing the surface in pursuit of their quarry.
The island’s shores provide prime seatrout angling
A generous balcony/deck connects to the eastern gable and overlooks the Erne River,
the Mall Quay, and
the town of Ballyshannon.
The large window of the function room in the western gable
commands a view over the spectacular vista of the Erne Estuary,
with the high dunes of Finner and the surf of Donegal Bay.
No more on pleasant evenings we’ll saunter down the Mall,
Where the trout is rising to the fly, the salmon to the fall,
The boat comes straining on her net, and heavily she creeps,
Cast off, cast off!—she feels the oars, and to her berth she sweeps;
Now stem and stern keep hauling, and gathering up the clew,
Till a silver wave of salmon rolls in among the crew,
Then they may sit, and have their joke, and set their pipes to burn;
Adieu to Ballyshannon, and the winding banks of Erne!
From 'Adieu to Ballyshannon' by William Allingham