Greenway Map

Esroh · 31-01-2018 6:36pm

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 · 31-01-2018 9:56pm

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 · 31-01-2018 10:31pm

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 · 31-01-2018 10:31pm

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 · 01-02-2018 9:21am

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 · 01-02-2018 9:27am

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 · 01-02-2018 11:44am

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 · 01-02-2018 11:48am

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 · 02-02-2018 12:09am

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 · 02-02-2018 9:39am

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 · 02-02-2018 9:45am

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 · 02-02-2018 11:21am

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 · 02-02-2018 11:32am

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 · 02-02-2018 11:37am

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 · 02-02-2018 11:54am

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 · 02-02-2018 11:55am

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 · 02-02-2018 12:12pm

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 · 02-02-2018 2:43pm

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 · 03-02-2018 1:10am

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 · 03-02-2018 11:05am

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

magicbastarder · 03-02-2018 11:09am

can google maps calculate the total length of the routes plotted on it?

riddlinrussell · 05-02-2018 10:55am

magicbastarder wrote: »

can google maps calculate the total length of the routes plotted on it?

Not entirely certain, anyone can freely export the data I've drawn for their own use if they like, so theres probably an easy way to get that info. As a rough guide, if you look at the Northern Ireland section, everything from Proposed through Completed is approximately 1000 km of cycleway according to the Greenways Plan for NI

Fian · 05-02-2018 1:11pm

Thud wrote: »

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

Re the greenway up past the bohernabreena reservoir. I went up on my road bike saturday. Didn't go beyond the upper reservoir, because I didn't think teh surface was ideal for my tyres. really nice spot though, will return with a hybrid rather than road bike, planning to head up there with the kids on hybrid bikes.

Carawaystick · 07-02-2018 1:17am

Fian wrote: »

Re the greenway up past the bohernabreena reservoir. I went up on my road bike saturday. Didn't go beyond the upper reservoir, because I didn't think teh surface was ideal for my tyres. really nice spot though, will return with a hybrid rather than road bike, planning to head up there with the kids on hybrid bikes.

I've come down it on my road bike, its hard packed fine granite gravel, about the limit of a road bike. The Corpo have lots of signs up saying cyclists dismount coming down, but.... I remounted immediately...

It's only a short spin up to the featherbeds from the top of the reservoir road...

McTigs · 07-02-2018 10:01am

the tiny galway city section is my morning commute

Fian · 07-02-2018 10:43am

Carawaystick wrote: »

I've come down it on my road bike, its hard packed fine granite gravel, about the limit of a road bike. The Corpo have lots of signs up saying cyclists dismount coming down, but.... I remounted immediately...

It's only a short spin up to the featherbeds from the top of the reservoir road...

Yeah tbh i was fine going up as far as the second reservoir, except there was very little clearance on my mudguards so some stuff got stuck between tyres and mudguards. also came down without dismounting (slowly). I met a guy on a MTB coming down from beyond there and asked him what the surface was like beyond it - he told me it would ruin my tyres so I turned back. Might have gone for a look myself but I wanted to get back for Wales v Scotland. Anyway I will go next time on hybrid to see where it comes out, hadn't realised you could go on to featherbeds and I am trying to figure out if i can imagine where. That lower road from tallaght i guess that you can see from military road ( I have never been on that).

G-Man · 07-02-2018 1:57pm

Hi.. You really don't have to push the bike much up hill... As far as I know from a few years back . It can be comes out again through a gate on to the narrow roads.... Nice tough short climb out of there up towards military Rd.

whisky_galore · 12-02-2018 12:24pm

West Clare Railway Greenway Hits A Bump In The Road.

http://www.clare.fm/podcasts/west-clare-railway-greenway-hits-bump-road/

Carawaystick · 14-02-2018 12:27am

Fian wrote: »

Anyway I will go next time on hybrid to see where it comes out, hadn't realised you could go on to featherbeds and I am trying to figure out if i can imagine where. That lower road from tallaght i guess that you can see from military road ( I have never been on that).

Fill your boots
https://www.strava.com/segments/1329636

If you are going up there, you could do worse than start from Ringsend and follow the Dodder all the way up. The Waterfall at the M50 is a surprise.

Mucco · 14-02-2018 2:45pm

It's a great map.
Would it be possible to add a layer from Strava Heatmaps to show where people are already cycling?

Greenway Map

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