Grand Canal cycle route from Inchicore to Citywest

irlirishkev

As the title suggests..

I'll shortly be upping my commute from an easy 2 miler across town, to a 10 mile trip from D8 to CityWest.
The safest route I've come up with seems to be out through Inchicore, up to the Luas tracks and then out the canal. Turn left then to get to CityWest.

Anyone else take this route? If so (or even if not), what are your thoughts?
And *what* is the story with the gate things along the canal??

Cheers.

ROK ON

I've taken he route a few times. Pain in the tits.
Yeah it's nice pootling along by the canal, surface is mainly good. But the kissing gates are annoying - really really annoying.

Tends to be well used by walkers, joggers, cyclists. Few weeks I saw some kids with kayaks. So safe enough with a wide path. It would be fantastic if all the route went under the road and if there were no kissing gates. Have to lift the bike over these.

mloc123

It is a perfect commuter track IMO. You will pass 3-4 gates on that stretch, one or two junctions you can follow the canal under the road. The gates might be annoying but it is literally 30 seconds at each one.

tampopo

mloc123 wrote: »

It is a perfect commuter track IMO. You will pass 3-4 gates on that stretch, one or two junctions you can follow the canal under the road. The gates might be annoying but it is literally 30 seconds at each one.

Yes it is a fantastic piece of cycling infrastructure. I'd go so far as to say that it takes less than 10 seconds to get through each gate. I'll grant you, you have to slow down, but you wouldn't have to come to a complete stop.

They are designed so that you do not even have to dismount. Check it out.


and the view from the other side.


rotate the pedals as you go through. Don't use the kissing gates. Don't lift your bike over. Both methods are stupid and not needed.

ROK ON

Tampopo

I assumed that the picture you posted was the kissing gates (because the look like two lips meeting!!!!).
Anyway it was those that I was referring to. I have to unclip to lift my bikes handlebars over. They won't go through - they are a 44cm wide drop bar configuration. However looking at your photo then I reckon that might be down to set up. A hybrid is more upright than a racer. The lower front profile of my road bikes means they do not get through - the brake levers would 'hit' off of the metal. So I have to lift over the obstruction.

For me it's a pita - if they weren't there I would use it more regularly. There are so I use the road unless I want a mental diversion.

mloc123

I have only cycled on it a couple of times but used to run commute from the city centre to hazelhatch on it.

Personally I would take the quiet, traffic free track with the added 2-3 minutes for gates over roads. I ran home along the n4 once.. The constant drone from the road drove me mad.

Check it out and see yourself. Some of the areas are rough but I never felt worried.

gzoladz

It is a very nice cycle. I did it many times. The gates are not that bad.

I never had any problem but depending on the time you may come across some undesirables, in particular in the summer.

nak

I commute daily along the canal, great in the mornings, sometimes avoid it on the warmer evenings as it gets too busy.

On my cyclocross bike with drop bars and have no issue with the gates, straight bars are worse as they're wider.

tomasrojo

I used to commute to Citywest (over a decade ago). I didn't like the N4, so I went via the Tallaght bypass and through Jobstown. Worked fine, but some joyriders late in the evening very occasionally.

monument

tampopo wrote: »

Yes it is a fantastic piece of cycling infrastructure. I'd go so far as to say that it takes less than 10 seconds to get through each gate. I'll grant you, you have to slow down, but you wouldn't have to come to a complete stop.

It would be fairly fantastic if it was not for the gates.

Regardless of how great it is for you or how you want to dress it up it's very awkward with normal run of the mill things like many types of handlebars, mid or large panniers, child seats etc and it excludes the use of trailers, trikes, recumbents, loaded touring bikes, cargo bikes and trikes, and mobility devices and large buggies.

All the gates do is slow down, restrict or bar legitimate -- they don't stop antisocial behavour, they don't stop horses from being put inside the barriers, and they don't stop scramblers.

tampopo

ROK ON wrote: »

Tampopo

I assumed that the picture you posted was the kissing gates (because the look like two lips meeting!!!!).
Anyway it was those that I was referring to. I have to unclip to lift my bikes handlebars over. They won't go through - they are a 44cm wide drop bar configuration. However looking at your photo then I reckon that might be down to set up. A hybrid is more upright than a racer. The lower front profile of my road bikes means they do not get through - the brake levers would 'hit' off of the metal. So I have to lift over the obstruction.

For me it's a pita - if they weren't there I would use it more regularly. There are so I use the road unless I want a mental diversion.

Hmm, the kissing gates are on a hinge.
I measured my bike handlebars, 69cm. But they're 115cm from the ground, maybe that's why it's fine for me.
How about turning your bars a shade?

a148pro

monument wrote: »

It would be fairly fantastic if it was not for the gates.

Regardless of how great it is for you or how you want to dress it up it's very awkward with normal run of the mill things like many types of handlebars, mid or large panniers, child seats etc and it excludes the use of trailers, trikes, recumbents, loaded touring bikes, cargo bikes and trikes, and mobility devices and large buggies.

All the gates do is slow down, restrict or bar legitimate -- they don't stop antisocial behavour, they don't stop horses from being put inside the barriers, and they don't stop scramblers.

I hate the gates too but I live a but further along the canal and have seen scramblers out on it but haven't seen them where the gates are.

What I hate most about the gates, much like I hate the hassle of having to carry a lock and find somewhere to lock my bike, is that there are enough c*nts in this city that have no respect for stuff that we have to take these measures

irlirishkev

Thanks for the replies folks.

Hate the thought of working out of Citywest, but at least I'll get some exercise getting there and back. Bought a new road bike recently so it'll get a good bit of breaking in.

Mec-a-nic

irlirishkev wrote: »

Anyone else take this route? If so (or even if not), what are your thoughts?
And *what* is the story with the gate things along the canal??

I take this route most weeks - the image shows the route I take when I want to keep away from as much traffic as possible (the Grand Canal then Corckagh Demesne). It adds a couple of km to the direct (N7) route but the extra peace/exercise is worth it.

The gates are annoying, but better than the original ones (full dismount and wrestle through kissing gates). I narrowed the width of my pannier and can nearly cycle through the gap (slowly) without stopping. Still practising

irlirishkev

Thought I'd just post back as an update..

I've done the route a few times now, and it's not too bad at all. It's a bit boring in places, particularly the R136 to Citywest from the canal, but overall, it's grand. And there are bike lanes nearly all the way once I get to the canal.

The gates don't bother me as much as I thought, as I can get through them pretty quickly.

I did it in 40mins today on the way home (10.5 miles downhill), but I'm hoping I'll get faster!

Zynks

Thanks to finding this thread this morning I decided to try out this route with a friend. We started at the Gran Canal dock and went past the end of the paved route continuing as far as Celbridge (2 km from the canal), where we had a nice lunch and then cycled back. Some 48 km in total. A nice day out on a hybrid or MB.

My friend had problems on the gates, his handle bar was a bit too wide. I had no issues on my hybrid.

Thanks for the tips.

R1_Pete

Work in Citywest myself and live in Clonsilla. I had been commuting via Lucan and Ongar for the past 2 years or so and it was getting monotonous, plus its not the most pleasant route on the back roads in traffic.

Thanks to this thread I tried the canal route down to Inchicore and home via the Park.. and its nice. Gates are a minor annoyance, especially as I'm clipped in, but its worth it for the peace and lack of traffic.

Added on 7k or so to my commute, which is now around 26k but worth it.

Question though.. Has anyone done this route in the dark/winter? How well lit up is it? I am thinking it could be a better early morning route for the winter months but some stretches look a little poorly lit?

P

nak

R1_Pete wrote: »

Work in Citywest myself and live in Clonsilla. I had been commuting via Lucan and Ongar for the past 2 years or so and it was getting monotonous, plus its not the most pleasant route on the back roads in traffic.

Thanks to this thread I tried the canal route down to Inchicore and home via the Park.. and its nice. Gates are a minor annoyance, especially as I'm clipped in, but its worth it for the peace and lack of traffic.

Added on 7k or so to my commute, which is now around 26k but worth it.

Question though.. Has anyone done this route in the dark/winter? How well lit up is it? I am thinking it could be a better early morning route for the winter months but some stretches look a little poorly lit?

P

It's fully lit, I use it every day leaving the house around 6:45. Doesn't stop people using lights suitable for night mountain biking angled up at face height.

Mec-a-nic

R1_Pete wrote: »

Question though.. Has anyone done this route in the dark/winter? How well lit up is it?
P

A lot of the canal path improvements were paid for by the ESB who needed access to the route - so it's well powered and lit. It's not your usual lighting though, they have installed "bat-friendly" luminaries.

Sure, all of this is moot, you'll be lit up like a christmas tree so as to avoid the Garda bike-traps, looking to fine un-lit cyclists, no?

R1_Pete

Its a nice change of scenery and a decent option to have. Good to hear its lit up too, my alternative route is total darkness and country road for about the first 7k each day. Grim start to the morning in the winter

One of the swans was snapping/pecking at cyclists on the canal path this morning on the way in :cool: