Royal Canal Greenway

The Royal Canal was cut between 1790 and 1817 as a competitor to the Grand Canal, reportedly begun by a director who left the Grand's board after an argument, and it was never commercially successful - the railway took its trade within decades. It was abandoned in 1961 and restored for navigation from the 1970s. The towpath is now the longest greenway in Ireland: 130 kilometres of continuous surfaced path from Maynooth in Kildare through Enfield, Mullingar and Ballymahon to Cloondara in Longford, where the canal meets the Shannon. It is entirely flat, which makes it accessible to almost anyone, and the interest is the canal infrastructure - locks, harbours, aqueducts including the one over the Inny, and the Deep Sinking, a rock cutting near Clonsilla. The Dublin to Sligo railway runs beside much of it, so getting back from a section is straightforward by train.

History

The greenway opened officially in March 2021 and is the longest in Ireland; it is to become part of the western section of EuroVelo 2 and of the Dublin-Galway Greenway, and it was developed by Waterways Ireland with the local authorities along the route (Wikipedia, Royal Canal Greenway).

Highlights

• The canal engineering - locks, harbours and aqueducts from the 1790s.
• The Deep Sinking - the deep rock cutting near Clonsilla.
• The flat towpath - 130 kilometres with essentially no gradient.
• The railway alongside - trains running parallel for much of the route.

When to go

April to October for the surface and the light. The path is usable year-round but muddy in sections after rain. Train services alongside make one-way sections easy.

Things to know

Long, flat and repetitive - scenically it is canal and farmland rather than dramatic. Some sections are narrow with vegetation encroaching. Facilities are in the towns, which can be far apart. Surface quality varies by county.

Nearby

Maynooth Castle is at the eastern trailhead; Mullingar and Longford are along the route.

Key facts