A Regal Route: The Royal Canal Way
Full to the brim with exceptional biodiversity, sites of sporting moments and odes to literary heavyweights, not to mention the unique perspective its banks give of the city; a walk along the Royal Canal does the soul good.
And how better to experience it than by following the Dublin stretch of The Royal Canal Way? A picturesque National Waymarked Trail that reaches all the way to County Longford, following the Dublin banks of this linear, easy-to-walk route is a real pleasure.
Sporting strolls, literary statues and historic footsteps
Starting at lock one, Newcomen Bridge on the North Strand Road, you'll spot the 18th-century lock-keeper's cottage. As you venture along the path, after about six minutes the unmistakable Croke Park comes into view. GAA headquarters and the site of countless tense All-Ireland finals, as you stroll under Clarke's Bridge, the iconic stadium – the third largest in Europe – really looms large.
Also along this Croke Park stretch – and at locks five, ten and 12 – you'll find some reminders of a tragic chapter of Irish history. At these points, you'll spot small bronze shoes mounted on a stone plinth. They commemorate the 1,490 Roscommon tenants who were forced from their homes by their landlord during the Great Famine. Faced with starvation, the workhouse or emigration, the exhausted masses – escorted by a bailiff – were made walk 167km from Roscommon to Dublin, to board ships bound for Canada. Tragically, almost half died on board or on arrival in Quebec. Today the National Famine Way commemorates their walk. The final leg of this emotive trail joins the Dublin banks of the Royal Canal from the 12th lock, Castleknock.
The towpath then leads you a further 10 minutes under Clonliffe Bridge and Binns Bridge, passing Russell Street – where Brendan Behan was raised – to as close as you'll get to the man himself. Here, at the canal's second lock, you'll find the playwright immortalised in bronze. And where better for a statue of Behan to be placed than "all along the banks of the Royal Canal", as The Auld Triangle goes.
Canal bank calculations
Continue on another 14 minutes, past the third and fourth locks, towards Cross Guns Bridge in Phibsborough. If you look to your right at this point you can see the O'Connell Tower, the tallest round tower in the country, in nearby Glasnevin Cemetery.
Beyond Cross Guns Bridge, on a 25-minute ramble by the canal's fifth and sixth locks, you'll reach Broombridge – an unassuming yet mathematically important spot just after lock seven. It was here in 1843 that mathematician and astronomer Sir William Rowan Hamilton was struck by a flash of genius. While walking along the canal with his wife, the formula for quaternions, a calculation he had been struggling with, suddenly came to him. Without a pen or paper handy, Hamilton carved the formula into the bridge itself! Today you'll find a plaque on the bridge commemorating this canal-based calculation. While every October, devotees remember his breakthrough by retracing that fateful wander along the Royal Canal, from Dunsink Observatory to Broombridge, on the Hamilton Walk.
Biodiverse beauty
Take to the towpath again, passing locks eight and nine by Cabra West and Pelletstown, and be sure to watch out for – and during the whole length of your canal walk – the wildlife and plantlife along its banks. Considered a 'wildlife corridor', the Royal Canal is home to all sorts of curious creatures. From noticeable on-water dwellers like tufted ducks, moorhens, herons, mute swans and otters, to less visible underwater ones like water lice, bream, pike and roach. You'll spot yellow irises, poppies, barley grass, meadowsweet, daisies further back from the banks and vetchling too – all part of the waterway's rich bounty of biodiversity.
On the home stretch
Now 30 minutes beyond Broombridge, should your legs feel weary at this point – Ashtown train station is nearby for an easy route back to the city. Feeling energetic? Then complete the Dublin stretch of the Royal Canal Way by charting a course for the canal's limit at the 12th lock.
Like much of the route, this is parallel to the railway, you'll pass lock ten just after Longford Bridge on the Ashtown Road. Continue your walk from there for another 20 minutes and behold the Navan Road Interchange, parallel to Castleknock. At this point the N3, the Royal Canal and the railway line magnificently cross the M50 motorway in what seems like an incredible maze. Stay the course though and simply marvel at this feat of engineering as you travel under the roadways and alongside the railway! After a final 10-minute stretch, you'll have reached your destination, the Royal Canal's 12th lock in Castleknock.
From this point on, the canal leaves Dublin and flows through Counties Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Longford, but rest assured you can take the train back to the city from Castleknock station. Not before you've had a break and some well-earned refreshment at the Canal Bar Café in the aptly-named boutique hotel, The 12th Lock in Castleknock Marina.
Find more ways to explore Dublin Canals, check out our Highlights section.