The Three Sisters: The Three Sisters Rivers refers to a group of three rivers that run through the South East of Ireland. The Rivers are named The Suir, The Barrow and The Nore. Coincidentally, they all rise relatively near each other in this part of the country which is not renowned for lofty hills or even mountains of notable height and they all meet again at the estuary between New Ross and Waterford Harbour. They lie in area that should not be missed if travelling in Ireland. Along each river are towns that are worthy of a visit for various reasons including historical and architectural interest.
The River Barrow, (Irish: An Bhearú) is a river in Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest of the three rivers. At 192 km (120 mi), it is the second-longest river in Ireland, behind the River Shannon. The catchment area of the River Barrow is 3,067 km2 before the River Nore joins it a little over 20 km before its mouth. The river's long term average flow rate, again before it's joined by River Nore, is 37.4 cubic metres per second. At the merger with River Suir its catchment area is ca. 5,500 km2 and its discharge over 80 m3/s.
The source of the River Barrow is at Glenbarrow in the Slieve Bloom Mountains in County Laois. Among the towns that the River Barrow passes through on its way to the sea in Waterford are Portarlington, Monasterevin, Athy, Carlow/Graiguecullen, Muine Bheag (aka Bagenalstown,) Graiguenamanagh, and New Ross. The river also forms a natural border between, on its right bank, counties Kilkenny and Waterford and, on its left bank, counties Carlow and Wexford.
The River Barrow forms a major part of Ireland's inland waterways network, providing an inland link between the port of Waterford and the Grand Canal, which in turn connects Dublin to the River Shannon. There are three sections to the navigation: The tidal River Barrow, which together with the tidal reaches of its tributaries the River Suir and River Nore constitute 88 km (55 miles) of tidal river navigation. The non-tidal river navigation featuring 23 locks, continuing 66 km (41 miles) inland from the tidal limit of the Barrow at St Mullin's to Athy. The Barrow Line of the Grand Canal connects to the river at Athy and continues northwards a further 45 km (28 miles) with 9 locks, connecting to the mainline of the Grand Canal at Lowtown.
The Cache: The cache is placed as near as one can drive to the source of the river. Over the hill is the glen of Glenbarrow where the a number of excellent walks can be taken along the young river as it turns from mountain stream into a proper river. There are a number of caches there also. This cache is quite accessible from the road but be careful in wet conditions as the area is blanket bog. Even when placing in the height of summer I still managed to sink my foot into soggy peat up to my ankle, so proper footware is required. Further downstream is a cache called Three Sisters - Three Sisters - River Barrow (An Bhearú) where you can see the progress of the river as it nears the sea.