Barrow Line Race – 30 Mile Event Report
Well I guess I should start the run report by saying that the first outing of the Barrow Line Race wasn’t on the Barrow Line but ran from Tullamore to Robertstown on the main line of the Grand Canal. That was because of ongoing works on the Barrow Blueway between Monasterevin and Rathangan. That said…
Barrow Line Race 30 Mile Course Change
Unfortunately, due to ongoing works and closures of the Blueway on the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal between Monasterevin and Rathangan, it will not be possible to hold the Barrow Line Race on the Barrow Line in 2022. The event will now take place on the Main Line of the Grand Canal, starting at…
Irish Canal Ultra Series: Barrow Line Race 30 Mile
The Barrow Line Race #BLR30 is the first of three events that make up the Irish Canal Ultra Series. The inaugural event will take place on Saturday 21 May 2022 and is now open for entry on Pop Up Races. The race follows the path of the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal north for…
Venturing Higher
Back at the end of the summer when things were looking more promising, I signed up for Run the Line which is an annual race in the Dublin Mountains to raise funds for Dublin Wicklow Mountain Rescue. Several of my friends have done this race over the years and it was always one I wanted…
A Guide to Staying on the Correct Side of the Royal Canal
Probably the most frequent question I get asked by those wanting to walk, run or cycle the Royal Canal is which side of the canal should I be on? As a rule of thumb I would always advise people to follow the National Famine Way Signs along the route but below is a list of…
Walking on the Royal Canal: North Wall to Cross Guns Bridge
Distance: 3.15km When I first started writing this blog, several parts of the Greenway were yet to be finished and the section of the canal between Sheriff Street and Newcomen Bridge was still being worked on. Thankfully now that section is open with both a path for pedestrians and a cycle-way too, I have updated…
Walking on the Royal Canal: Cross Guns Bridge to Castleknock Train Station
Distance: 7km One of the great things about walking along the Royal Canal in the Dublin area is that you are never too far from a train station so its always easy to get a train to your starting point or get a train home. In my last walking post, I left you having a…
Walking on the Royal Canal: Castleknock to Leixlip Confey
Distance: 8.65km Part 3 of our journey sees us start at Castleknock Train Station and the start of the stretch known as the Deep Sinking, on past Coolmine and Clonsilla before crossing the Dublin and Kildare county line and finishing at Cope Bridge at Leixlip Confey. There are several reasons why I have chosen to…
Walking on the Royal Canal: Confey to Maynooth
Distance: 7.6km *note Confey to Louisa Bridge is currently closed as of November 2022 for 3 months for upgrade works. In this post I am going to look at the stretch from Cope Bridge at Leixlip Confey to the slipway at Maynooth Harbour which marks the start of the Royal Canal Greenway. While the Greenway…
Royal Canal Greenway: Maynooth to Enfield
Distance: 18.7km After covering the last few sections on my feet, here I take to my bike to cover some more ground as we get further west into more rural landscape from Maynooth Harbour, through Kilcock and on to Enfield. Maynooth is the gateway for many to the Royal Canal Greenway, a perfect route for…
Royal Canal Greenway: Enfield to Thomastown
Distance: 23.5km In the last post I left off as we reached Enfield Bridge by the railway station. In this post I will look at the stretch from Enfield to Thomastown Harbour, all of which lies on the Long Level of the Royal Canal. This route offers a great chance to cycle a flat good…
Royal Canal Greenway: Thomastown to Mullingar Harbour
Distance: 17km Being honest, Thomastown is as close as you can get to being in the middle of nowhere, which is part of its charm. However unless you are able to drive here to start your day, it is an unlikely place for you to start. For me I think it is a good idea…
Royal Canal Greenway: Mullingar Harbour to Coolnahay
Distance: 10.5km I know I have tried to start or finish most my posts at a location with a train station however in my previous post I thought it made sense to stop a little short at Mullingar Harbour rather than going a little further around the bend to Mullingar Railway Station. So for those…
Royal Canal Greenway: Coolnahay to Ballynacargy Bridge
Distance: 8km Coolnahay and the 26th Lock mark the western end of the Summit Level of the Royal Canal and it is the perfect place to slow things down again and walk the to Ballynacargy. The advantage of leaving the Summit Level is this walk is all down hill from the 26th Lock to the…
Royal Canal Greenway: Ballynacargy to Abbeyshrule
Distance: 8.8km Keeping the sections short as I travel further west towards the Shannon, todays post covers the stretch from Ballynacargy to Abbeyshrule, an easy place to start, enjoy some time on the canal before having a good lunch and returning back the way you came. Leaving your vehicle in Ballynacargy village, much of which…
Royal Canal Greenway: Abbeyshrule to Ballybrannigan
Distance: 9km The section between Abbeyshrule and Ballybrannigan Harbour just outside of Ballymahon is one of the quietest and most picturesque sections of the Royal Canal and well worth the visit to meander around the many bends of the canal here. Leaving Abbeyshrule we first cross over Webb Bridge to the southern bank of the…
Royal Canal Greenway: Ballybrannigan to the 41st Lock
Distance: 11km Ballybrannigan as previously mentioned is a harbour just to the north of Ballymahon. Before taking to the Greenway to the 41st Lock, I decided to call into the town for some lunch to fuel for my walk. Ballymahon has a very wide main street with plenty of parking and local pubs, garages and…
Royal Canal Greenway: 41st Lock to Richmond Harbour
Distance: 13km From our starting point at the 41st Lock we will reach the end of the Royal Canal where it joins the Camlin River at the 46th Lock just beyond Richmond Harbour in Cloondara. We are now over 130km from our starting point at the Sea Lock on the Liffey. We have left urban…
Royal Canal Greenway: The Longford Branch
The Longford Branch of the Royal Canal was built several years after the Main Line was completed to Cloondara in 1817. Offically opened in January 1830 the branch is roughly 8.5km long but has since been shortened slightly after Longford Harbour was filled in and the new terminus moved to the south side of the…
Walking the Royal Canal: Lough Owel Feeder
Although not navigable, the Lough Owel Feeder on the summit level of the Royal Canal at Mullingar has a decent path along the majority of it and is well worth taking the time to wander the relatively short 4km stretch out to the Sluice House at Lough Owel. The Feeder itself is about 3.5km however…
Cycling on the Old Rail Trail: Mullingar to Athlone
Given how intertwined the history is between the Royal Canal and the Midlands Great Western Railway (MGWR) I think it would be remiss of me not to put up a post about the old MGWR Mullingar to Athlone railway line which has been converted into an amazing 40km greenway called the Old Rail Trail which…
Cruising on the Royal Canal: Travelling through the Deep Sinking by Barge
Running the length of the Royal Canal in a single day is a fairly unique way to experience the joys of travelling along its banks. However, a promise I made to myself that mid-summers day in 2019 was that one day I would return to see the canal the way it is truly meant to…
Official Launch of The Royal Canal Greenway
The Royal Canal Greenway has been officially launched today 24th March 2021, by Minister for Transport Eamon Ryan and Minister for State Malcolm Noonan. Information, photos and guides for the entire length of the Royal Canal Greenway including the Longford Branch as well as information on the Lough Owel Feeder, the Old Rail Trail and…
Down to Town Marathon Route Description
With the Dublin Marathon being held virtually for another year, Leixlip man Declan Kenny has organised a self supported marathon along the banks of the Royal Canal from the Hill of Down to Leixlip Confey which people can use to record a virtual Dublin City Marathon time on the DCM app or for people who…
Walking on the Grand Canal: Hazelhatch to Sallins
The 13km section of the Royal Canal between Hazelhatch and Sallins is a very accessible and enjoyable stretch for walkers, runners and cyclists alike. It can easily reached by taking the short train journey to Hazelhatch Railway Station from Heuston Station in Dublin and then it is possible to get the train back to either…
Walking on the Grand Canal: Sallins to Robertstown
Leaving Sallins on the north bank of the Grand Canal we pass a Waterways Ireland service block and like the eastern side of Sallins Bridge there is always a good number of boats found tied up across from the old Odlums mill. It is a 12km journey to Robertstown. Not long after we leave Sallins…
Walking on the Grand Canal: Naas Branch
I am taking a break today from the Royal Canal to instead look at the short branch off the Grand Canal to Naas town. Since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic I have been confined to Maynooth and areas on the Royal Canal which I have already covered but when restrictions eased briefly I saw…
Walking on the Grand Canal: Naas Harbour to Corbally Harbour
Although long closed to navigation by boats the stretch of the Grand Canal from Naas Harbour to Corbally Harbour offers the walker and runner a fine route of just over 8km on which to travel, almost all of which is expansive countryside, ideal for those looking to escape the urban landscape of Naas. The Corbally…
A Guide to Staying on the Right Side of the Grand Canal: Grand Canal Dock to Edenderry
Like the Royal Canal, following the Grand Canal is a pleasurable experience be it walking, running or cycling but knowing which side of the canal you should be on at any given time can be a tricky one. The last thing you need when you have some distance in your legs is to find out…
A Guide to Staying on the Right Side of the Grand Canal: Edenderry Branch to Tullamore
If it’s one thing I’ve come to accept is that my mind is never satisfied with something to focus or even fixate on, if I truly want to be at peace I need something to obsess about. When I was prepping for my run along the Royal Canal and even for several weeks after I…
A Guide to Staying on the Right Side of the Grand Canal: Tullamore to Shannon Harbour
When I originally set up this website, the main reason behind it was to provide a place to post a run report for my Fastest Known Time attempt on the Royal Canal. In preparation for that I fell down a rabbit hole of information about the Royal Canal and came out an Irish Inland Waterways…
Looking South and the view is Grand
So ever since I completed my Royal Canal Run I’ve felt like a barge without a rudder, stuck up out of the water and unable to go anywhere. It would be wrong to say that I didn’t need the rest, a holiday and some time to recover. Aching joints demanded it and I think it…
St. Coca’s 10 From 10
Last Sunday saw the second Kilcock 10 from 10 hosted by St. Coca’s AC. The idea behind the 10 from 10 is a 10 mile race 10 weeks out from the Dublin Marathon. The event attracted over 600 runners this year, all setting out at 10:10 on the dot. I proudly run with Dublin Bay…
The Royal Canal Run Fallout
Royal Canal Runner Crest by Catfink Creative So it’s just been over a month since I completed my run along the Royal Canal. My training for the Royal Canal Run was a very consistent effort spread out over 35 weeks and started with a baseline of me being at my Marathon PB fitness level. I…
Royal Canal Run June 21st 2019
My Royal Canal Run – June 21st 2019. After nearly a year of planning and 35 weeks of training the evening of the 20th of June had arrived, my crew had been briefed, my kit bags and supplies packed and repacked and all the relay runners who would accompany me along the 90 mile journey knew where…
The Runners Auld Triangle
The night before I did my Royal Canal Run in 2019 a good Running Buddy of mine sent me this “little ditty” to be sung to the tune of The Auld Triangle. It’s too good not to share. A nervous feeling, was with I was dealingwith my stomach reeling, I did not feel welland the…
A Royal Adventure: Swim, Bike, Run!
Update: Since I originally posted this Declan put up a great short film about his day which can be viewed here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX2AmcFT92Y&list=LL If there is one thing I like to highlight on this website more than any other, it is that the Royal Canal is an amazing amenity for all to use. I am hardly…
Old Rail Trail – Athlone to Mullingar – 30th March 2019
On Saturday I needed to get a long training run in preparation for my run along the Royal Canal. Niamh and I have been touring around a lot of parkrun venues in recent months trying not to repeat ourselves so with that in mind we decided to do parkrun in Athlone last week, with my…
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Royal Canal Runner 