Grand Canal walk across Ireland - Help needed!

mydiscworld

Hi all, I'm hoping to walk across Ireland around September starting by Grand Canal Dock in Dublin, along the grand canal to Shannon Harbour in Offaly and on to Salthill in Galway.

My rough route so far is

1 Grand Canal Dock, Dublin to Celbridge, Kildare 24km
2 Celbridge to Robertstown, Kildare 30km
3 Robertstown to Edenderry, Offaly 22km
4 Edenderry to Tullamore, Offaly 33km
5 Tullamore to Ferbane, Offaly 27km
6 Furbane to Shannonbridge, Offaly 24km
7 Shannonbridge to Kilconnell, Galway 26km
8 Kilconnell to Athenry, Galway 27km
10 Athenry to Salthill, Galway 24km

I've walked the Camino in Spain so the distances shouldn't bother me and it's mostly flat all the way.

The first 6 days travel along the grand canal, so completely off road apart from the odd spot where it's impassable and a short detour required.

The tricky part is the last 4 days after I finish in Shannon Harbour and head towards Galway. I can't seem to find any local routes off the main/ local roads.

I've checked Google satellite along parts of this route and it seems to be small roads, many with no hard should til you get to bigger towns near Ballinasloe and Athenry.

I'm wondering how safe it would to be walking these roads?

Odds are I'll be walking that stretch alone during daylight hours and a high vis jacket. Cars going past at 80/100km on the main roads all day doesn't sound appealing!

Is there an alternative route with some off road?

BarryD2

You've probably already checked? http://www.irishtrails.ie/National_Waymarked_Trails/

The Hymany Way will bring you to Ballgar. You could head north on the Suck Valley for a bit and then head west on quieter roads, to turn south for Galway.

But you're right - there is a gap. There was some talk a few years back of an ERA type trail across Ireland linking Dublin to Galway and there are / have been various suggestions for Greenways in the area but I don't think much has come to fruition. The map above is not complete either, there is a Greenway now extending from Mullingar on the Royal Canal westwards towards Athlone and there is also the rather variable O'Sullivan Bere route which wanders south to north through same area.

Spif1

I have planned a similar hike in July. Since I am a Yank, I relied on comments from this website and a lot of research that I could get of the internet.
There will be three of us on our trek. We decided to take the Royal Canal out of Dublin and stopping for the nights at the following locations: Maynooth, Enfield, Kinnegad, Mullingar, Moate, Athlone, Old Town, Woodlawn, Mountbellew, Tuam,
Headford, Cong , and then finishing up at my Brother's house in Cloghbrack.
We did not plan on passing through Galway City since my Brother lives a little further north. We have given our selves two weeks to complete the hike. It is not a strenuous hike, about 14 miles per day average.
I know just how hard it is to lay out a route that keeps you going in somewhat of a straight line and yet be able to arrainge overnight accommodations.
If I can be of any help to you, you can contact me at neutronguy@hotmail.com
Good luck.
Charlie

Greybottle

Opposite Shannon Harbour there is a canal linking the Shannon to Ballinasloe. Most of it is filled in and in use as a Bord na Mona Railway and a small section is converted to road. It is possible to walk almost all of this to Ballinasloe.

We once asked somebody to drop us over to the other side with a boat and they were kind enough to do this, or else you could walk this route here and try to get through the bog to the start of the canal. Rough going, but very wild and untouched. https://www.google.ie/maps/dir/53.2073658,-7.9878463/Clonony+Beg,+Shannon+Harbour,+Co.+Offaly/@53.2199659,-7.9680962,2870m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x485c5a064768273f:0x2600c7a819bae312!2m2!1d-7.9510616!2d53.2219454!3e2

An example of the old canal infrastructure is here: https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.2773106,-8.1671768,3a,60y,221.81h,80.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKqdSxX8BnKXMttCNNCMQ2A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Or, easier is as above to follow the Hymany Way. You can take quiet boreens to Galway, but it's not easy and very roundabout.

It's a heavily populated rural area with narrow roads considering the population size and can be a bit hairy at times. I've a good enough idea of the area and I'll try to get something up for you fairly soon.

EDIT:
To be honest, once you hit Athenry you're in trouble. Every road into Galway has houses left and right, with no infrastructure put in for walking or cycling. Cars move fast, so there's a few hours uncomfortable walking there. If you plan it to do the Athenry-Oranmore section on a Sunday morning you'd be a bit better oof. 3 Hours at the most.

mydiscworld

Greybottle wrote: »

Opposite Shannon Harbour there is a canal linking the Shannon to Ballinasloe. Most of it is filled in and in use as a Bord na Mona Railway and a small section is converted to road. It is possible to walk almost all of this to Ballinasloe.

We once asked somebody to drop us over to the other side with a boat and they were kind enough to do this, or else you could walk this route here and try to get through the bog to the start of the canal. Rough going, but very wild and untouched. https://www.google.ie/maps/dir/53.2073658,-7.9878463/Clonony+Beg,+Shannon+Harbour,+Co.+Offaly/@53.2199659,-7.9680962,2870m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x485c5a064768273f:0x2600c7a819bae312!2m2!1d-7.9510616!2d53.2219454!3e2

An example of the old canal infrastructure is here: https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.2773106,-8.1671768,3a,60y,221.81h,80.07t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sKqdSxX8BnKXMttCNNCMQ2A!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Or, easier is as above to follow the Hymany Way. You can take quiet boreens to Galway, but it's not easy and very roundabout.

It's a heavily populated rural area with narrow roads considering the population size and can be a bit hairy at times. I've a good enough idea of the area and I'll try to get something up for you fairly soon.

EDIT:
To be honest, once you hit Athenry you're in trouble. Every road into Galway has houses left and right, with no infrastructure put in for walking or cycling. Cars move fast, so there's a few hours uncomfortable walking there. If you plan it to do the Athenry-Oranmore section on a Sunday morning you'd be a bit better oof. 3 Hours at the most.

Great shout on the section from Shannon Bridge to Ballinasloe.

Ballinasloe to Kilconnell to Athenry is small roads, many with no hard shoulder. Should be quieter I guess but with blind bends, I'd need to be vigilant for stepping in.

It's the Athenry to Oranmore section alright that looks worst. Doing that on a Sunday is a great idea.

Losty Dublin

When a post below mentions the roads in Galway as being bad for walkers, I see that another contributor mentions walking from Tuam onwards to Mayo. If anything around these are worse by a long long way. They are windy, hilly and worse yet, the roads around there have no verge and are very busy with cars and large vehicles. You should look at seeing if there is an off the beaten path route to take as the fun will be out of it if all you are doing is hedge hugging.

Spif1

We completed our walk along from Dublin to Cloughbrack which is about 12 km past Cong, County Mayo. It took us 13 days and we took the Royal Canal route out of Dublin as far as Mullingar. We were able to walk the Westmeath Greenway from Mullingar to Athone which I highly recommend.

Yes the roads past Athlone to Connemora are tricky. At times we were able to find low traffic country lanes and some briddle paths, but there was a lot of walking along some busy roads with small to no existant shoulders. There is talk on creating a greenway to Galway, but that is not going to happen in the near future. Be careful if you walk those roads and definitely wear a brightly colored vest or shirt. I must add that the oncoming drivers did take great care to pass us safely in most every case.
I wanted to add that when walking across Ireland, a lot of locals asked where we were heading and when we said Connemora, the usual reply was " Ye know there is a bus!"LOL

Spif1

I still have a copy of "Guide to the Grand Canal" which I purchased and did not use. If anyone wishes to have it send me your mailling address and I will pass it on to you free of charge. Safe walking!

Spif1

I no longer have that copy of "Guide to the Grand Canal".