Cycling the Grand & Royal canals from Dublin to Mullingar via the western shore of Lough Ennell
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- A good bike packing for beginners route is this one or two night loop following the Grand canal out of Dublin as far as Ballycommon, then about 35lm north by quiet country roads running west of Lough Ennell to join the Royal canal at Ballinea. From. there there is a good quality cycleway through Mullingar and down the side of the canal all the way to Maynooth.
Both canals have multiple spots you can wild camp on and there are two public park areas on the southern and northern ends of the eastern shore of Lough Ennell. The route along the canals is flat with towns or villages where there are pubs, restaurants and shops at regular intervals. The route between the canals at the Mullingar end is hilly with only one significant settlement at Castletown Geoghegan so you'll want may want to stock up as I did at Daingean.
There are parts of the Grand Canal where you can't (easily) cycle along the banks and will need to detour on the road network but its easy to exit Dublin that way so it makes sense to use this for your outward leg and the more straightforward Royal for the return until you get to Lexlip station. In the next couple of years the route into the centre of Dublin should finally be completed but in the meantime I suggest you go as I show in the video and get back the the city via St Catherine's Park, the Strawberry beds and then the Phoenix Park.
I've a map of the route at cycle.travel/m... however as you'll see from my video there are a couple of additional sections of both canals now passable that I couldn't plot along that but are passable already with a bit of effort.
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Cycled the Grand Canal all the way from Dublin city centre to Shannon Harbour - no detours. The only difference was I didn't do it solo so my teenage sons were able to lift the bikes over the gates that were impassable. Also to note at the time - 2 years ago all but one of the hotels we stayed in had proper facilities for locking our bikes. At a push we were allowed keep the bikes in rooms in the hotels. It seemed crazy to be on a greenway and the hotels had no bicycle racks in the car parks etc. We came off the canal for accommodation at Sallins (stayed in Naas), Tullamore (stayed in towncentre) and Shannon Harbour. Lovely video!
Ah that’s useful info - how straightforward was the Ballycommon to Shannon Harbour section (I came off at Ballycommon to head to the Royal)
Great video thanks for posting.
Great video lots of top quality information ,well done you
Thanks!
Many thanks I'll try re-calibrating input values. And look at your links.
See you up the road
Sean
W.I & C.C particularly former move very slowly. Old irrigation system. Best done week end less cement lorry's.Compared to Netherlands,Germany,Europe Ireland is light years behind,save Limerick Kerry Waterford Mayo.Your a great man love the tube.
thanks, yes I guess the slow speed is the most frustrating aspect although I think often that’s due to rich people using the planning process to slow down developments they don’t like. Particularly with the deep sinking on the Royal which is becoming a total delay for ever joke
Doing this cycle in the morning ! I can’t waittttt. Lovely video really enjoyed it
I cycled part of the route again recently but this time unloaded and lifted the bike over that barrier at the 12th lock - rough going but pretty
Very enjoyable, thank you. Feels like a waste of a resource with such great potential. Happy cycling!
It is steadily being improved but a real shame both canals have short sections at the Dublin suburbs that seem unlikely to have a safe route out in for years yet even though after that the Royal will soon be continuous to the Shannon
I’ve cycled the Grand from Dublin to Shannon harbour a couple of times stayed with the canal all the way. No need to detour. I can get my heavy eBike under that barrier after Sallins no problem. Going is surely mixed, boggy in places but that only adds to the fun IMHO.
Thanks for making this great video.
What about the section on the Dublin side of Edenderry? That had locked farm gates just after the lock on both banks
Great vid
The amount of drivers and trucks I’ve seen passing you on solid lines and at bends is bloody terrifying. Driving around Dublin the amount of people who just fly past cyclists like they’re not there is awful.
If you put these drivers on a bike and they experienced how scary it is when your passed like this they’d definitely think twice.
Yeah your not wrong, my expectations are very low so I hardly notice then unless the pass at less that 0.5m - I’d one of those Friday. Probably 18 out of 20 are grand but if your on a busy road that 10% happens very minute
@3:50 Surely someone could have helped you lift the bike over the barrier?...The guy you met there for example??
With that trip I wanted to do a route people could follow even if they were not able to lift. Also I wasn’t sure what might be further down. Today however I repeated it lifting there and at the other spots so I should have that up soon
Hi lovely video, what are the path conditions on royal canal like going from mullingar to Maynooth thanks
Almost perfect although some patches of dust gravel rather than tarmac which might be tricky with ultra skinny wheels
Any recommendations for someone to optimise the Bafang SS HD 0:00 1000W 48 v . Only interested in Range at about 20- 25 kph..
Presently 70 Kms I feel with tweeking input and perhaps drive ratio I can get much better. Comments much appreciated.
Sean
I’m not familiar with their system but if you check my gear playlist there are a couple of videos on range where I talk about maximizing it on any system. I get about 120km on a 500whr battery which sounds similar to yours but if I create a much lower custom assist I’ve stretched that to 220km in Connemara. But for multi day touring I carry an extra battery to give me the flexibility of upping assist when I need it on a big hill late in the day etc
Hello there. Few questions .. What is the purpose of those briars? Are bicycles not allowed there? Everybody's physical strength is different, I lift my bike up the stairs to 7th floor, every day with the panniers and groceries after work .. Maybe 22-23 kilos.
Unlike the deep sinking on the Royal canal there aren’t any no cycling signs. The general excuse given for the barriers is to try and keep out teens on scrambler motorbikes
Thanks for replying
W.I. have no interest in promoting bikes along canals.This I got from current engineer in W.I. when I enquired about improving surface from Robertsown / and after Lowtown. Kildare C.C.do Thier best but slowly.
Oh interesting, I guess they see the water navigation as central although in that case why are the very literally gatekeeping access to the Dublin section (apparently the 12th lock is kept well locked so boats can’t pass Hazelhatch). Anyway I guess I’ll give them credit for reopening but a fail on imagination. Maybe the videos will help them reconsider