Cycling Route By The Dodder From Clonskeagh Westwards

De Bhál

I'm trying to cycle from the Clonskeagh Road (Beaver Road junct.) by the river Dodder up to the Rathfarnham Road (junction with Dodder park Rd.)

In other words...
From
https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3131431,-6.2387684,19.5z
to
https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3045465,-6.283359,18.5z

I don't know the area that well and end up on the wrong side of The dropping Well pub etc. and back out on the road. Is there a straightforward route that will keep me off the road? I seem to go wrong in one of the many parks. i accept i will be crossing the road at Milltown but the lights there are cyclist friendly.

HeidiHeidi

I regularly walk that path - although haven't been there for a couple of months now.

There's no river path at the point you're talking about - the path continues past the Dropping Well as you go west, puts you out onto the road, and you need to go about 300 yards up the hill and hang a left and you get back onto the path at the bottom of that cul de sac (shown as Dodder Walk on google maps).

After that there's path the whole way, some of it very narrow mind you so you'll be sharing it with walkers, runners, dogs, fishermen during the season, etc etc.

I have heard that they intend (and possibly have started somewhere along the way) making a continuous cycle/footpath along the Dodder. Whether they'll manage to fill in that little gap I have no idea though.

De Bhál

ok thanks for the reply. Good to know it's not just me then.

Tenzor07

The pavement is a bit rough in places and full of leaves at this time of year so will be a bit sketchy with a drop into a fast flowing river, good luck!

12 sprocket

De Bhál wrote: »

I'm trying to cycle from the Clonskeagh Road (Beaver Road junct.) by the river Dodder up to the Rathfarnham Road (junction with Dodder park Rd.)

In other words...
From
https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3131431,-6.2387684,19.5z
to
https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3045465,-6.283359,18.5z

I don't know the area that well and end up on the wrong side of The dropping Well pub etc. and back out on the road. Is there a straightforward route that will keep me off the road? I seem to go wrong in one of the many parks. i accept i will be crossing the road at Milltown but the lights there are cyclist friendly.

theres a path on the right hand side of the river so from ballsbridge cross over and begin beside the big hotel and follow that.. its not all suitable for cycling and a mountain bike would probably be best. Realistically its a mix of walking and cycling but a very nice journey

PaulieC

Ran this recently enough. If you start on the north side of the river you can get the whole way without going on road and without having to cross the river. The section between Clonskeagh that was previously overgrown and badly surfaced has been cleared out, making the path wider and has been resurfaced.

There is a section further along (maybe around the Rathfarnham Road underpass) where cycling is prohibited. I'm not sure if it's actually prohibited or just prohibited like the rest of the parks in Dublin i.e. prohibited in name only.

tomasrojo

Yes, cycling is "strictly prohibited" in the park on the Dodder that abuts Rathfarnham. In practice, I don't think it's enforced. The neighbouring park on the Dodder to the east just asks cyclists to be considerate.

De Bhál

tomasrojo wrote: »

Yes, cycling is "strictly prohibited" in the park on the Dodder that abuts Rathfarnham. In practice, I don't think it's enforced. The neighbouring park on the Dodder to the east just asks cyclists to be considerate.

Going eastwwards in the morning I've been going over this bridge (in the trees there)

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.3038941,-6.2705717,3a,90y,339.24h,66.64t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4SlrK0TdjJFE5MDy2ZbZRg!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo3.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D4SlrK0TdjJFE5MDy2ZbZRg%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D323.19568%26pitch%3D0!7i13312!8i6656


is this the park you're saying is not to bike in?

tomasrojo

That's the park. There's a sign on the bridge you can see as you pass under the bridge to enter the park from the other side.

A lot of people cycle through that park though, from what I can tell, but I don't all that often, so can't speak with any authority on enforcement.

PaulieC

Details on the Cycle Greenway here. Would be great to have a dedicated track from the sea to the mountains.

De Bhál

after a bit of recon during the week, this seems to be the only option (for me) at the moment.
I'm on the Clonskeagh Road city bound, directly before I cross the Dodder I enter the park and go along the bike path up as far as the Dundrum Road. I cross here using a bike friendly traffic lights to take me directly across the road to another park and use it's bike path to take me onwards under the Luas bridge and on up to Patrick Doyle Road dedicated off road cycle path. Use this to Churchtown Road lower, out on the road then, turn right and then left at the dropping Well pub and up the Milltown road until I hit this junction
https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.308597,-6.2593739,120m/data=!3m1!1e3

Left here, down the little sharp hill and in the park entrance and across Dartry park and on to Orwell Park. Up through Orwell Park and out over that little pedestrian bridge on to the dedicated cycle path on Dodder Road lower. On this to the Rathfarnham road. It's roughly 4km in distance

There is a path along the back of the dropping well pub but after using it a few times I think it's unfair to pedestrians to share the narrow paths with them along here.

2RockMountain

De Bhál wrote: »

There is a path along the back of the dropping well pub but after using it a few times I think it's unfair to pedestrians to share the narrow paths with them along here.

Sorry for coming to this late, but is this gate that you're talking about?

https://goo.gl/maps/F3gStossGrF2

I was never sure if this was public path or not, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere on the maps - just in by the side of the golf course. Can you get through to Orwell by going up this path?

De Bhál

2RockMountain wrote: »

Sorry for coming to this late, but is this gate that you're talking about?

https://goo.gl/maps/F3gStossGrF2

I was never sure if this was public path or not, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere on the maps - just in by the side of the golf course. Can you get through to Orwell by going up this path?

I assumed that was a private entrance so haven't tried it.
A couple of posters above say there's a full path with no need to go on the road but I have always had to go on the road to get back into Dartry Park heading westward.
I don't know how they managed it.

Red Kev

2RockMountain wrote: »

Sorry for coming to this late, but is this gate that you're talking about?

https://goo.gl/maps/F3gStossGrF2

I was never sure if this was public path or not, but it doesn't seem to go anywhere on the maps - just in by the side of the golf course. Can you get through to Orwell by going up this path?

There's a public right of way there, but it ends out at a shed belonging to Milltown Golf Club, there's also a way of getting back up to Churchtown Rd. There is an old abandoned bridge there, but it's blocked off.

If you want to stay on the Dodder then you'll have to go right beside the Dropping Well pub, then a couple of hundred metres on the road up to Dartry Mills (now a Montessori School), then down to Dartry Park.

2RockMountain

Red Kev wrote: »

There's a public right of way there, but it ends out at a shed belonging to Milltown Golf Club, there's also a way of getting back up to Churchtown Rd. There is an old abandoned bridge there, but it's blocked off.

Thanks for that. I see studenty types walking out of there semi-regularly in the mornings. I thought that there was some kind of hostel or something up there - any ideas?

Chuchote

PaulieC wrote: »

Details on the Cycle Greenway here. Would be great to have a dedicated track from the sea to the mountains.

This is one of the Dublin cycleways that has just had its funding withdrawn so the relatively tiny amount it would cost could be pumped into the multi-billion-euro Luas prestige project. Feel free to email your local TDs and apposite ministers to ask for the funding to be re-diverted back into it, and into the Royal Canal and Grand Canal cycleways.
And it could be worth emailing all county councillors to ask them to re-table the plan for contraflow cycle paths along one-way streets, which would save lives by allowing cyclists to avoid busy roads full of trucks, cars, coaches and vans. This plan failed a year ago, due to the Lord Mayor, Criona Ní Dálaigh using her casting vote against it. http://irishcycle.com/2015/10/05/push-to-secure-contra-flow-cycling-on-key-dublin-streets-fails-by-one-vote/ It would be well worth showing councillors why it would be a lifesaver.