Royal Canal Walk: Dublin - Westmeath (77km)

Dionysus

I'm struggling to find much about this online.

So far, I'm going to leave Ashtown in Dublin next Wednesday, and walk to Mullingar town, which is apparently the end of the way. The boating ends in Abbeyshrule in Co Longford, according to this link.

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Most of the websites which I'm coming across talk about the Royal Canal as a waterway:

1. http://www.waterwaysireland.org/royalcanal/

2. http://www.iwai.ie/maps/royal/index.html

3. http://www.goireland.com/longford/royal-canal-attraction-canals-id13244.htm

4. http://www.discoverireland.com/us/ireland-things-to-see-and-do/listings/product/?fid=FI_46635

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So far, I've got the following links on the Royal Canal as a walkway:

1. http://www.colours-of-the-rainbow.com/the-royal-canal.html

2. http://goireland.about.com/od/dublintours/qt/royal_canal.htm


The only guide I've found is this:

1. http://tcs.ireland.ie/dataland/TCSAttachments/317_TheRoyalCanalWay.pdf

This guide could be more specific. For instance, Section 3 is 'About 0.5km track, remainder grassy track.' How long is Section 3, therefore?

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I want to walk to and from Mullingar in four days: 40km per day. How far is Enfield/An Bóthar Buí from Ashtown on the Canal Walk? My question therefore is:

1. Does anybody have any ideas for accommodation for the three nights in question? (taking into account that my stops will have to be @ 40km between each other.).

Thanks

Dionysus

OK. This, if accurate, is a much more helpful guide to walking the Royal Canal Walk/An Slí Ríoga:


http://homepage.eircom.net/~snapz/canalinf.htm

Still trying to figure out accommodation options.

Cookie_Monster

40km a day is A LOT

If you are used to it, fair enough but if not allow at least one more day. Even though it is pretty much flat along the canal, I'd be looking at more 30km

time lord

Any week now the first boat in a long time will navigate this canal the whole way to the Shannon. There is b&b about 10-11km before Mullingar if your knackered in the form of a pub come b&b called Mary Lynches. You cant missit. I would just bring a pop up tent and move on early in the morning. Plenty of good safe spots along the way. Near Killucan there are more pubs on the canal (Nanny Quinns) and fresh drinking water too. It follows the railway line a lot also. There never too far from each other..

Dionysus

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

40km a day is A LOT

If you are used to it, fair enough but if not allow at least one more day. Even though it is pretty much flat along the canal, I'd be looking at more 30km

Yeah, you're right. I'll do a 20km walk the day before and then, maybe, do 32km the first day of the canal which according to the link in my second post should bring me to Kilcock. And then increase the distance the next day. Still haven't found accommodation so made a post over on the Kildare forum for suggestions.

Dionysus

time lord wrote: »

Any week now the first boat in a long time will navigate this canal the whole way to the Shannon. There is b&b about 10-11km before Mullingar if your knackered in the form of a pub come b&b called Mary Lynches. You cant missit. I would just bring a pop up tent and move on early in the morning. Plenty of good safe spots along the way. Near Killucan there are more pubs on the canal (Nanny Quinns) and fresh drinking water too. It follows the railway line a lot also. There never too far from each other..

Excellent post, time lord. I was just thinking of camping although if it rains I'd like the option of knowing where the B&Bs are. Will definitely be calling into those two pubs (which I never heard of before). Thanks a million.

Dionysus

Left Ashtown, Dublin last Wednesday morning at 9.20 and arrived 1.5km on the western side of An Bóthar Buí/Enfield in Meath at 20.00 that night. There is, for anybody doing it in future, a camp site in Enfield with shower and toilets. It had not been signposted when we arrived there (look for the RCAG/Royal Canal Amenity Group sign).

Very N.B.: to use showers and toilets along the canal you must purchase a "swipe card" from Waterways Ireland. See here for more info, particularly this: 'Charges: Swipe Cards are available which operate the locks automatically. The cards can be bought for €6.35 (10 units) and €12.70 (20 units) and €22.80 (40 units) from the Waterway patrollers and at the 1st Lock and 16th Lock. The charges are as follows; Lock Passage 1 unit, Shower 2 units, Laundry-Washing Machine and Drier 5 units each, Chemical Toilet 2 units, Pump-out 10 units. Public toilet free. A full list of Smart Card suppliers is here.'


We slept in tents by the river. For night 2 we walked to Hill of Down, also in Meath, passing by the alluring Fureys pub in Moyvalley, Kildare. In Hill of Down Moran's pub was very attractive as it had a great garden, sloping into the canal, with three benches outside on a glorious day next to a late eighteenth-century bridge. The pub itself, which is combined with the oifig an phoist and a shop, appears not to have been renovated since about 1972. But the owners were absolutely lovely and very accommodating. 'Sound' as they'd say.

We were the only people to camp there along the canal next to those benches, despite it being gorgeous. Before we camped in our tents that night, we left our bags in Moran's, walked on to Nanny Quinn's in Thomastown, killucan in Westmeath and turned around for Dublin again. Stayed in our tents in Hill of Down that night. The next day we walked to Kilcock and went to a great trad seisiún (11 musicians) in Hugh Murphy's pub there before going back to our tents in a local field. Great night.

Leaving Kilcock at 9.25am on Saturday, we arrived back in Dublin at 2.30pm that day.

We met a mere four boats on the entire canal. And we're going to complete the canal in a couple of months by starting in Clondra (Cloondra) in Longford next to the river Shannon and walking back to Dublin. That way we can relax for a couple of nights in Hill of Down and Fureys of Moyvalley when we've finished.

Edit: just for clarification the Royal Canal goes as far as Clondra/Cloondra in Co. Longford and as such is more than the 77km (to Mullingar) mentioned in the OP.

Cookie_Monster

how did you find the distances?