Park and Cycle

chris_wte

Hi, I am considering buying a house in the hartstown/clonsilla area. I would like to be able to cycle to work but its a bit far so thinking of driving (with the bike in the car), parking and cycling the rest of the way.

I know there is free parking in the phoenix park but looking for somewhere that is not so close to town. does anyone know of anywhere closer to clonsilla that I could park and cycle the rest of the way, maybe blanchardstown area? I dont know if I would get away with parking in the shopping center and pulling my bike out to cycle...

ThisRegard

Where's your job at? Hartstown and Clonsilla are pretty close to the city centre, and it's pretty quick to cycle to the city centre from there.

By the time you have driven and parked up in Blanchardstown Centre you would have cycled past it leaving from your house.

cdaly_

Also, you could head over to Castleknock railway station and have a traffic-free commute along the Royal Canal from there almost to the city centre.

Hartstown to Castleknock by bicycle

chris_wte

Thanks for the responses. Good point about time take to drive to blanch, it is quite busy there I guess.

thanks for the hartstown the castleknock route, I am not very familar with the area so that is a big help!

I currently cycle from Artane which is 9K to the Coombe, that takes me 45mins but I think some of that is stopping and starting at traffic lights etc. The house I am looking at is about 15K to where I work, I thought that might take me ages but if there a traffic free section might be ok

15K compared to 9K is just a bit daunting, I'm not that fit lol!

Weepsie

It's a little less than 15 and with a straight run through the park pretty much you'd be fine. Traffic in Blanchardstown and D15 can be a bit crap in the morning so you'd be done with the first 5/6 k in the time you had gotten stuff into car, drove elsewhere and found a spot to park and then gotten out.

It's also basically downhill all the way into town. Uphill is grand on the way home.

magicbastarder

my main concern about park and cycle would be the security of the bike.
what sort of cycling facilities do you have in work, in terms of showers, etc.? that'd be my main concern if considering the full 15km.

chris_wte

Thanks guys, feeling a lot better about cycling route from there now. Lets see of I get the house now and then I will give it a shot!

Yeh, showers in work. Thank god!

On another note, is anyone from that area? We are a couple looking for a family friendly area, D15 is within out budget but I dont know it that well.

DanDublin1982

The main reason I wouldn't do this is the temptation I'd feel to just keep going in the car. I know it would get the better of me fairly often.

Moflojo

chris_wte wrote: »

Thanks guys, feeling a lot better about cycling route from there now. Lets see of I get the house now and then I will give it a shot!

Yeh, showers in work. Thank god!

On another note, is anyone from that area? We are a couple looking for a family friendly area, D15 is within out budget but I dont know it that well.

Good luck with the house hunt. I did a 15k commute for a good few years and it was grand. There will be the odd Friday where you're feeling fatigued and will leave the bike at home, but it'll only serve to remind you of how hassle-free the cycle commute is compared to the alternatives. The main thing is to find a route that you like and that avoids any potentially stressful areas - even if that means adding a few hundred metres onto your journey. If you're extremely worried about the distance then consider an electric-assisted bicycle and you'll be laughing. Best of luck.

ThisRegard

As the man said above, I used to cycle from the greater D15 area but would take a longer route than I needed as it was more pleasant. When leaving the park I'd head for the canal into the city via Kilmainham to skip the quays, rather than down the Navan Road and Stoneybatter or Cabra which was more direct. The trip through the park early on a summer morning is often glorious.

chris_wte

Ah yas have me looking forward to this cycle now!

magicbastarder

i used to cycle from D15 (near roselawn) to leopardstown; i quickly abandoned the first route i used, which was down the side of the park, in favour of going through the park and crossing at islandbridge. beware it gets dark in the park, you'd need a decent front light at night.

Annie get your Run

I cycle from Dunboyne to Marlborough Street so about 20k, you'll get used to it. As others have said going through the park is particularly nice. You could build up start with 3 days & build up to the 5 or something but it's certainly doable if you move to that area.