Greenways [greenway map of Ireland in post 1]

I'm a bit flumoxxed trying to find out exactly how many greenway trails there are in Ireland, where they are, their accessibility and length/ease or difficulty etc. I know there is a Greenway site and the OSI, but I recently discovered that there is a Greenway in Blessington that I had never heard of and does not appear on either of the above websites. There are probably lots of other greenways/walking routes etc. around the country that are as yet undiscovered other than by those living close by.

Admittedly I haven't done any in depth research county by county, but I think all greenways/walkways should be more visible on a search, not just for me but for everyone, native and tourist alike. Seems like there is no central website for this.

But maybe I am missing some very good site that shows it all. Anyone any ideas?

Well I tried typing greenways Ireland into Google and would you believe that the first thing came up was (shock horror) GreenwaysIreland.org

Yes I know about Greenways Ireland, but it doesn't include Blessington Greenway for example, just mentions it as a "future" project, even though it is open and being used, which was the point of my post thanks.

I had to separately search for it and found it via Wicklow Tourism. Just saying that there may be many other (smaller maybe) greenways out there that are not mentioned on the main site and therefore not being used much if people don't know they exist.

https://visitwicklow.ie/listing/blessington-greenway-walk/

I accept that smaller infrastructural projects like Blessington are probably not sexy enough for the Greenway website, but I would like to see a central portal for all greenways somewhere anyway. Would be easier than checking out each county individually for what they have to offer greenway wise.

Good to hear some agreement at last! And there are Blueways, and Pilgrim ways, and all sorts of trails and walks all over the shop, but it seems to be very hard to find them centrally.

Could you link to "RR"s map please? If you have time, I don't have much faith in the search function here, and not sure what to look for re RR anyway. Cheers and thanks.

Thanks for pointing me to the map in post no.1. It is an amazing piece of work and all credit to RR.

The point I was making is that a central portal like RR's is badly needed on the Failte Ireland/Greenway/OS sites. I intend to ask the relevant departments to comment, we shall see what their response is.

As a moderator could you tell me if I am allowed to link RR's map in correspondence? I won't link anything until I find out.

I always wish there were more construction photos here like with the roads forum.

Anyway, practicing what i preach, here's one of the Athlone bridge construction. Crane on an island halfway. Beginning to take shape at the approaches. Very zig-zag to get to the bridge.

Was on the Royal canal around Ballymahon, Longford . There's a bog adjacent to the canal called Corlea that's getting a lot of work done to turn it into a Greenway Park. Mostly along the bog rail that's closed down.

Like with Lough Boora, loads of trails around a now disused bog. Because it's along disused bog railway I think it can be defined as a Greenway.

Trivia: the water tower on the left @ 4:18 is a remnant of when that site was built as a base for the Royal Naval Airship Service in 1918/1919. The base was never completed and subsequently dismantled.

The drone footage doesn't show what they have done West of Killeagh where someone has build a house and a machinery yard on the railway / greenway itself. Must go take a look.

The plan was a CPO and chicane yep. I don't know what the end result is.

I honestly don't think boring* will be an issue for any Greenway, once it has a high level of segregation from road traffic. There is clearly a huge appetite for these facilities from a broad spectrum of the population so any good facility will attract users. Midleton - Youghal might not have tourists flocking there in huge numbers but I'm sure there will be no shortage of users.

For me, the main advantage of Midleton - Youghal is its potential as part of a much bigger south coast route. There are plans for linking from it to Cork city, if it could be linked to Dungarvan you'd then have Greenway from New Ross to Cork city. There is also the South Wexford former rail route which would create Rosslare to Cork. I could see cycling that becoming a Bucket List type journey.

*I know people don't mean Midleton- Youghal would be boring in the usual meaning of the word, just not as scenic as other Greenways.

Good luck with that, most of Mallow-Dungarvan route is now farmland having been sold off soon after closure and unlike the current greenway was not retained for years afterwards by CIE.

Very wishful thinking that they'll ever get it back.

No it's very very different.

Prime agricultural land vs rocks and sheep. Expect some pushback from farmers who don't want their fields divided. There are great long stretches of nothing; no trackbed, no ditches, just open fields.

I got curious and I looked at Riddlin's map in Satellite view and 90-95% of the route that goes through farmland is still ditch/double ditch boundary between fields. Although a CPO would still be needed, the number of fields/farms affected by splitting might not be as high as you think.

Same way a farmer can manage a herd either side of a road - an ingenious invention called the gate. Routing a greenway through farmland is no more obtrusive or difficult than it would be crossing roads (far easier logistically).

Do we not already have silage trailers going up roads mixing with kids bikes ?

Yep, and being able to get a train and greenway from Cork or Cobh to Youghal beach would be a genuinely attractive tourist network. Let alone a Blarney, Cobh, Midleton, Youghal network. I'm not worried about "boring" at all. I don't think I really look at a whole pile of scenery for the majority of time I'm on the Waterford to Dungarvan greenway either. There are destinations en-route, there is relaxed chat, you can switch off and not worry about traffic. The scenery isn't the big attraction, at least for me.

And most greenway users will be local. Midleton and Youghal (and Killeagh and Castlemartyr) people won't be too worried about the perceived lack of scenery.