Greenway Map

riddlinrussell

Hello all, I've developed a tentative 'Greenway Map' of Ireland, listing all officially completed, planned or under construction, and proposed greenways. In addition it has a selection of 'Potential' greenways, mostly along old railway alignments. Let me know what you think of it.

Greenway Map of Ireland

mugsymugsy

Looks class didnt know I had a green way so close to me!

Thanks for doing the work and sharing it

rivermansteve

Any idea when you will be able to cycle athlone/dublin 100% on greenways? I heard 2018??

As far as I recall there's one proposed / in planning between Drogheda and Mornington not on the map there.

https://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/major-boost-as-consultants-confirmed-for-iconic-85km-boyneside-trail-project-from-mornington-to-drogheda-35375741.html

Not sure were the project stands currently.

Would be fantastic if they extended the one to Oldbridge out to Newgrange or even out to Slane and did some work on the stretch between the park in Drogheda and where the path meets the road further on, it's narrow in spots and the surface wasn't great when I walked it a couple of weeks ago, sections were very muddy and covered in decaying reeds after some possible flooding.

magicbastarder

i believe there's a planning application in for one encirling the lakes at blessington.

Tigerandahalf

Is the Ballymahon to Tarmonbarry section in progress or just at a planning stage?
I wouldn't mind taking a spin around Athlone to Mullingar and back to Tarmon. It would be a nice loop and easy enough for people to collect you at the finish.

Huge potential in Ireland for cycling tourism and for bnbs and hostels to cater for people.

Massive amount of people retiring/retired around Europe and beyond and with plenty of cash to spend.

schemingbohemia

rivermansteve wrote: »

Any idea when you will be able to cycle athlone/dublin 100% on greenways? I heard 2018??

More likely to be Maynooth to Athlone in 2018 but there may be a shortish section not finalised.

Moflojo

Great map. I think there's an existing greenway running alongside the river Shannon from Limerick City out to UL. In the map it's just 'potential' (purple). Maybe it doesn't meet Greenway specifications yet?

Esroh

Great work

The Old Claremorris-Ballinrobe line has been looked at in the past and would require serious financial incentive to those landowners who now have the land.
Sligo -Athenry is shamefully being blocked by Mayo+Galway Co.Cos. as they support the pipe dream Western Rail Corridor. Irish Rail are happy to hand it over.
There is a bridge being replaced to Rail capability following road realignment due to the motorway at a cost that would pay for a full feasibility study .While the old line embankment falls apart all along the route .

TooObvious

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Is the Ballymahon to Tarmonbarry section in progress or just at a planning stage?

Update in the Royal Canal thread - 6 weeks til complete

mr spuckler

rivermansteve wrote: »

Any idea when you will be able to cycle athlone/dublin 100% on greenways? I heard 2018??

the Dublin sections are the problem, everything else should be done this year iirc.
http://irishcycle.com/2018/01/18/royal-canal-greenway-in-dublin-city-delayed-by-nearly-a-year/

good bit of relevant discussion here

Fian

thanks for that.

I didn't know about the "dodder greenway" which is quite close to me. I often cycle through the dodder riverbank park - which is basically finished rather than proposed btw, but does not extend past old bawn road. Handy way to cross teh m50.

Shared with pedestrians & dog walkers and there are 2 gates you need to lift bike through.

Is the dodder greenway suitable for road bikes or is it MTB? I must have a look at it. Is it steep? Tarmac?

cdaly_

rivermansteve wrote: »

Any idea when you will be able to cycle athlone/dublin 100% on greenways? I heard 2018??

You can already do it off-road. Some sections of the Royal Canal are not 'greenway' yet but they're navigable by bike anyway.

Rojo

Amazing work - thanks a mil for doing this!

James 007

I know you had it on a joined thread before as below, but yes its a good idea to keep it separate. I just wish there could be quicker progress on these greenways. The country is a perfect size for it, and such a great landscape. Perhaps it would be good to identify each green way with sites to see, a bit like a luas start/destination with the intermediate stops with the sites to see.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=105187379

Muahahaha

Great work OP, thanks

Actually thinking about it you have a captive audience here OP. if possible you could likely get up-to-date info on the surface type of many the routes on the map and include that info on it.

Victor

Note that there is also this https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=6/53.625/-7.339&layers=C - zoom to show more details

Thud

Fian wrote: »

Is the dodder greenway suitable for road bikes or is it MTB? I must have a look at it. Is it steep? Tarmac?

It's doable on a road bike, it's part paved, part gravel, pretty flat one small ramp at the dam, generally a lot of walkers and dogs on it though

Keeks

Looks Brilliant, but one you start to click the potential and proposed routes, it quite a different story.

There is some difference between what we do have and what we could/should have.....Our policy makers should back these proposed and potential routes. The advantages are too many to list here.....it would be a much better country.

whisky_galore

Carrigaline-Crosshaven has been completed with a while now.
Timoleague-Courtmacsherry runs mostly on the public road margin and is signposted.

A portion of Thurles-Clonmel is open as a dirt track/bog trail at Abbeyleix.

There is a portion of the Shillelagh branch open purely as a walking trail, bikes prohibited, although I did see someone ignoring the notices and chancing their arm.

riddlinrussell

Thanks for all the comments folks, I'll go through the suggestions so far and try to update everything, I am relying on people telling me what is missing and whatever scant articles and plans I can dig up online to keep it updated.

whisky_galore wrote: »

Carrigaline-Crosshaven has been completed with a while now.
Timoleague-Courtmacsherry runs mostly on the public road margin and is signposted.

A portion of Thurles-Clonmel is open as a dirt track/bog trail at Abbeyleix.

There is a portion of the Shillelagh branch open purely as a walking trail, bikes prohibited, although I did see someone ignoring the notices and chancing their arm.

How well segregated is the section from Timoleague to Courtmacsherry? I'm trying to limit it to true 'Greenways' with minimal road sections and adequate 'Cycleways' with full road segregation.

Updated the map with the Crosshaven trail, don't know how I missed that one!

Justwinginit

Thanks:-) Looks great

Macy0161

riddlinrussell wrote: »

I'm trying to limit it to true 'Greenways' with minimal road sections and adequate 'Cycleways' with full road segregation.

I was wondering about the definition, as the likes of the trails around the Vartry Reservoir in Roundwood (circa 15km at the moment, and I think they've funding to finish off so it'll be over 20km with all but about 1.5km off road), and even the Avonmore Way from Trooperstown are fine on cx bikes.

Is there an official award/ criteria for Greenways, as if so, I'd even suggest that to our community council regarding the Vartry ones.

riddlinrussell

Macy0161 wrote: »

I was wondering about the definition, as the likes of the trails around the Vartry Reservoir in Roundwood (circa 15km at the moment, and I think they've funding to finish off so it'll be over 20km with all but about 1.5km off road), and even the Avonmore Way from Trooperstown are fine on cx bikes.

Is there an official award/ criteria for Greenways, as if so, I'd even suggest that to our community council regarding the Vartry ones.

I'm not sure if there is an official award, there are EU criteria for what constitutes a satisfactory route for EuroVelo routes I think, which would probably be a good standard to aim for.

I'd consider it a Greenway if you could cycle it on a standard road bike as a complete cycling novice, either a bound tarmacked surface or unbound fine gravel surface (not ideal though). Specifically one that doesn't ban cyclists!

velo.2010

Great work by the OP.

Regarding the 'Potential beside Active Railway' marked trails. These are still effectively mainline railway lines. I don't know how they might be considered potential greenways in the short term. Removing them would clear up the map a little bit and leave only those greenways that are finished/under construction/planned etc.

If anything, the map shows how grossly under prioritised cycling is.

brocbrocach

The Great Southern Trail in Limerick is a fantastic resource that doesn't seem to have any national profile. I did the section from Templeglantin to Abbeyfeale just but found it great although twas a bit bumpy. It's a lovely way to get through that part of the country from Limerick to Kerry and they should make more of it, even try to link it with a Clare trail via the Shannon ferry. That part of west Limerick and north Kerry is pretty much what tourists come to Ireland to see.

riddlinrussell

velo.2010 wrote: »

Great work by the OP.

Regarding the 'Potential beside Active Railway' marked trails. These are still effectively mainline railway lines. I don't know how they might be considered potential greenways in the short term. Removing them would clear up the map a little bit and leave only those greenways that are finished/under construction/planned etc.

If anything, the map shows how grossly under prioritised cycling is.

I'm of two minds about them myself, I can't personally see greenways alongside an active line as a particularly desirable route for cyclists, except possibly in cities where it could be purely for commuting purposes, but I've had a number of people say they should be considered. The main reason they are included is because there are large sections where they would provide an excellent way to link disparate greenways together into much more of a greenway 'network'. Also if they were to be seriously looked at, development would be much more expedient than the current greenway developments as you essentially have only one 'landowner' to negotiate with. I think they should remain on there for the moment, you can 'untick' the layer to see the map without them. I'd obviously do a wholesale rework if the DTTaS were to publish a greenway network strategy similar to that released for Northern Ireland

nilhg

OP, congratulations on a great bit of work with the map.

One small quibble, just cause I know the area well, the Lowtown to Athy section of the Grand Canal barrow line is classified in the potential section even though planning permission has been applied for as the Barrow Blueway and it's possible to ride on a MTB or CX bike at the moment, while the Monasterevin-Mountmellick section of the Grand Canal is in the same section and is not in any way navigable by bike and a substantial section of it has either been sold off or used as the Portarlington ring road.

Unfortunately a large proportion of the Naas to Rathvilly old rail line is in a similar situation.

It's great to see the potential on one map so sorry for nitpicking, once again well done.

riddlinrussell

nilhg wrote: »

OP, congratulations on a great bit of work with the map.

One small quibble, just cause I know the area well, the Lowtown to Athy section of the Grand Canal barrow line is classified in the potential section even though planning permission has been applied for as the Barrow Blueway and it's possible to ride on a MTB or CX bike at the moment, while the Monasterevin-Mountmellick section of the Grand Canal is in the same section and is not in any way navigable by bike and a substantial section of it has either been sold off or used as the Portarlington ring road.

Unfortunately a large proportion of the Naas to Rathvilly old rail line is in a similar situation.

It's great to see the potential on one map so sorry for nitpicking, once again well done.

Nitpick away please! I'm relying on people to tell me whats wrong with sections of it as i'm not able to find out all the information for myself (Incredibly hard to find plans/proposals for some places, and I have to know they exist in the first place to search for them) Thanks for the help!

EDIT: I changed the Lowtown to Athy section to Planned, keeping the Monasterevin and Rathvilly ones as 'Potential'. Especially for the potential routes (and many of the others) the shown route is only a rough guide to the actual route any greenway will actually take, obviously lengthy negotiations with landowners, etc along the route and impassable road development will have to be factored in when/if a greenway is actually considered for development.

Cathalu

This is awesome, thanks for the great resource!!
I am sure that there is a completed greenway from Castlebar to Torlough in Co. Mayo too, completely away from the road.

Esroh

Cathalu wrote: »

This is awesome, thanks for the great resource!!
I am sure that there is a completed greenway from Castlebar to Torlough in Co. Mayo too, completely away from the road.

Your correct on above

Also a link from Cong to Clonbur through Coilte woods and then from Clonbur to Cornamona on the Sean Bothar after 2 km on open roads.

TheBlaaMan

The inner 4km part of the Tramore to Waterford route shown is already in place (completely separate to the Waterford Greenway). It is fully off-road (Millers Marsh to Sheeps Bridge) where it follows the course of the St Johns River or otherwise is protected from the Tramore road by armco barrier along the stretch from Sheeps Bridge to the Waterford outer ring road. Check out https://www.facebook.com/FriendsofStJohnsriver/ for details and pics of the inner section.

There is a reasonable, unsegregated roadside cycle lane along the R675 from there to Tramore, but the route shown on the linked map as the 'potential' route does not exist......

There is also a shared footpath along the full 10km length of the R710 Waterford Outer city bypass to make a partial loop with the above. It is wide enough to allow peds/dog walkers and cyclist to co-exist......and at the N/W end feeds on to the Greenway itself at the WIT Carriganore car park.

https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.2258199,-7.1193044,3a,30y,34.93h,73.35t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCbNoysveSX5Ck77BeEdt8g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

R.dufy454773

Anyone know what the story is with the Athlone - Ballinasloe greenway? When is it going to be completed? Is it in progress now?

First I've heard of it and not too much online so I'm intrigued

nilhg

riddlinrussell wrote: »

Nitpick away please! I'm relying on people to tell me whats wrong with sections of it as i'm not able to find out all the information for myself (Incredibly hard to find plans/proposals for some places, and I have to know they exist in the first place to search for them) Thanks for the help!

EDIT: I changed the Lowtown to Athy section to Planned, keeping the Monasterevin and Rathvilly ones as 'Potential'. Especially for the potential routes (and many of the others) the shown route is only a rough guide to the actual route any greenway will actually take, obviously lengthy negotiations with landowners, etc along the route and impassable road development will have to be factored in when/if a greenway is actually considered for development.

Cheers for that.

There are two other old railway spurs in my general area that are not on your map, Athy to Wolfhill, and Kilkenny to the far side of Castlecomer, both of which were built to draw coal from the Castlecomer plateau and are closed a long time, like a lot of the other closed lines the infrastructure around road crossings is still there where there were bridges, level crossings have gone OK but the real issue to using the old lines as greenways is that the lands have gone to a large extent out of public ownership.

You'll find both spurs on the rail map,

http://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php

It also shows in light green the Bord na Mona light bog network which I think has the most potential to be quickly and easily developed into a decent greenway network, there is quite a wide network in the midlands area which would be easy enough to connect to the canal greenways, as the bogs are cutaway more and more of it will fall idle and available for leisure use.

One other area that might be of interest for your map is the windfarm at Mt Lucas, the roadways there are open to the cycling/walking public, the surface wouldn't be the most road bike friendly but passable, whether you'd include it in a greenway map is open to interpretation.

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.274444,-7.23613,4262m/data=!3m1!1e3

whisky_galore

riddlinrussell wrote: »

How well segregated is the section from Timoleague to Courtmacsherry? I'm trying to limit it to true 'Greenways' with minimal road sections and adequate 'Cycleways' with full road segregation.

Updated the map with the Crosshaven trail, don't know how I missed that one!

Separated by a grass margin for the most part, except in a tiny portion where someone planted trees on it as an 'extension' to their garden. Google map it.

whisky_galore

brocbrocach wrote: »

The Great Southern Trail in Limerick is a fantastic resource that doesn't seem to have any national profile. I did the section from Templeglantin to Abbeyfeale just but found it great although twas a bit bumpy. It's a lovely way to get through that part of the country from Limerick to Kerry and they should make more of it, even try to link it with a Clare trail via the Shannon ferry. That part of west Limerick and north Kerry is pretty much what tourists come to Ireland to see.

They don't seem to have the PR machine of the Achill one.

mr spuckler

R.dufy454773 wrote: »

Anyone know what the story is with the Athlone - Ballinasloe greenway? When is it going to be completed? Is it in progress now?

First I've heard of it and not too much online so I'm intrigued

unfortunately I wouldn't get too excited if I were you iirc there was massive conflict with landowners after an attempt to push through compulsory purchase orders met with very strong opposition.

there are some updates here from 2016 and tbh it's not progressed far beyond that, although garrycastle to the white gates on the ballymahon road has been completed.

Garrycastle to Athlone Marina: 4.5 km in length. Urban environs. The next 4.5km heading west from Garrycastle in Athlone to the Shannon received planning in Dec 2015. An EIS for the new cycle bridge and cycleway as far as Athlone Castle will be submitted to An Board Pleanala next month. West of Athlone Castle to Galway on hold awaiting further instruction from the Minister.

· Athlone Marina to Athlone Castle: 0.5 km in length. River Crossing. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for this section which includes a new bridge over the River Shannon, is currently being prepared and submission to An Bord Pléanala is planned.

· Athlone Castle to Ballinasloe: 30 km in length. Rural environs; Greenfield. Paused due to objections in East Galway. It must be pointed out that there was significantly more support in Roscommon for the greenway than there was in East Galway. As reported in this blog the report from TII indicated that 74.3% of landowners in Roscommon accepted the route corridor. It was reported that there was disappointment locally following the ministers decision to pause the western end of the project.

it actually appears from here that planning permission has been granted for a new bridge across the Shannon - I didn't know that until I went looking just now!

whisky_galore

mr spuckler wrote: »

unfortunately I wouldn't get too excited if I were you iirc there was massive conflict with landowners after an attempt to push through compulsory purchase orders met with very strong opposition.

Same story as South Kerry/Farranfore - Valentia Hbr.

ianobrien

OP, What you have down for West Cork Greenway - Cork to Cross Barry can't happen. Quite a lot of the line is sold and is in private ownership and being incorporated into the surrounding land. The two tunnels (Ballinhassig & Innishannon) are now on private land. (The Ballinhassig one finishes at Ballinhassig station and that's in private ownership). Also, further down the Bandon line, where the line exited the Innishannon Tunnel and crossed the Bandon River, the bridge is long gone. The bridge piers have disappeared from view also (I'm hoping it's the trees have grown up around them!).

The good news is that where it crossed the Bandon River here https://www.google.ie/maps/place/51%C2%B046'06.7%22N+8%C2%B041'20.9%22W/@51.7685347,-8.6902784,342m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d51.7685329!4d-8.6891379, there is a car park and a walk along the railway line that finishes here https://www.google.ie/maps/place/51%C2%B045'20.3%22N+8%C2%B042'45.1%22W/@51.7556437,-8.7136374,331m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d51.7556423!4d-8.7125336. You can just about see the path on Google Maps and see the start and end in Streetview. The path does not go all the way to Bandon

NamelessPhil

The Slang River Greenway in South Dublin between Marlay Park and Dundrum is complete and usable on a road bike. There are a few awkward kissing gates and you couldn't use a trailer with it without uncoupling it. It's been completed for a few years now. It is signed with brown information signs.

whisky_galore

ianobrien wrote: »

OP, What you have down for West Cork Greenway - Cork to Cross Barry can't happen.

A lot of re-use of former lines is wishful thinking, the majority of them are no longer in state ownership and the former alignments have been ploughed up, knocked down, filled in or built on making an uninterrupted route nigh impossible.
Happens more frequently in areas where the land is of better quality, boggy and rocky places they tend to be left alone, not worth the farmers' while bothering with.

riddlinrussell

ianobrien wrote: »

OP, What you have down for West Cork Greenway - Cork to Cross Barry can't happen. Quite a lot of the line is sold and is in private ownership and being incorporated into the surrounding land. The two tunnels (Ballinhassig & Innishannon) are now on private land. (The Ballinhassig one finishes at Ballinhassig station and that's in private ownership). Also, further down the Bandon line, where the line exited the Innishannon Tunnel and crossed the Bandon River, the bridge is long gone. The bridge piers have disappeared from view also (I'm hoping it's the trees have grown up around them!).

The good news is that where it crossed the Bandon River here https://www.google.ie/maps/place/51%C2%B046'06.7%22N+8%C2%B041'20.9%22W/@51.7685347,-8.6902784,342m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d51.7685329!4d-8.6891379, there is a car park and a walk along the railway line that finishes here https://www.google.ie/maps/place/51%C2%B045'20.3%22N+8%C2%B042'45.1%22W/@51.7556437,-8.7136374,331m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x0:0x0!7e2!8m2!3d51.7556423!4d-8.7125336. You can just about see the path on Google Maps and see the start and end in Streetview. The path does not go all the way to Bandon

Interestingly that is one of the ones which has been explicitly proposed by Cork Council so its not just my fanciful idea. The vast majority of these routes are indeed through private land, however so was the majority of the Great Western Greenway. As more councils get turned on by the ideas of running a big 'slow tourism' route through their lands they might look at incentivising permitting the routes through private lands.
Or maybe the Government will set a legal precident for CPO with the Kerry greenway and we will have greenways everywhere but everyone using them being attacked by farmers....

whisky_galore

riddlinrussell wrote: »

Interestingly that is one of the ones which has been explicitly proposed by Cork Council so its not just my fanciful idea. The vast majority of these routes are indeed through private land, however so was the majority of the Great Western Greenway. As more councils get turned on by the ideas of running a big 'slow tourism' route through their lands they might look at incentivising permitting the routes through private lands.
Or maybe the Government will set a legal precident for CPO with the Kerry greenway and we will have greenways everywhere but everyone using them being attacked by farmers....

The CPOs were a bad idea, just puts peoples' backs up. Loses a lot of goodwill locally if it is seen to be forced on them by outsiders or the council.
The Kerry greenway could be stalled for years over this, or might not be built at all.

riddlinrussell

whisky_galore wrote: »

The CPOs were a bad idea, just puts peoples' backs up. Loses a lot of goodwill locally if it is seen to be forced on them by outsiders or the council.
The Kerry greenway could be stalled for years over this, or might not be built at all.

I agree entirely, but my main point was that the majority of the current 'tourist' greenways were constructed across private lands working with farmers, I dont see why it would be a total pipe dream to see that 'community greenway' movement extended across Ireland

riddlinrussell

nilhg wrote: »

Cheers for that.

There are two other old railway spurs in my general area that are not on your map, Athy to Wolfhill, and Kilkenny to the far side of Castlecomer, both of which were built to draw coal from the Castlecomer plateau and are closed a long time, like a lot of the other closed lines the infrastructure around road crossings is still there where there were bridges, level crossings have gone OK but the real issue to using the old lines as greenways is that the lands have gone to a large extent out of public ownership.

You'll find both spurs on the rail map,

http://www.railmaponline.com/UKIEMap.php

It also shows in light green the Bord na Mona light bog network which I think has the most potential to be quickly and easily developed into a decent greenway network, there is quite a wide network in the midlands area which would be easy enough to connect to the canal greenways, as the bogs are cutaway more and more of it will fall idle and available for leisure use.

One other area that might be of interest for your map is the windfarm at Mt Lucas, the roadways there are open to the cycling/walking public, the surface wouldn't be the most road bike friendly but passable, whether you'd include it in a greenway map is open to interpretation.

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.274444,-7.23613,4262m/data=!3m1!1e3

Looking at google maps the Athy track is almost entirely obliterated so I cant see it being a goer, at least along that route specifically, the remains could be used as a good link from the barrow line greenway to Athy train station though.

The same goes for the Castlecomer route, although again, a short section could be used to spur off from the other potential greenway towards Dunmore to act as a tourist draw to that route.

I'll look at the bog railways, there are a few recreational bog loops that I haven't yet factored in more because they didn't really 'go' anywhere. but ill look at where they lie and see if they could tie into a bigger network while being nice recreational loops in their own right.

whisky_galore

riddlinrussell wrote: »

I agree entirely, but my main point was that the majority of the current 'tourist' greenways were constructed across private lands working with farmers, I dont see why it would be a total pipe dream to see that 'community greenway' movement extended across Ireland

That depends on what state the earthworks are in, that is if they exist at all now, a half century or more after they closed.

Some of these routes are so broken up long stretches are invisible on Google maps, you would question then if they are worth while developing.

riddlinrussell

I've drawn a lot of the lines in by hand following satellite view and yes I occasionally had to resort to guesswork, but generally only between two fairly close points, its surprising how much of the old lines is still entirely visible, often making up a field boundary or sometimes just straight bisecting a field. I'm inclined to say if the majority of the route can be followed via the line, and accommodation made with farmers for those places where it passes too close to their buildings/is totally obliterated, then I see no reason why it couldn't be done, farmers should be accommodated as far as is feasible, and if any of them have a spot of nouse about them they'd use it as an opportunity to make a bit of money by either selling produce, opening a small cafe, or offering camping alongside the greenway.

EDIT: Added in some more of the suggested trails. Id say a good rule of thumb for 'Is it a greenway' is 'Would I take a 3 year old on it with a child's tricycle?' If it sounds unsuitable for that it probably wouldn't count. Here is the EU definition, its likely explained in further detail in the actual declaration of Lille

nilhg

riddlinrussell wrote: »

Looking at google maps the Athy track is almost entirely obliterated so I cant see it being a goer, at least along that route specifically, the remains could be used as a good link from the barrow line greenway to Athy train station though.

The same goes for the Castlecomer route, although again, a short section could be used to spur off from the other potential greenway towards Dunmore to act as a tourist draw to that route.

I'll look at the bog railways, there are a few recreational bog loops that I haven't yet factored in more because they didn't really 'go' anywhere. but ill look at where they lie and see if they could tie into a bigger network while being nice recreational loops in their own right.

On Athy, the rail line is still visible around the town and hasn't been developed on because it's been earmarked as the route for the (badly needed) relief road
which will I understand have a cycle path as part of the design, the old rail bridge over the barrow will be kept for bike and pedestrian traffic, you can see it just south of where the Grand Canal joins the Barrow.

Not really relevant to your map but maybe of interest to some

G-Man

Excellent work.. Any chance of overlaying some big potential on this, perhaps not on the map, but in a way of saying where there is more potential, but would create more hit.

A few I think about that are broad strokes above re-using existing infra, but more identifying critical links that would enable a lot more in the network.

i) Linking grand and Royal via Kilbeggan onto lough Ennel. You link two big towns and two big routes - would make a great circle tour. Offaly and Westmeath could be an overnight trip from Dub or even day trip for those fit enough.

ii) even if the current grand canal one from inchicore was extended 2kms to Celbridge/Hazelhatch, it would bring in another few towns as well as reaching out into reasonable quite roads of that part of kildare.

iii) quiet ways on rural roads - perhaps a way of marking that their are networks of rural roads that are quiet and safe and perhaps making junctions safer and better speed limits would make these great link resources as well.

mugsymugsy

Be great if ireland had joined up thinking on this topic like in the UK -it's not perfect but the concept is there to be replicated. https://www.sustrans.org.uk/ncn/map/national-cycle-network