Mullingar - Athlone Greenway progress?

lameusername

The actual exit to Garrycastle is still rubble though they're not far off finishing. Took the Mtb down there last night. Still worth the trip out from Mullingar though its a nice bit of country between there and Athlone.

bobdillon

lameusername wrote: »

The actual exit to Garrycastle is still rubble though they're not far off finishing. Took the Mtb down there last night. Still worth the trip out from Mullingar though its a nice bit of country between there and Athlone.

Do you know how far they are from Garrycastle at this stage?
Went out there a while ago and it was very rough but you could cycle it. For a good bit outside Athlone it's just trees on either side of the line but I'd say the countryside is nice once you get a view.

lameusername

I didn't get very far( it was dark) but it was compacted stone ready for top surface from the first bridge to wherever I turned around, handy enough. Only unsuitable part was the access(still a bit steep) but we're talking a quick walk up a hill.
Yeah I suppose those steep banks and trees are a shame but still looks good.

zoolander4582

mr spuckler wrote: »

I posted in the cycling forum about this also. does anyone know how much of moate to athlone is done now? i'm cycling from dublin to athlone this afternoon and was going to join royal canal way at killucan then this greenway at mullingar as far as i can take it

I was in the track twice this week and I could only go as far as moate they were working on the track there and had cordoned off , I'm not sure if you can go any further just yet and that was 2 days ago !!! You can easily get off at moate and cycle on old N6 to Athlone there is not a lot of traffic on that road now !

lameusername

zoolander4582 wrote: »

I was in the track twice this week and I could only go as far as moate they were working on the track there and had cordoned off , I'm not sure if you can go any further just yet and that was 2 days ago !!! You can easily get off at moate and cycle on old N6 to Athlone there is not a lot of traffic on that road now !

Ahhh. I was on it after the lads working were gone. And didn't go more than 1-2k. Sorry.

mr spuckler

yeah have done that road loads of times, sure will head as far as the station in moate and see from there!

flazio

It's tarmacced as far as Moate station. On the Mullingar side it is fenced off but easily worked around. I'd finish at Moate and use the old N6 if I were you.

mr spuckler

think i'll cut off at moate tonight so, thanks for replies, cycling back up on sunday so might go out for a quick spin from the garrycastle end tomorrow to see how far it gets me

mr spuckler

did that anyway, cut back onto old N6 at Moate. the last couple of kilometres into Moate still need a second layer of tarmac but are just as smooth as the entire stretch to that point which is quite frankly an amazing surface.

will try to take a spin on the athlone to moate stretch tomorrow to see how much of that is passable.

mr spuckler

posted this in the cycling forum also...

i took the car out to scope the stretch between athlone and moate this morning. from what i can make out it's tarred as far as the bridge over the road between glenwood and baylin, so about 4-5km short of athlone. beyond that point it's reasonably hard compacted gravel until the bridge at garrycastle, where there's a new ramp ready to go from opposite the spar (used to be nugent's shop).

i also went to the mount temple / castledaly road and the road by the motorway exit 7 for clonmacnoise nearer to moate. at the last one it looks like it's fully topped whereby at mount temple & baylin it's just got 1 layer of tar on it.

pictures below....
1 from dual carriageway bridge looking towards garrycastle bridge
2 near baylin showing end of the tarred section, not sure if the 6400 is distance to athlone or something random!
3 crossing above mount temple road
4 by motorway exit 7

zoolander4582

mr spuckler wrote: »

posted this in the cycling forum also...

i took the car out to scope the stretch between athlone and moate this morning. from what i can make out it's tarred as far as the bridge over the road between glenwood and baylin, so about 4-5km short of athlone. beyond that point it's reasonably hard compacted gravel until the bridge at garrycastle, where there's a new ramp ready to go from opposite the spar (used to be nugent's shop).

i also went to the mount temple / castledaly road and the road by the motorway exit 7 for clonmacnoise nearer to moate. at the last one it looks like it's fully topped whereby at mount temple & baylin it's just got 1 layer of tar on it.

pictures below....
1 from dual carriageway bridge looking towards garrycastle bridge
2 near baylin showing end of the tarred section, not sure if the 6400 is distance to athlone or something random!
3 crossing above mount temple road
4 by motorway exit 7

Great thanks for the update and pics , hopefully it will be finished soon , I was chatting the tarmacadam guys between rosemount & moate section they said they will be finished to Athlone in 2/3 weeks time

bobdillon

mr spuckler wrote: »

posted this in the cycling forum also...

i took the car out to scope the stretch between athlone and moate this morning. from what i can make out it's tarred as far as the bridge over the road between glenwood and baylin, so about 4-5km short of athlone. beyond that point it's reasonably hard compacted gravel until the bridge at garrycastle, where there's a new ramp ready to go from opposite the spar (used to be nugent's shop).

That's it exactly it ends just at that bridge. (Location is at 53.413,-7.848 to be precise measured it today with location on the phone).
That is about 3.6km from the end of the current track in Garrycastle. So they don't have much to go at all.
On the non-tarred bit it's in a much better state now than it was even a few weeks ago when they had the compacted gravel. It was compacted but still very rough but you can more or less cycle it now.
There are some very nice parts of the track. Bit boring after a while don't know what it would be like going all the way from Dublin to Athlone. You'd definitely need a few emergency tools and puncture repair in case anything happened 10k outside Moate

demanufactured

Tarred as far as the level crossing on the Mount temple road in moate yesterday

kildarecommuter

I hear there will be a "Old Rail Cycle Challenge" on October 18th Mullingar-Athlone-Mullingar for LARCC
€20 registration Columb Barracks Mullingar

flazio

I caution everyone that just because its tarmacced from one side to the other doesn't mean it's ready to roll, there's quite a few over bridges that are going to need barriers installed because losing control and falling 8 feet is no laughing matter.
Any word on the tight gravel going onto the tracks for the more leisurely users of the greenway.

gojony

They are almost finished near the Spar at Garrycastle now. They are still working on it and there is a barrier when the entrance is however I did see people lifting their bikes around it today. Here's a few pics.

demanufactured

Definitely getting a bike...I want to cycle to moate/Castletown /mullingar

Ruben Remus

Two-page feature on it in this week's Westmeath Independent also.

nice_guy80

cycled half way along this yesterday

Pluses:
Great surface
Quiet (at the moment)

Cons
A bit boring, in terms of the landscape etc
People out with dogs while cycling - I mean Jack Russells are just dangerous when someone is coming along at a nice rate on the bike!

But if I was training for a cycling event I'd be out along this every day as it is quality

I said

On it the other day agree with you a bit boring but on the plus side the safety element away from traffic is priceless

pat25c

I cycled down from Dublin to athlone using the canal tow path & the greenway, it's official opening date is the 18 October as far as I know, the surface is fantastic you can get a good head of speed up on it , there were just a few locals using it all walking the dog . It is slightly boring in terms of seniary but it's going to be a fantastic resorse for westmeath, who let's face it doesn't get as much tourism as other parts of the country.

Saint_Mel

Cycled from Garrycastle to Moate the other day. Great facility to have. Flat the whole way, you'd not even realise you're exercising :-)

Could do with some signage to point out places along the way, or distances, just to take the monotonous feel off it seeing as its in a dip.

Downside was a gang of little knacks lit a fire on the track at the Garrycastle bridge last week. Gardai were called and some tried escaping via the back garden of the houses in the area.

Hopefully this isn't a regular occurrence

flazio

Saint_Mel wrote: »

Cycled from Garrycastle to Moate the other day. Great facility to have. Flat the whole way, you'd not even realise you're exercising :-)

Could do with some signage to point out places along the way, or distances, just to take the monotonous feel off it seeing as its in a dip.

Downside was a gang of little knacks lit a fire on the track at the Garrycastle bridge last week. Gardai were called and some tried escaping via the back garden of the houses in the area.

Hopefully this this a regular occurrence

I would hope not. The fires I mean, not the Garda response.

Saint_Mel

flazio wrote:

I would hope not. The fires I mean, not the Garda response.

Doh, meant hope it isn't a regular occurrence. Shocking autocorrect ;-)

Sunny Dayz

There was a map doing the rounds last night on facebook of the full route from Mullingar to Athlone with the different exit points. The one's I can see are impossible to read! Anyone know where I can get a legible one or of they are in the form of leaflets anywhere?

tigerboon

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

There was a map doing the rounds last night on facebook of the full route from Mullingar to Athlone with the different exit points. The one's I can see are impossible to read! Anyone know where I can get a legible one or of they are in the form of leaflets anywhere?

There's an interactive map on the Lakeside Wheelers website

Sunny Dayz

tigerboon wrote: »

There's an interactive map on the Lakeside Wheelers website

Thanks, that's actually quite helpful!

tigerboon

Sunny Dayz wrote: »

Thanks, that's actually quite helpful!

You wouldn't happen to know if there is dedicated parking at the start point in Mullingar. I'm not really local so if I was to bring the kids on it I would have to drive to an access point. If not, is the best thing to park in the town (Dunnes Stores maybe) and access via the canal route?

nice_guy80

tigerboon wrote: »

You wouldn't happen to know if there is dedicated parking at the start point in Mullingar. I'm not really local so if I was to bring the kids on it I would have to drive to an access point. If not, is the best thing to park in the town (Dunnes Stores maybe) and access via the canal route?

park in front of the empty commercial units on the C link road eg beside outdoor escape
Lidl also have a shop close to the start point, you can cycle down the canal and then access the greenway

Sunny Dayz

Does anyone know if Kev's in Moate hire out bikes?