County Kildare Walking Routes Project - Kildare.ie

County Kildare Walking Routes Project
Comments
1. The route passes through three landscape character areas defined in the County
Development Plans as the Western Boglands, the Chair of Kildare and the Southern
Lowlands.
2. Canals have many features in common with ponds and small lakes. They each have
open water with small submerged and free floating plants. Nearer the banks
transitional emergent vegetation composed mainly of sedges and horsetails stand
clear of shallower water. At the margins these are succeeded by grasses, tall herbs
with moisture demanding trees such as alder and willow. The range of habitats
supports a wide diversity of wildflowers, trees, shrubs, insects, mammals, fish and
birds.
3. Towns such as Monasterevin have bus connections but public transport options in
North Kildare are sparse. The Bus Eireann website gives the most updated schedule
of services to Robertstown, Allenwood, Monasterevin and Rathangan (Numbers 12,
120, 123, 126). The route links several attractive villages, rural communities and towns
such as Robertstown, Rathangan and Monasterevin.
4. Along the route are a series of locks including the 19 th Lock with its plaque on the
chamber wall reciting its history; the typical sixteenth century fortified house at
Ballyteige; three-arch rubble stone road bridge over river, c.1780 and terraced
Georgian houses, c.1760 at Rathangan with its 1798 connections; a single-storey
thatched cottage, c.1885, near Robertstown; a series of single-arch cut-stone hump
back road bridges over the canal, dated 1788; a good example of a canal milestone
near Spenser Bridge, and Monasterevin with its maze of waterways, roads and railway
with an interesting lifting bridge, canal warehousing and Moore Abbey built in 1607.
Almost all of the sites are located on the actual route and are accessible to the public.
5. The route is under the control of Waterways Ireland who are responsible for the
management, maintenance, development and restoration of the Grand Canal
principally for recreational purposes. Waterways Ireland employs local people as lock
keepers and provides training in health and safety. Waterways Ireland has an ongoing
Marketing and Promotional Strategy that includes promoting recreational walking.
6. The entire Grand Canal Route is designated as a proposed Natural Heritage Area in
the Draft County Development Plan for Kildare. There are three Special Areas of
Conservation adjacent to the route, Pollardstown Fen with its unique fenland flora and
fauna, Ballynafagh Bog and Ballynafagh Lake with its semi-natural shallow alkaline
wetland with rare plants.
7. Several Festivals occur throughout the year at locations along the route including the
Gerard Manley Hopkins International Festival in Monasterevin (exhibitions, concerts,
lectures and fieldtrips) and the Lughnasa Festival in Rathangan (arts & crafts, local
history), both in July.
8. The underfoot conditions are firm ranging from hard gravel surfaced towpath to narrow
grassy track along pleasant embankment. There are short sections along surfaced
public road without footpaths. The route consists of 5kms road and 19.5km grassy
path. The road section can be busy. On towpath Sections of the route are wheelchair
accessible including a stretch at Ballyteige where there are ten (10) disabled angling
stands.
9. There are two potential looped walks along the route. One starts at Lowtown and loops
north along the Grand Canal to Lullymore Briquette Factory, then south through
Lullymore Island to Glenaree Bridge on the Barrow Line returning along the canal to
Robertstown. The second walk is an 8km spur along the Milltown Feeder to
Pollardstown Fen.