Royal Canal on a Road Bike

The Deep Sinking certainly has its moments but most of it isn't too bad if it's dry. As mentioned in Weepsie's linked article, there was a major accident here in 1845 when a passenger barge sank after hitting the bank. More details at http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=83643699

I would be interested in anyone's recent experience of cycling the section west of Enfield. My memory of it as far as the Hill of Down is a bit vague but I don't remember any of it being as bad as Kilcock to Enfield. As I understand it, once you get to Westmeath just beyond the Hill of Down, it's great as the County Council have recently invested heavily in it. From Mullingar you have the options of staying on the restored canal towpath to the county boundary near Ballymahon, heading to Athlone on the new greenway or hopping on a train back to Dublin.

All of this is due to be upgraded once the other County Councils follow Westmeath's example, sooner rather than later I hope.

Useful link with distances in kms http://royalcanal.ie/leisure-activities/distance-table/

P_1 wrote: »

Is it from this spot the Royal Canal Way becomes all smooth and road bike friendly going West?

Maybe even from a bit further east on the county boundary.

velo.2010 wrote: »

Thinking that the route along the canal from Maynooth to Kilcock had been tarmacked, I went down that way last week. Got onto the canal path and found it to be that loose bitumen/asphalt surface - completely inappropriate for road bikes and skinny tyres. Tried again from the Kilcock side and the same thing. The only piece that is properly surfaced is the one kilometre stretch approaching the town from the Maynooth side. I'm guessing that was done for photographic purposes when the upgrade to the quayside in Kilcock was completed.

Was able to average about 23kph on the blinded stone sections on 25mm tyres. There has been a lot of debate elsewhere as to whether the full route to Galway should be Tarmac or a mix of blinded stone on the rural sections and Tarmac near towns. This seems to be Waterways Ireland preference and I for one would have no problem with it.

Chuchote wrote: »

What's blinded stone when it's at home?

A layer of fine grit on top of a rough stone base. It's what used on the Great Western Greenway and a lot of other rural cycle paths.

For anyone trying to keep up-to-date on the improvement works on the Royal Canal Greenway, check out https://www.facebook.com/royalcanalgreenway/
They also have a linked website.
The best maps are on www.irishtrails.ie/trail/Royal-Canal/28/ and there is a useful distance table on www.royalcanal.ie/royal-canal-greenway/distance-table/

Looks like some works are due to be completed this December with more promised in early 2018. Dublin, Fingal and Kildare are seriously lagging behind Westmeath, Meath and Longford.

tnegun wrote: »

Are they finished at Maynooth? Or will they continue on towards Leixlip and the deep sinking?

From the Royal Canal Greenway website in November:

Castleknock to FCC/KCC (Dublin/Kildare) Border – feasibility done, Fingal County Council are about to complete the tendering process for a design engineer for the deep sinking portion which is likely to be costly and there are some concerns for the environmental impacts of heavy construction in this area – indications are that it may be a further 2 years before this section is complete.

Dublin/Kildare Border to Maynooth – feasibility done – next stage preliminary design – no further update available.

This is the full November status report from the Royal Canal Greenway site:

Dublin City Council Section: The following update is thanks to Cllr. Ray McAdam from his website. “Dublin City Council has added the upgrade of a road junction to the Phase II programme of works. The initial phase of the tendering process has now been completed with Council officials expecting the second stage to start in November. All going to plan, it is anticipated that construction can begin on March 29th 2018. In terms of Phase III of the project, between the North Strand Road and the Phibsborough Road, the Council has had to review the documentation surrounding the cost of the project, meaning that tender documents should now be issued in December 2017. It is anticipated that the Contractor will be on site before the end of April 2018. The project requires certain approvals from Waterways Ireland.” Phase 4 of the project, from CrossGuns Bridge to Ashtown, was stalled in 2016 due to the lack of planners caused by the Luas cross city project.

Ashtown to Castleknock Section: Completed June 201

Castleknock to FCC/KCC (Dublin/Kildare) Border – feasibility done, Fingal County Council are about to complete the tendering process for a design engineer for the deep sinking portion which is likely to be costly and there are some concerns for the environmental impacts of heavy construction in this area – indications are that it may be a further 2 years before this section is complete.

Dublin/Kildare Border to Maynooth – feasibility done – next stage preliminary design – no further update available.

Maynooth to Kilcock (Chambers bridge) – The work from Maynooth Harbour to Chambers Bridge is due to complete in the second week of November 2017, with further works at Bailey’s Bridge to be completed later in the spring of 2018.

Kilcock greenway (Chambers bridge to Spin bridge): Completed Dec 2016
Kilcock to Ferns Lock: Waterways Ireland are carrying out works from Spin Bridge, just west of Kilcock to Ferns Lock

Ferns Lock to Cloncurry: there is a delay with the work from Ferns Lock to Cloncurry as a new Part 8 was required and it was hoped there will be an update on this in the coming weeks.

Cloncurry Bridge to the Blackwater Aquaduct: Meath County Council are currently finalising this section.

Aquaduct to Moyvalley (Fureys Public House): Kildare County Council and Waterways Ireland are working on this and this work is sixty per cent complete but the section cannot be completed until spring 2018.

Moyvalley to Westmeath: Meath County Council had completed the section from Moyvalley to Westmeath and Westmeath County Council has finished the remainder of the work as far as Athlone.

Westmearth/Longford border to Cloondara: Westmeath to Ballymahon completed summer 2017. Kenagh (Mosstown) to Kilashee is under construction. Working is also progressing from Foigha Bridge to Mosstown and they are expecting to do Longford Bridge to Archie’s Bridge before the end of the 2017. Longford council are awaiting funding to complete the section from Archies bridge to Foigha (Mullawornia) but hope it will be done for Easter 2018.


Unless you are familiar with all the place names along the canal, you really need to have a detailed map in front of you reading all this. The reference to Athlone above should probably be the Longford/Westmeath border instead. Essentially, all of Longford and Westmeath is completed (or will be very soon), Meath has quite a bit completed or under way, Kildare still has a good bit to do, Fingal has a lot to do and Dublin needs to get it's act together. AFAIK, the canal ends at Richmond Harbour in Clondra and the short section beyond that is regarded as part of the Shannon navigation.