new royal canal route for cycle touring ?

feck sake lads

i seen on the news tonight they have opened the royal canal from dublin to the shannon ,would it be possible to cycle the entire route.
could make a great cycle touring holiday.

urtooky

i would be very interested in this too

Milan Cobian

I did Dublin to Mullingar last week, by the canal from Phibsboro to Hill of Down (canal segment of about 55km).
The tow paths are cleared, but it's by no means a dedicated cycle path. It's tarmac until Ashtown, then mud until Castleknock (the only bad mud on the trip - necesitating cleaning the bike at Castleknock before continuing) then a mixture of gravel tracks and grass thereafter.
For the most part the grass is short, the only long grass was between Kilcock and Enfield.
I found the grass cut my speed to about 50-70% of normal tarmac speed, depending on its length.
It's very scenic and virtually deserted. If you're in no great hurry, it's very pleasant way to cross the country. The Royal has an advantage over the Grand in that it passes through a lot more towns, so more food/accommodation options.
The cycling is flat and easy, albeit slow and with a lot of lifting the bike over gates.
I believe it's passable all the way to the Shannon. I only gave up at Hill of Down (near Kinnegad) as I had an hour to cover the last 25km to catch a train from Mullingar back to Dublin, which wasn't gonna work at canal speeds.

View

It's a great idea. The canal paths plus the old railways are obvious routes to use for cycle touring or walking.

Personally, I'd like to see a cycle path circling (and over-looking) Lough Ree so you can have a nice easy - but scenic - cycle around it with stop offs at some of the villlages, pubs and harbours on the way. A nice relaxing way to spend a couple of days.

alentejo

Cycled the grand canal from Harolds Cross to Naas during the week.
The grass can be tough going at times especially if wet.

Was annoyed that some company seems to be putting a telecommunications duct along the route which is leaving the track very muddy in places (and not suitable for cycling), The Naas branch of the canal was closed this week.

Am going to cycle the whole route of the canal over the next year, however i might wait until summer to do some of the more "grassy" bits.

From harolds cross to Sallins was 2.5 hours. enjoyable. very nice.

feck sake lads

emm the wet grassy bit's seem like hard work,the Newry canal is great,, nice tarmac all the way to Portadown .i would love to cycle /camp the whole length from Dublin to the Shannon would only be a fantastic route if it were cycle able .

empirix

cycled to Kilcock the other day on a mtb(high spec one), the only part that annoyed me was from ashtown to i think coolmine, part of this was a bit of a disaster, muddy etc but it was ok on a mtb, there is lifting involved over the gates as stated but its all good, no big deal, some parts you kinda have to cycle carefully as there are big drops but other than that i was zipping along, its quite nice and is deserted, from Broombridge to the city you will have a few heads about but they were grand and kept to themselves apart from the "nice bike mister" shouts from the younger crews! i wouldn't imagine they would be around in the morning/early afternoon!

Patrick Hunt

It is totally Possible to cycle the entire Royal Canal. A friend and myself cycled the entire thing in 2 days in september 2010 as part of a 12 day trip up through the lakes to Enniskillen , Donegal, Malin Beg the rosses tory island and Malin Head then finishing up in Derry. Its a 1000 k trip but was the best holiday. The canal section aint easy.In their wisdom Waterways Ireland have put in lots and lots of stiles that are not wide enough for a bike to get through. We ended up having to unload and re- load the paniers atleast 40 times. Passing the bikes over the fences as we went, Would recommend the Ortlieb quick release panniers. The terraine is a mix of gravel grass and peat but passable. I cycled on a trek t300 navigator and the other guy had a cube bike with thin tyres. Great way to get to the west

Planet X

feck sake lads wrote: »

emm the wet grassy bit's seem like hard work,the Newry canal is great,, nice tarmac all the way to Portadown .i would love to cycle /camp the whole length from Dublin to the Shannon would only be a fantastic route if it were cycle able .

Surely you can do a tarmac detour around the bad bits and get a few more miles in, provisions also?

feck sake lads

yes i suppose it would but is it possible,what a fantastic tour this would be if it were tarmacked all the way;)

Miss F.

Dont tarmac these routes. As they exist they are a nice mix of tarmac, gravel and grass with some muddy bits which only add to the challenge and variety. All tarmac cycling? You might as well do some road cycling! I did the whole grand canal from Ringsend to Shannon Harbour this week and the variety of surfaces were what really made this a fantastic experience. Get a mountain bike, not more tar.

feck sake lads

Miss F. wrote: »

Dont tarmac these routes. As they exist they are a nice mix of tarmac, gravel and grass with some muddy bits which only add to the challenge and variety. All tarmac cycling? You might as well do some road cycling! I did the whole grand canal from Ringsend to Shannon Harbour this week and the variety of surfaces were what really made this a fantastic experience. Get a mountain bike, not more tar.

100% disagree with you on this;) mind you this will never happen in my life time more's the pity buy would it not be only fantastic to take your kids (grandchildren in my case on a lovely safe route, of course it would you know it make sense.;)

alexanderomahon

Miss F. wrote: »

Dont tarmac these routes. As they exist they are a nice mix of tarmac, gravel and grass with some muddy bits which only add to the challenge and variety. All tarmac cycling? You might as well do some road cycling! I did the whole grand canal from Ringsend to Shannon Harbour this week and the variety of surfaces were what really made this a fantastic experience. Get a mountain bike, not more tar.

why not have both. a path of tarmac and dirt/grass beside it. People can choose what they wish to use. Win win

Sean02

The problem with making either the Royal or Grand usable for commuting ,leisure or cycle tourism is that Waterways Ireland see it as the preserve of fishing sport and walking amenity. And as far as cycle tourism and bike commuting goes that will happen when a multimillion project can be devised. Finally what we really need is a effective cycle pressure group like the CTC in UK.

nilhg

alexanderomahon wrote: »

why not have both. a path of tarmac and dirt/grass beside it. People can choose what they wish to use. Win win

There are usually towpaths each side, often one can even be public road with a bit of imagination it should be possible to please most folk.

Sean02 wrote: »

The problem with making either the Royal or Grand usable for commuting ,leisure or cycle tourism is that Waterways Ireland see it as the preserve of fishing sport and walking amenity. And as far as cycle tourism and bike commuting goes that will happen when a multimillion project can be devised. Finally what we really need is a effective cycle pressure group like the CTC in UK.

I think local communities could drive quite a bit of change here, when you see the success of the cycleway initiative in Mayo it could get lots of people thinking.

I know that in my area here in West Kildare/ East Offaly there is lots of potential for a fine cycling/leisure facility if you were to combine the Barrow and Shannon lines of the Grand Canal with access through some Coillte and Bord Na Mona lands (all in public ownership).

Sean02

Good advise Nilg. As far as the Royal is concerned This happened between Clonsilla and Porterstown bridges about 10 years ago . A small group under FF scrapped CE scheme plus mini JCB did a fantastic job clearing,widening levelling and gritting (much better and cheaper than tarmac) this section. Its still the most senic section alas is overgrown and narrow again through lack of maintenance . Old OPW did similar between Pikes bridge and maynooth about 15 years ago because they have a work scheme in Maynooth this section is fine. Somene said recently that improvments were made around Castleknock ,Untrue and it still as dangereous as ever..