current status of dublin to galway greenway

mr spuckler

does anyone know ho close to complete the dublin to mullingar or mullingar to athlone stretches are? i'm cycling dublin to athlone next weekend and thought it might be a nice option if complete but i haven't found anything to confirm that it has opened...

tigerboon

mr spuckler wrote: »

does anyone know ho close to complete the dublin to mullingar or mullingar to athlone stretches are? i'm cycling dublin to athlone next weekend and thought it might be a nice option if complete but i haven't found anything to confirm that it has opened...

I think the Mullingar to Athlone bit is due to open this month

mr spuckler

i know it was due to open this month but heard since that the stretch around moate isn't surfaced yet and by that account looks a long way off. pity, would be a great option rather than the old N6 which is a fairly boring spin

kildarecommuter

Drove around parts of it last Sunday it's tarred from Mullingar to past Streamstown( near Horseleap)
The line runs parallel to the road for a distance after Castletown and there is access there
You could go from Mullingar to this point and then take road onto moate & athlone
There's a thread in Westmeath forum too!

bog_savage

They doing the Rosemount to Moate section this week , ill have a look later and post pics here , even if its not finished you can get off at the end of the tarmac section and do last 3 miles to Moate by road .

mr spuckler

thanks guys, both very helpful! now will have to figure out how to access it in mullingar! i don't know the town very well (am an athlone man) and coming from dublin so got a bit of planning to balance safety with not stretching the mileage too far!

mr spuckler

on that, if either of you guys know exactly where i can access from mullingar or nearby please let me know, thanks

indeed, it looks like i'll be able to get on it sooner, just need to figure out exactly where this is!

http://www.galwaytodublincycleway.ie/#!meath-westmeath-to-mullingar/crbp

Qualitymark

It's pretty awful in the parts of Connemara where I cycle - a mingy little bit near Clifden, nothing from Clifden out to Ballyconneely where tourists would love to trek.

Swamp3

You can access it from the canal on the west side of the town, or from the roundabout in zone C of the Mullingar Business Park.
It's the roundabout with the Outdoor Escape bike shop and Trend factory.

cuculainn

So will this route be tarred all the way? will it not be like the greenway in mayo where it is more suited to hybrid bikes than road bikes?

it would be great if it was all tarred

bog_savage

Currently tarred all the way from mullingar to moate. They are packing up here and moving to athlone side of moate. 4 lorries of tar parker waiting for the machine. I doubt they will complete moate to athlone before the weekend though

mr spuckler

bog_savage wrote: »

Currently tarred all the way from mullingar to moate. They are packing up here and moving to athlone side of moate. 4 lorries of tar parker waiting for the machine. I doubt they will complete moate to athlone before the weekend though

so done as far as the golf club? would be brilliant to be able to make it that far tbf

kildarecommuter

If your cycling from Dublin easiest place for you to access is by going on to Canal at Dublin Bridge and follow canal cycle path (all tarred around Mullingar ) around town until you come to the Athlone greenway access point.
It's not officially open yet so you'll probably find a half open chainlink/ barrier fence to go thru

bog_savage

mr spuckler wrote: »

so done as far as the golf club? would be brilliant to be able to make it that far tbf

Ah , actually sorry , had a look coming home and the last km to the station & golf club are not done yet , council is working around the station and the others are taring from other side of station to Athlone . Ill update if its finished before weekend . However the surface is good , rolled gravel , you could do last KM on a race bike if you take it easy . You could also get off at exit 2-3 miles before Moate

mr spuckler

bog_savage wrote: »

Ah , actually sorry , had a look coming home and the last km to the station & golf club are not done yet , council is working around the station and the others are taring from other side of station to Athlone . Ill update if its finished before weekend . However the surface is good , rolled gravel , you could do last KM on a race bike if you take it easy . You could also get off at exit 2-3 miles before Moate

thanks a million, really appreciate the update. the good news is that it's the following weekend (planning to cycle down the 18th or 19th, back the 20th) so fingers crossed the extra few days will mean that they can get it finished for me

looks like a hell of a surface though, really looking fwd to giving it a go

Donie75

I can see this being a great early morning weekend winter spin on the road bike. It's probably going to be busy with walkers/runners/kids on trikes/etc. I'm in Athlone so this will be a great route but early in the morning will be better because it should be empty. 41km each way will be a nice spin.
It should also be great for dark midweek spins. Must dig out that 3200 lumen LED light I bought on Ebay and never used.

I must find a decent coffee shop near the end in Mullingar too.

mr spuckler

as long as it's just busy with people actively using it and not lads causing trouble it'll be a brilliant addition tbf.

from what i've been reading the last few times i've been down in athlone it might be a while making it across the shannon though!

Donie75

Yeah, the Athlone end is going to be tricky. I cant understand why they want to build a new bridge across the river for it. It looks hideous.
They should add a piece to the existing town road bridge.
I wonder will the new greenway be suitable for some midweek spins in the dark during winter? It could be a great car-free option to get out and do one or two 30-50km spins each week. Might be a bit odd in the pitch dark with just a light. Might need to use a helmet and handlebar light.
I suppose if MTBers can go up the Wicklow mountains at night it shouldn't be an issue.

mr spuckler

particularly when funding for these things is such a challenge, yet i've also read about a tunnel option to take cyclists in from garrycastle!

unless they think it's hugely expensive to retro-fit either the town bridge or the white bridge you'd definitely think they're better options, assuming you still have a way of separating cyclists from traffic.

that said if they can secure funding for a new bridge and design and build something really visually appealing it could become a focal point for the whole greenway. knowing our lot though there ain't a chance of that happening!

it also sounds like the extension west of athlone could be a very messy process so for now my only attention is on the dublin to athlone stretch!

bog_savage

I believe they are filling in the space between the tracks to make a walking track to keep walkers and cyclists separate. Will be some job. Just be aware there are a couple of high exposed areas where cross wind will be an issue .

Powerful lights whizzing up and down the track in the dark will look like trains again

bog_savage

Couple more pics . Lisnagree crossing between Streamstown and Rosemount

mr spuckler

I spoke to a very helpful guy in Westmeath county council this morning, he told me that the stretch to Athlone is at least 3/4 complete and he's to come back to me to let me know if they think it'll be finished by next weekend (19th). he did say it won't be open but didn't sound too bothered about that bit!

funnily enough from what he said it sounds like a lot of people are already using this for training because the surface is so good, i wonder did the planned grading of this change somewhere along the way? got the impression from him that it wasn't always planned to be such a good finish.

some helpful links from the coco website anyway

general info
http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/ourservices/tourismlibraryartsrecreation/greenway/royalcanalgreenwaywestmeath/

description, access points and google map
http://www.westmeathcoco.ie/en/ourservices/tourismlibraryartsrecreation/greenway/royalcanalgreenwayroutemap/

stecleary

Dublin to Galway greenway on a road bike would be beautiful, if it's nice tarmac all the way the other half might be getting a few overnight stays in Galway in the future

kildarecommuter

Stopped to have a look at it last Sunday at Castletown, at least 15 cyclists passed in the10 mins I was there !
If the contractors are not working there's cyclists on it

mr spuckler

from what the lad in the council was saying this morning, the cyclists are also sometimes there while the contractors are working on it too!

stecleary, agreed although it could be a long time before it's all done! and if the local county councils are the ones who decide on grade of finishes as it sounds is the case from westmeath then it could vary from county to county. tbf even if the surface was the same as the western greenway down by achill it would be more than good enough to belt along on a road bike.

Carawaystick

Is it a Westmeath Co Co push that has this done? There isn't much info about the Kildare/Meath sections of the Canal Towpath.

mr spuckler

Carawaystick wrote: »

Is it a Westmeath Co Co push that has this done? There isn't much info about the Kildare/Meath sections of the Canal Towpath.

probably a combination of the council being proactive, it being a relatively easy win in terms of disruption (with a long stretch being along the old athlone to mullingar railway line) and funding being made available also. tbf the funding piece only would have come about after firm proposals were submitted so it's possible that westmeath were ahead of the others from that point of view.

below suggests the dublin piece is complicated, i had also read an announcement about the opening of a 2.7km stretch near castleknock to great fanfare!
http://www.dublingalwaygreenway.com/2015/06/dublin-city-council-opens-public.html

below suggests bad news on the kildare front at least, again not sure was it just slowness on kildare council front or if the funding requirements are much greater than westmeath.
http://www.dublingalwaygreenway.com/2015/05/funding-for-kildare-greenway-not-likely.html

btw, Ivo Brett (dublingalwaygreenway.com) and Westmeath County Council definitely have the best information on the greenway. the official NRA site at http://www.galwaytodublincycleway.ie/ is poor at best.

kildarecommuter

Wonder would the fact that both canal and rail green ways both go through Mullingar the county town and the rail greenway connects to Athlone Westmeaths 2nd town, whereas in Meath Kildare or Longford they don't go near the main towns !

stecleary

mr spuckler wrote: »

stecleary, agreed although it could be a long time before it's all done! and if the local county councils are the ones who decide on grade of finishes as it sounds is the case from westmeath then it could vary from county to county. tbf even if the surface was the same as the western greenway down by achill it would be more than good enough to belt along on a road bike.

So you're say I NEED to buy a CX bike

mr spuckler

stecleary wrote: »

So you're say I NEED to buy a CX bike

if you're around 6' 2" and ok with 2nd hand then yes, yes you do

i can't say if that comment is independent of my own plans to sell similar :rolleyes:

stecleary

mr spuckler wrote: »

if you're around 6' 2" and ok with 2nd hand then yes, yes you do

i can't say if that comment is independent of my own plans to sell similar :rolleyes:

You'd get two of me in 6'2"

bog_savage

Went for a spin on the Moate to Castletown section last night , and it's fab

Good news is the tarmac is now complete to the train station in Moate except for 20m a few km from Moate where the are removing an temp access ramp. You have to get off bike and walk it but no problem. I'd say it'll be done soon .( feckin thing cost me a KOM on Strava as it was only dug up yesterday ; ) )

Also re quality of surface in different counties , I believe Westmeath coco is running the whole project from Mullingar to Galway , so should be to same spec. That's if they ever figure out where the will run it.

mr spuckler

haha, loving the fact that there are Strava KOMs on it already!

am really looking fwd to getting out on it next week, hopefully both the weather and my own condition make it a nice cycle. haven't done a whole lot this year before the last few weeks and currently hoping to do down and back to athlone from dublin via the greenway over that weekend

marvin80

Those strava segments should be flagged - you'll have families out cycling with their children so not the place for cyclists trying to beat strava segment times.

mr spuckler

any update on this guys? am planning on cycling down to athlone today!

bog_savage

Sorry don't know how far they went since , at the speed they were moving Id say its gotta be complete

bog_savage

They have finished the bit near Rosemount

mr spuckler

so i hopped onto the royal canal way at from the kinnegad to killucan road, stuck with the canal to mullingar and then followed the greenway to moate. i have to say despite bog_savage having posted pics over the last few days i was still taken aback at the quality of it. it's a bit frustrating right now that you have to stop occasionally to get around fences but that might be my fault for using it before it opens!

some pics below taken on the move. there were a good few people using it near mullingar especially but also near anywhere that had an access point. oddly there was also a very young guy parked in a VW passat on it nowhere near an access point!

i'm going to scout the athlone end tomorrow to see how much of this has been done and whether i might be able to go the whole way from athlone to mullingar on it when heading back up on sunday.

dewindygap

Wow, I am impressed. Thanks for the pics

mr spuckler

i took the car out to scope the stretch between athlone and moate this morning. from what i can make out it's tarred as far as the bridge over the road between glenwood and baylin, so about 4-5km short of athlone. beyond that point it's reasonably hard compacted gravel until the bridge at garrycastle, where there's a new ramp ready to go from opposite the spar (used to be nugent's shop).

i also went to the mount temple / castledaly road and the road by the motorway exit for clonmacnoise nearer to moate. at the last one it looks like it's fully topped whereby at mount temple & baylin it's just got 1 layer of tar on it.

pictures below....
1 from dual carriageway bridge looking towards garrycastle bridge
2 near baylin showing end of the tarred section, not sure if the 6400 is distance to athlone or something random!
3 crossing above mount temple road
4 by motorway exit 7

bog_savage

Had a lad tarring around my house yesterday , he knows the contractor doing the cycle path , said the Asphalt they are using is a special new type for cycle paths , grippier or something . This is the first time its been used outside Germany apparently

Whatever it is its class . Loads of people on it today .
And there appears to be a push to finish it for the official opening . Lots of work being done at the moment

Ryath

Did Moate to Ballinea just out side Mullingar. Came back then intended heading for home then but the lads were heading back to Athlone so said feck it I'd carry on. Section at Moate train station is closed so had to take detour into Moate and back out the Mount Temple road and get back on the greenway at the level crossing at Dún na Sí . Knew we could get to near Baylin and when we got to the gravel we said we'd chance it was only a couple k. Surface was ok about the same as the worse sections as the Mayo greenway with a few bad spots. Was grand I was on 25mm tyres most were on 23s. Jumped a low fence then at Garycastle and headed back to Moate for 89k for the day.

It's really going to a great amenity when its finished really looking forward to being able to take family cycles on it.

mr spuckler

Weepsie wrote: »

Hoping to cycle to Galway from Dublin next week (and maybe back again if the legs can muster it), and had was considering using the canal for some of the route, but not sure where I need to get on it really? Any advice. Will be on a steel touring bike with 28mm tyres, so would have to be the paved bits

i think you can get on it closer to dublin but can certainly do what i did yesterday and join from the kinnegad to killucan road. i was on a road bike with 23s tyres and it was absolutely fine from there for me. am planing on heading back up tomorrow so might try going a bit further on it then and will let you know where i get to if so

joeyboy12345

bog_savage wrote:

Whatever it is its class . Loads of people on it today . And there appears to be a push to finish it for the official opening . Lots of work being done at the moment

When is the official opening?

bog_savage

Late October but keeps being put back ( closer to the election perhaps )

bovis

bog_savage wrote: »

Late October but keeps being put back ( closer to the election perhaps )

Just for clarity, the soon to be opened section (42km Athlone to Mullingar) is only part of the Dublin to Galway greenway. Progress on the greenway west of the Shannon is still being ferociously opposed by landowners.

But on the good news. The Athlone to Mullingar section should be opened next month. The surface looks amazing. See latest pictures on FB (not ours)
https://www.facebook.com/brian.golden.940/posts/10207688342510586

We will post updates as we get them:
http://www.dublingalwaygreenway.com

dfdream

What will be the rules of these cycle ways.
Are they listed somewhere ?
(speeds restrictions, lanes, lighting, safety, overtaking etc)
They dont look wide so I assume they are not for club spins two a breast.

Dont look wide enough...

mr spuckler

they're designed for leisure and touring cyclists, as well as pedestrians. i don't expect that there will be lanes or formal rules, just a simple don't be a c*&k code very easy for cyclists and pedestrians to safely interact on a 3m wide stretch of tarmac if everyone respects each other.

the western greenway is a great example of this although the surface there is not so encouraging to people heading along at speed on road bikes.

i do hope there'll be good signage for distances to next town, facilities etc

Thargor

How are they going to keep the "economically disadvantaged" off them? Have you seen how many scooters/mini-motorbikes/quads/go-karts etc are used in Athlone/Mullingar? Every one of them has one.

mr spuckler

i looked over the various bridges as i crossed the canal on friday to see what the paths were like and that far up (maynooth, kilcock, enfield) are suitable for walking only. there isn't even a rough gravel path that you might be able to navigate so at best would be extremely slow going and involve some walking. either way it's not signed as a cycling facility. as a hiker as well as cyclist, i hate seeing cyclists using dedicated walking trails!

btw i didn't manage to head any further back up the royal canal way yesterday, was feeling very weak after friday and needed to get back to dublin relatively early so just headed by the main road.

galwaycyclist

dfdream wrote: »

What will be the rules of these cycle ways.
Are they listed somewhere ?
(speeds restrictions, lanes, lighting, safety, overtaking etc)
They dont look wide so I assume they are not for club spins two a breast.

Dont look wide enough...

They will be a public road that is closed to motorised traffic so the usual rules that apply to vehicles will apply. Keep left, don't travel at a speed exceeding your ability to stop and so on.

However it is likely that many users will be small kids with a limited understanding of rules. They will also be shared with pedestrians.

So not a place for people looking to put up times.