Cycling the Deep Sinking on the Royal Canal & where is Eurovelo 2?

Most of the Royal Canal running from Dublin to the Shannon is now a greenway allowing safe family cycling across the country. The Eurovleo 2 'capitals' route that runs from Moscow to Galway use this as far as Mullingar. Yet one 3km section from Castleknock section can not be safely cycled. This is the Deep Sinking which for the purposes of the video I carefully cycled and concluded its really not a good idea to do so.

The canal is over 230 years old and the Deep Sinking section was one of the hardest to construct as the canal cut through a section of higher hard rock ground that had to be quarried down. The railway line runs very close to the south bank meaning there is very little space there but as of now that is the only route as the north bank in blocked off until Porterstown bridge. This is a narrow unsurfaced section which drops almost 4m into the canal in parts and can be quite treacherous after rain.

Putting a safe greenway along the canal here has been stuck for over a decade and it's probably not going to even see a planning application until late 2025. This is a real shame as it blocks the safe family cycling route west out of Dublin

Related videos
Cycling Dublin to Muillinfar on the Royal Canal
   • Royal canal cycling Dublin to Mulling...  

Cycling the Royal Canal from Drumcondra
   • Cycling the Royal Canal from Drumcond...