Blackrock Park

Macy0161

Hi,

Could anyone tell me whether there is a cycle path through Blackrock park and, if so, does it go the whole way through the park to Blackrock?

I've noticed a few cyclists go into the park on my evening commute, and while I haven't had any issues as of yet, I wondered could I dive in there (at Booterstown) and skip Frascati Road totally and come out at the bottom of Templehill?

Planet X

Far end of the Park you'll come out at the Dart Station, you can continue along the coast a bit (Idrone Terrace) and come out at the back of Blackrock Church, a few hundred metres from Temple Hill.

Cookie_Monster

http://goo.gl/maps/4MXge

cycle route, though the entry off the Rock rd is not perfect...

crisco10

Technically you are supposed to dismount on the last stretch out of the park to the Dart station. It's a narrow walkway shared with pedestrians.

daragh_

Lane down by the Train Station is a bottleneck. You can't cycle it because of oncoming pedestrians. It's too narrow and just plain rude. Saying that I've seen plenty of people do it.

You can take the bike path back up onto the main road but that plonks you out just at the lights before Frascati.

If you don't like cycling on the main road why not turn left at the lights and go through the village. That will bring you back onto the road up to Temple Hill.

Macy0161

I haven't had any issues on the road, the road surface is pretty crap outbound between the college and the clinic, but apart from that so far so good. A previous thread was advising against using the bypass and suggested going through the village, but a couple of weeks in I haven't really seen the need to avoid it - maybe on dark, wet and windy evening things are different though.

Really it was because I've seen a few people head in to the park at the Booterstown Avenue junction lights and wondered was I missing a trick. The bloke I saw heading that way yesterday cycled up the footpath from the Merrion Gates, so I doubt he was too arsed about whether it was a cycle route/ narrow lanes/ on coming pedestrians so I thought I'd ask first. Not sure it'd be much benefit if there's a dismount - is that section long? I'll give it a try one of the evenings, and the route down through the village to and see which one I feel most comfortable with.

Skrynesaver

Macy0161 wrote: »

Not sure it'd be much benefit if there's a dismount - is that section long? I'll give it a try one of the evenings, and the route down through the village to and see which one I feel most comfortable with.

For me the major plus is that it avoids the broken up paving outside Linders, the dismount section is quite short (under 50 m) and personally I drop down to pedestrian pace but don't dismount as I take up more room beside my bike than on it.

Snako

Outside Frascatti can be pretty dangerous, bus stop, pedestrian crossing and slip lane after pedestrian crossing have all provided me with hairy moments over the years. keep your head screwed on there

Macy0161

Just to say I went that route on Tuesday. Through the initial bit of the park it was very much shared space with buggies and dog walkers. After that it is was good up to the lane - wasn't expecting it to be quite so narrow! Slowed right down and stayed on the bike - there'd barely be enough room for me to walk beside the bike tbh. So I just stopped to let pedestrians pass me and stood over the frame.

I'll probably try it for a few days - Surface is much better than the road, and it's more pleasant cycling through the green spaces. However, it could get messy if that lane gets busy (no idea if it does). However, the cycle lights at the Seapoint Ave junction take forever to change, and it's tight to filter up to the Temple Hill junction when the two lanes are full of cars. Also, there was road works at the end of Idrone Terrace (could've been a once off).