Grand Canal

Love love love the Grand Canal!
I got married on the banks of the Grand Canal, that’s how much I love it.
I’ve lived in the Portobello area for over ten years and one of the highlights is the canal. I now live looking onto the canal so I get to see it every day and it never bores me.
Every day has something different to offer. Swans mob it in the winter time. Barges, longboats and cruisers go past regular in the summer and warmer months. Sometimes entertaining the passing crowds as they pass through a lock.
Fish and pike are spotted regular, by me anyway.
And when there is no wind, the surface is a mirror to it’s surroundings.
It’s an immense asset to the city and the rest of the country that it passes through. We are very lucky to have it.

This place is close to home and a beautiful place along the canal. Love walking along the canal and people watching.

In the last number of years the stretch of canal from Incecore to Lucan has been developed into a linear-​park/​cycle route. I love nothing more for going on a nice cycle by the canal winter and summer. In a few short minutes you can be out in the peaceful countyside with wildlife all around.

I have a thing about swans. And when I say a thing, I mean I think they are quite honestly some of the most beautiful creatures on earth. So I like to kick it here, feed them, watch other people feed them, marvel at the way they move gracefully in the water and just enjoy the half reprieve you can get from the daily city life here. It is literally my favorite I need to think about life spots in the city.

Take your twitter, facebook, pings, e-​mails, texts and whatever else you got and squish it in a snow ball and puff… Look at it smash against the bench that Patrick Kavanagh used to compose poems on.
This snow will go but whilst it’s here embrace the eerie silence it blankets everything with…
Does it make you uncomfortable? Naked of communication and distraction it made me anxious for a few moments but then it revealed itself to the gift that it really is… A moment to see without influence, listen to the voice in your head and to make your mark.
Go squish your imprint down the canal… Just keep an eye on the swans, they camouflage well.

This slender strip of greenery makes for a soothing walk (or a lovely general commute path, should you be so lucky). In Summer the trees and sidewalks are bursting with life, while in these snowy climes it offers a whisper of a wintry wonderland. Beautiful.
The only thing that takes this down from a full rating is the sheer amount of litter that is dumped into the canal. Not cool. Stop it.
If you’re by the Rathmines area of the walk, visit the swans. There are, last I’d counted, over 50 within a single stretch of the canal — you can’t miss them, and you’ll commonly find a swarm placidly nestled along the sidewalk or gobbling the bread people throw at them. They don’t get ruffled if you walk close to them (and if they’re being fed you may have no choice in the matter), but please, resist the urge to pet them.

I used a good stretch of this, from the Charlemont Luas stop to just beyond Naas road as an urban day hike on a sunny early spring day. Two words:
Mostly lovely!
The paths are great, the birds are cute, and in most cases there are options to walk on the non-​street side of the canal. It really is a bit of a time capsule-​relics of barge tie-​ups, tow-​paths, old-​skool designated fishing areas, and places where a 1791 bridge crosses one way and at 2005 Luas bridge cross another. A great walk and a peaceful place to stroll.
Two drawbacks:
1) some of the places are a little isolated and I would caution people walking there after dark. As of this writing, several overcrossings are closed off, making it neccessary to take an odd, under-​the-​road tunnel to get to the other side. Evidence suggests that people live here. So be careful…
2) fer frick’s sake, Dublin, can you clean yerself up a little? The canal is relatively shallow and in many place all I could see was a what looked like an underwater garbage dump, filled with carpet remnants, shopping carts, and cans. One enduring image is a swan trying to eat an empty 2-​liter plastic bottle.
But in spite of that, I think it’s a great place to walk and get some sun and air.
Bottom line: keep your eyes on the path and you’ll love it!

The Grand Canal is a great place to catch a few rays of sunshine during the short summer, especially if you don’t want to share Stephen’s Green with the masses of tourists and students. There is a lot of benches dotted along the canal, some nicer and some not so much unfortunately. There is plenty of pubs along the Canal as well, such as the Schoolhouse Hotel and the Barge. On a nice day you will find a lot of people taking a walk here but in rainy weather it belongs to the joggers :) It’s a nice 4k circle from Ballsbridge to Rathmines and back if you’re interested.

One of our fair cities finer features, the Canal+sunshine is probably the best day that can be had in Dublin. You can walk the scenic peace of her banks, the banter of her pubs or even share a seat with Patrick Kavanagh.
Or you can do as the bums do. Tie a load of cans onto a string and keep them cool in the water, only drawing them up when you need one. Might want to get a tetanus shot before trying that last one actually. Nice as it is, this is still Dublin.

The Grand Canal runs west through Dublin’s southern suburbs. It connects the River Liffey in Dublin to the River Shannon inland. Completed in the late 1700s it’s a lovely calm waterway: picturesque, reasonably clean and easily accessible. There are paths that run along one or both sides of the canal from Lower Mount Street right through to Dolphin’s Barn. This 3(ish) kilometre section of the canal has park benches, grassy verges, ducks and swans, and is ideal for jogging, walking or catching some sun. If you can arrange a nice sunny Sunday and get out of bed early (both are no mean feat in Dublin) you will have this magnificent waterway all to yourself. There’s not many better places to be.