cycling to ul. Is it safe?

RachealB

Hi
Cycling to ul and have decided best and quickest way is the canal bank way in to UL?. Does anyone know if it is safe??. Female cyclist.

Chimaera

In daylight it's usually fine. At night, it can be iffy depending on where you're travelling to/from. What part of the city are you travelling from?

wnolan1992

I couldn't tell you whether there's ever any trouble there in terms of, shall we say, undesirables, but once the evenings start to get shorter it's dodgy enough just because there's shockingly poor lighting in parts.

During daylight it's safe out, there's nearly always a nice few people going both ways.

RachealB

Hi Thank you so much. Will give a try next week. Just dont like cycling on main roads. Not enough experience.

Risteard

Depending where you're coming from there are cycle lanes next to the main road on the way out to UL.

Beargrylls01

I wouldn't recommend cycling through a dark lane in the safest city in the world. Common sense would dictate it not to be a good idea.

doneanddusted

While studying at UL, I, a female student, cycled to and from UL though never too late at night. I imagine the canal route has a lot of car traffic running alongside it so you should be alright if anyone decided to hassle you. I lived out past ALDI/kilmurray lodge roundabout and had a fairly easy route.

I thought the lighting was very bad around UL especially coming in the main avenue or turning up towards the Kilmurray Lodge. Pretty bad for a place with bike lanes and a university that places so much publicity around cycling.

Hope that helps

YFlyer

The canal route is along the riverbank between UL and town or out towards Corbally?

doneanddusted

@yflyer, I am thinking of the one between UL and town.

YFlyer

doneanddusted wrote: »

@yflyer, I am thinking of the one between UL and town.

Cheers.

I was wondering what traffic you were referring to? I run along the riverbank between UL and town at times and don't see any traffic. Unless there is another route

doneanddusted

Oh maybe it`s quiet at that time then : )

zulutango

The 'canal' route runs initially by the Park Canal and then, where the canal meets the Shannon River, the path continues beside the river to UL. There is almost no traffic whatsever as only a very short section is near a main road.

It's by far and away the best way of cycling between UL and the city in day time, because (a) it's the shortest route, (b) it's flat, (c) it's picturesque and (d) there's no traffic concerns.

Against that there is the fact that it's not lit, so practically nobody will cycle or walk there after dark. It's not that it's not safe, but it's just hard to see anything! As well as that, the surface on the stretch between the point where the canal meets the river and the university gets muddy in wet weather, and that's not really conducive to cycling.

Feel free to ask any questions as I know the route well and use it lots.

zulutango

doneanddusted wrote: »

Oh maybe it`s quiet at that time then : )

I think you must be thinking of somewhere completely different? There's practically zero traffic along this particular route as only a tiny section of it runs near a road ....

Phoenix Wright

What about the canal route that leads from Corbally to UL? I've used it during the mornings/days and there have been no encounters, just joggers, people walking dogs and such.

Has anyone cycled this at night? Is it safe? Its a much more enjoyable route than turning at Larkin's Cross or going through Rhebogue.

Popoutman

Most people would be a little more wary of the actual riverpath from Corbally past UL at night. It's a nice quiet area that's hard to patrol by the Gardai, so there are times when undesirables congregate on/near the path. Daytimes it's perfect and trouble-free.

Personally I've no problem using that path as a cyclist after dark, but then again the undesirables may be a little more frightened by me then I am of them..