1. Leixlip to Kilcock 8.5 miles, 13.5 km

The starting point for the Kildare section of the Royal Canal walk is a Cope Bridge on the Confey road out of Leixlip. To get to the starting point walk from the centre of Leixlip village. Locate the traffic light junction just west of the Liffey Bridge in the town and walk up the steep hill known as Captains Hill until you come to the canal bridge. Some of the city bus services travel to Confey while during weekdays it is also possible to get a train to the commuter station at Confey right beside the canal bridge.

Beginning on the north bank and facing west, walk along the towpath towards a point were the canal turns sharply. To the south the housing estates of Leixlip (which has grown tenfold in its population over twenty years) are barely visible behind the canal-side hedges while, to the north, the landscape is surprisingly rural given its proximity to the suburbs.

The waterway bends sharply as if to tease the walker for a moment by concealing an engineering marvel. This is the point where it crosses the Rye Valley - a dip in the Landscape which at first looks mundane but on a closer inspection can be seen to alter the contours of the land so much that the waterway has to be carried across on a massive earthen embankment and pick your way down among the worked out pits that were dug out by the 18th century navvies in their construction of the aqueduct. A waterfall generated by canal overspill tumbles down the embankment particularly after heavy rain.