Barrow Way

Hi

I cycled from Lucan Co Dublin along the Grand Canal. It is not easy with all the gates, you have to lift the bike over them. I think some one could come up with a more bike friendly way. When I got down to Lowtown and went on to the Barrow it was just the same till I got to Vickerstown where I took the road to Athy and on to Carlow (had enough of gates).

I went back on to the tow path at Loughlinstown Bridge and from there down to St Mullin's was beautiful ... it rained for the two days.

I would do it again without the gates .. met some great people fishing and walking on the way, that's what it is all about ( do it ). I am giving it a 4 star .... gates

Gerry Heaney

My brother and I cycled the Barrow Way over two days in August 2015. It was a lovely experience - really worth doing. We got a lift to Robertstown and proceeded from there.

The first day took us from Robertsown to Carlow Town, a total of about 60km (6.5 hours). We stayed in the Seven Oaks (with pool) and were very well looked after.

The scenery is lovely - I printed off the maps from this website (it roughly takes one hour to traverse each map), which were helpful if a little lacking in detail (canal locks / numbers etc.). The towpath was in part road, in part stoned track but mainly it is grass track - in fairness this was well cut throughout and did not slow us down unduly. The Barrow Way does alternate between the left and right banks so it is worth sticking to the maps and watching for the 'Barrow Way' markers.

The second day took us from Carlow to Graiguenamanagh - about 40km (4 hours). We had planned to go on to St. Mullins but this would have meant doubling back to Graiguenamanagh and on to Thomastown. So we cut the way a little short and headed for the 3pm train to Dublin from Thomastown. This was a 15km cycle, half uphill, half downhill (one hour).

This is a beautiful track, up there with the Royal and Grand Canal Ways, but sadly we met very few walkers or other cyclists. With a little bit of investment (narrow tarmac strip ?) and good marketing this track could really draw in tourists to the region. Even so it is well worth doing, in part or in full.

The best part of this trail/walk is from Clashganny to Tinnahinch & Graiguenamanagh and from there on to St. Mullins. It's just a pity the trail does not go on to New Ross.

Graiguenamanagh is a lovely town with shops, pubs, coffee shop etc. a nice town to take a break in.

Bagenalstown Lock Detour. Travelling downstream, the waymarks bring you to a dead end. A drawing of a detour (Waterways Ireland) is on the security fence. I'd suggest that you study this carefully before you retrace your steps - there is no signage to help you on the route.

Did the Carlow to Bagenalstown part of this trail while in the area recently. Have to say I really enjoyed it. It's great to be able to walk a traffic free route in trainers and not have to worry about navigating - you just keep walking. The scenery became more pleasant and open further south but there were some lovely features throughout. Stopped off at a pub in Leighlinbridge then walked the short distance on to Bagenalstown and took the train back to Carlow (which only takes about 13 mins), great to be able to walk a decent distance and not have to retrace your steps. Some feedback: there probably could be more benches, especially in the earlier part of this section. Had to walk a few miles before there was anywhere to sit down for a rest. Also some rotting and overgrown benches just north of L'bridge. Some public art might add a bit of interest too (there was some coming into B'town). All in all, a great half day's walking - will definitely be back to do more of the trail.

Beautiful bike ride from Lowtown to Athy, the view from the aqueduct at Monastrevin is something special. On coming closer to Athy a number of loose horses grazing on the towpath, you need to be on your toes when approaching them.



Very interesting where canal meets Barrow, particularly the Horse bridge which really is a bridge for horses across the Barrow. Great view from the bridge of the river and canal.



Quite a number of groups drinking and very obviously drunk at start of the river tow path (this was at 3 in the afternoon on Friday, what a great country!).

Decided to come back early in the morning and do the balance Carlow to St. Mullins.

Beautiful. Went by MTB from St.Mullins to Carlow a couple of times this summer, done a bit by road from Waterford to get to the lovely setting of Mullins & An Mullichan cafe there was well worth the stop for coffee & grub. Good paths along route, ground was firm & easy manage. 50+k from Mullins to Carlow. Lovely scenery & towns on the way, plenty of food & accommodation available. Plenty of canoes, kayaks, barges & lads fishing along the way so never got bored. Well worth the trip.

Beautiful. Went by MTB from St.Mullins to Carlow a couple of times this summer, done a bit by road from Waterford to get to the lovely setting of Mullins & An Mullichan cafe there was well worth the stop for coffee & grub. Good paths along route, ground was firm & easy to manage. 50+k from Mullins to Carlow. Lovely scenery & towns on the way, plenty of food & accommodation available. Plenty of canoes, kayaks, barges & lads fishing along the way so never got bored. Well worth the trip.

You might amend your info re public transport to say that one of thee early departures of Bus Eireann Route 123 goes to Robertstown from Bus Aras via Heuston Station, Celbridge, Clane and Prosperous

The reviews by Dermot from Dublin on 7 October and Deirdre from Dublin on 17 November suggest that summary details for individual stages of the Barrow Way would be helpful in planning a day's walk on the trail.

On the website, the Way is broken up into sections of between about 4 and 10 km which are listed as separate entries in the county where they are located and are given in both directions, e.g. "Barrow Way - Bagenalstown to Leighlinbridge" and "Barrow Way - Leighlinbridge to Bagenalstown ". Detailed informaton is included for each entry.