Set sail for Asgard Cove on banks of Shannon, you’ll get life off to a flyer

WITH a site on the banks of the Shannon estuary, Asgard Cove in Limerick’s Loughill West is a place to come home to, by car, ferry, boat or by seaplane — the nearby village of Foynes made its name for just such an aircraft.

In fact, the 1939 to 1945 wartime era was a high point for Foynes, when it was the fulcrum point for North Atlantic crossing celebrities and VIPs. The likes of Bob Hope, Gracie Fields and Humphrey Bogart used the likes of the Boeing B314 Yankee Clipper, which had its own honeymoon suite, to make the crossing and splash down on the Shannon.

Chef Joe Sheridan even invented the Irish coffee here in Foynes, in 1943, to help thaw out passengers after the flights and give them what, in effect, became a first taste of Ireland.