There are a growing number of dedicated cycle paths springing up across our towns and cities.
Carlow and Kilkenny County Councils have invested heavily in this welcome cycling infrastructure with a 40km dedicated cycle path linking both urban centres.
With high levels of obesity and children spending more time inactive than any generation before, getting people involved in physical activity is vital for a healthy society.
There was a time when a lot of children cycled to school but sadly numbers have reduced in recent decades as the traffic volumes increased and parents have become ultra protective of their off spring.
Segregating cyclists from traffic is generally welcomed and provides a buffer zone where cycling should be safer.
From the cyclists perspective there are a few practical reasons why they choose not to use the cycle lanes:
Cycle lanes tend to be covered in road debris and are never swept, meaning users are more likely to pick up a puncture. Verges tend to be potholed and contain shores which can be very dangerous. Roads are much cleaner..
Cycle lanes tend to run alongside the road and then suddenly onto footpaths and often coming to a complete halt, only to be picked up again at a later point on the route resulting in the cyclist having to stop and start more often and break their cycling rhythm.
Pedestrians tend to walk in cycle lanes that are on footpaths.
Generally speaking casual cyclists will avail of the cycle paths while ‘road cyclists’ who are training or commuting long distances tend to stick to the roads.
it’s frustrating for both road users but bear in mind few cyclists wish to dice with traffic unless it is considered necessary !
This morning’s blog seems to have it generated a lot of interest and thanks to all who have read it and got in touch about the sentiments I expressed and on the photographs of the stunning scenery.
Very pleased that my blogs have no attracted almost 11,000 views and 6,000 visitors. Thanks again for the interest.
Due to the interest I thought I would add a few more thoughts and a link to the Barrow in flood ….during the summer months.
As an aside here are a few amusing experiences I have had cycling the Barrow:
– Almost knocked down by an otter who shot across the Track and he then belly flopped into the water!
– Went up to Maganey with Mary on a fine evening some years ago, passing a lot of fishermen on the bank. When I made the return journey I was steering Mary’s bike as well while cycling my own as she had fallen and broken her elbow. Her sister Patricia picked her up at the River Lerr and I returned past the fisherman minus my wife – I got some funny looks!
– A trout swam past me on the track during a summer flood, I kid you not.. See this Link here
I once ended up in the river on Christmas week when my front wheel hit a mucky patch and I went head first into the river, which was very high at the time.
Getting back to the Blue Way and Green Way debate.
I have cycled on two Blue Ways and a Green Way and across old Roman roads in France.
The Blue Ways were on the banks of the Saone and the Rhone. Two great rivers. The surfaces were mixed – grassy banks, paved, dirt tracks.
The Green Way was on a disused railway line and it was a great tarmac surface that went on forever with long straights that were quite boring.
Give me a choice and I would pick the Barrow Track as it now is.
2015 Hols Lyon
Cycle Dijon Lyon
Cycle Dijon Lyon
Cycle Dijon Lyon
Cycle Dijon Lyon
Cycle Dijon Lyon
I went astray on The Rhone and came across this cemetery for German WWII soldiers. Very sombre.
I have been spending most of my Saturdays over the past few months mapping cycles route across Counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Laois and Kildare. The routes are selected for the pleasure they provide; I am not mapping routes for training purposes, my choices are directed by three criteria – beautiful scenery, interesting sites to visit and as traffic free as possible.
My journeys have taken me over the Blackstairs, The Sliabh Blooms, The Bog of Allen and into rural parts of the south east that are seldom visited and places that haven’t really changed very much in decades.
I completed my 21st route this weekend, a kind of coming of age! Yesterday I returned to the Barrow.
There has been an explosion in cycling, the roads are full of groups of lycra clad cyclists every weekend, and families are increasingly going out together for a day out on the Green Ways of Mayo, Westmeath and Waterford (on disused railway lines, not on existing river paths).
Plans are afoot to have a Blue Way along the mighty Barrow. Some of the plans are really exciting and it is great to imagine the river being used much more than it is.
But.
Having spent many years cycling on the Barrow Track I am very familiar with every kilometre of it. It is simply the best off road cycling route in the country. The Barrow Track is a unique resource – no other river has a 70km walking path along it’s bank. It is a an area of natural beauty and national significance, a pristine wilderness, full of wonderful flora and fauna. A real living Green Way.
Any ‘development’ that exploits or damages that for the intention of economic development truly is ill judged and misguided.
The accompanying photographs show the Barrow at is wonderful best and if the intention is to maximise the resource for the benefit of local communities then the plan must surely be to enhance and not interfere with the local environment.
To replace the grassy bank with a hardcore surface can only be described as an act of vandalism. We have seen sections that have had hardcore surfaces for many years and they are all potholed and are the worst sections of the Track. By far. There are many people who already avail of the Track for local walking and it is in fact a national long distance walking trail (many of them are on roadways … why?), fishermen, canoeists, cyclists, runners and nature lovers. These people use the Track and any of them that I meet on the Track are all of the same opinion – no hardcore surface!
This is not an anti development stance, nor a rent a crowd or rent a protest movement; these are people of conviction who treasure what we have.
All these people have seen the Barrow flood in winter and summer and seen the damage done to the stretches of hardcore surfaces that already exist – they are washed away. Why spend millions on a surface that will not stand he test of time unlike the grass path that we already have?
Parts of the Track are areas of special conservation and a hardcore Blue Way just does not comply with that status.
One of the more worrying considerations has to be future maintenance, Who is going to have the budget to repair the surface after each winter and to provide for the upkeep? A pilgrim walk took place recently from St Mullins to Graiguenamangh and a fantastic job was done of cutting the grass and the Track looks it’s brilliant best at the moment. However apart from that the attempts at maintenance by Waterways Ireland can only be described as sabotage. They spread heavy aggregate wherever they can, they rut the track with machinery that is too heavy and which in places causes subsidence. There has to be a more environment friendly means of maintaining this treasure.
I understand the budgetary constraints Waterways works under but regretfully I do not think they are approaching this from the correct perspective.
My cycle along the Barrow yesterday was just stunning. I encourage everyone to experience it either walking or cycling. it’s on our doorstep and we should treasure it.
The Three Sisters – The Barrow, The Nore and The Suir three mythical rivers on our doorstep. Lots of legends and history attached to all three and fantastic cycling route alongside all three. I only read recently in John Keane’s ‘Hidden Kilkenny’ of the Thatched Villages of South Kilkenny and cycling through them yesterday was like a journey back in time. Easy imagine an era when all houses were thatched; The villages are located in a curve in the River Suir that juts into Waterford. It really is unspoiled, a parallel universe where time has stood still. Remarkably John Keane mentions that the area even has a dialect that exists nowhere else and a form of English going back to Elizabethan times.
One of the cottages is the birthplace of Bob O Keeffe, after whom the Leinster SHC Cup is named.
It’s a fascinating enclave, off the beaten track; there aren’t as many of the thatched cottages still in existence as in times past and the remaining ones are in varying condition. But these are the real thing – these are not fake folk villages but a living breathing community. The River Suir is an important source for the reeds used to thatch the cottages and in times past, a plentiful source of salmon. Salmon fishing has been banned for the past three years and one local man I spoke to wasn’t to pleased with that!
I continued on towards Waterford, stopping at the impressive ruins of Grannagh Castle before heading onto Kilmacow, Slieverue and Glenmore with stunning views of the Barrow and Nore combined. Nice climbs to Glenmore and across to Mullinavat and onto Pilltown, my starting point.
The Hidden Ireland waiting to be explored on our doorstep.
