Cycling the grand canal

There's a roving group(s) around Dublin at the moment. I only saw another group being moved off yesterday by the council with photos being taken of the mess as they drove off. On the way past a couple of hours later I saw the council cleaning up all their ****. This is a regular spot and they **** it up every time they stop there. The place is destroyed, fencing etc damaged purposely by them, the cycle lanes in the area are now completely blocked by those big massive concrete blocks that has to be employed to prevent this, and yet they still manage to push some of them out of the way enough so that they can get back in again and destroy the place a week or two after the council, and therefore us, pay to clean it up.

They would appear to be.

Was curious so I attempted the 4.5k from the 12th to Hazelhatch today definitely mountain bike only territory looks like the path was dug up to lay fibre and not reinstated properly and has been over grown. Which is a real pity as the surroundings are great and would make a much nicer route to the N4!

I'm heading west tomorrow on the Grand. I'll be on my tourer with 'trekking' tyres.

T'was grand (and royal later). Got caught in one absolute downpour which took around 2 sec to go from dry to pissing down. Had a cape with me which took around 3 seconds to deploy and I carried on through the river that the road had become.

Surfaces were fine, you'd have no bother on road slicks for the most part.

The Royal on the way back was almost entirely paved/sanded. I had to bypass builder fences at Moyvalley and between Enfield and Kilcock.

I avoided the downpours while riding but I camped out overnight with a hammock and a tarp in the wind and rain without issue.

I joined the Grand at Hazelhatch and went west as far as Tullamore. There are places where you're pedalling through grass but it's pretty much passable all the way. Wider tyres are a boon as well as lower gears.

Best advice is try it and see how it goes. If necessary you can revert to road for some of it.

Hugo_Whoriskey wrote: »

Anyone had any issues on the grand from City centre as far as Hazelhatch? Planning on a spin this evening. I know there's the issue with the canal at suir Road right now, any anti social issues further along with the sunny weather?

Personally I wouldn't cycle Ballyfermot to past ParkWest after about 7PM, that's what I tell my boss anyway :pac: , after 8 it would be like The Purge

Absolutely understand this but what a fupping crying shame and shame on our police force and local authorities that its not safe to use dedicated cycling infrastructure at 6.30 in the evening. For what its worth I travel this route daily and occasionally that late , personally have never had anything serious happen but witness antisocial behavior daily.

tnegun wrote: »

Anyone know the purpose of the new drag strip/tarmac'd road across the green to the 11th lock? Theres already paved access across the same green a little further up so not sure what purpose this serves.

Spoke to a Waterways guy working on the canal today and the new road was installed to give the Gardai access at this point so that's a bonus I suppose!

a148pro wrote: »

Anyone any recent intel on the following from tullamore to naas area:-

Current surface (an online review from 2019 suggests grass either side of edenderry, i'll be on gravel bike but mate will be on road bike, i've done dublin to robertstown so know it's good from there to Sallins)

Route marking (I assume it's the yellow man) and whether you are at risk of going down dead ends

Somewhere good for lunch along the route (one review suggests larkins in edenderry, hopefully it's open for lunch on a sunday in covid)

Over the last few days I've done all of Lowtown to Edenderry on a CX bike, surface is fine for most of it if a bit bumpy in places but parts of it are going to be hairy on a road bike with skinny tyres, mostly grass but rough tarmak with big potholes in places, the sections either side of the skew bridge outside Allenwood have some quite rutted grass paths.

Navigation is simple, keep to the north bank, take the spur into Edenderry for your lunch (lovely tarmac there). With covid restrictions it's hard to know where will be open, Eden Deli just at the roundabout at the harbour is grand, there's a big Centra with good deli and a supermacs on the Dublin side of town if you're stuck.

Just thinking, almost all of Tullamore-Ballycommon-Daingean is tarmac (of the grass down the middle type) apart from the first bit out of town.

The golf club at Castle Barna has closed, that was always a good spot for grub, I'm not sure if it's under new management or not.

beggars_bush wrote: »

Royal canal towpath has much better surface

Enjoy your cycle

Yeah I just have to get this bit done then will move on to the royal

a148pro wrote: »

Still a lot of green on this route, cx bike minimum needed. I did it on gravel bike with 37s which ate the route. In fact, of all the cycling I do on the gravel bike, it's this kind of stuff it's most useful on, your average fire road or forest trail is doable on road bike. But this kind of bumpy grassy route would not be fun, but you can tear along on 37s. Eats it up.

Just because I'm curious, did you manage to find somewhere for lunch in Edenderry afterwards?

Did this today. Out to Robertstown. Had planned to go further but was getting tired at that point, and still had to get back to Dublin!

Way more green than I'd thought. Most was grand bar that 5km from lock 12 to Mcevoys. Was just slow sucky slidey slimey mud.

Cx with 32s was flying along lost of it.

CormacH94 wrote: »

Planning to do it next summer/early September so I'd hope that the upgrade work would be done at that point?

Based on the length of time it took to finish a few sections of the Royal a couple of years ago, your question mark is spot on!

nilhg wrote: »

An awful lot depends on the existing condition of the towpath, if it's decent they make good progress but if it's unlevel and drainage is an issue then it can take ages, you have to remember access is poor and space non existent.

I'm watching the contractors doing the Barrow Blueway close to home here and they seem to be making decent progress, two crews working from either end.

I haven't been down on the canal in a while. How far have they progressed?

duffer247 wrote: »

I really shouldn't have laughed at 24:20

I live near that any many's the time I've pushed a bike with a kid on it up that! It does get muddy however. The key is to use the brakes to hold the bike as you push it up, he may have been on drop bars where it wasn't so easy.

For anyone watching looking for some lockdown (or more realistically, staycation inspiration) you can cycle from the start of this route all the way to either the Shannon or St Mullins in the South East close to the end of the Barrow river, almost entirely away from roads. Pretty amazing asset for a cyclist to have. Plenty of info on threads on here about it.

If the sun is out the scum will be out. I cycled from Kill to Town loads on the Grand Canal, the stretch in question has always had it's fair share of locals using it, but I never had any issues or felt particularly threatened. During summer it will be busy with youths swimming in the canal, as well as a few drug users in the ditch, but it's also used by regular folk out for a walk. I think it's relatively safe.

Watch out for punctures on broken glass, and the red bridge at Lucan is lethal in the wet.

So I had to go from Portobello to Lucan and back today, and I decided I'd chance the canal path and just keep my wits about me. Sunny Saturday afternoon. Apart from 4 young lads enjoying a joint and minding their own business, there wasn't a sign of anything remotely antisocial. The path was in great condition, no broken glass. Two kissing gates, I think. Most of them had a gap you could just lift the bike through, others were wide enough to allow you to cycle through. Tons of people cycling, walking dogs, families out with kids, it was gorgeous! And quieter than the Royal which meant I could actually do 30km/h + for the most part, and annoy no one. The traffic crossings could do with having the wait time shortened for pedestrians/cyclists, but it was a minor issue.

Did I just get lucky, or has something been done to tackle the fabled antisocial behaviour?