Towpath Trails: the Walker's Guide

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The Grand Canal

Route 2: Sallins to Robertstown: 7.25 miles, 11km

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The Grand Canal from Sallins to Robertstown covers some of the most picturesque and, from an industrial heritage aspect, some of the most intriguing sections of waterway. Beginning on the north bank from Sallins bridge (tastefully widened some years ago) the towpath follows a gravel road for the first mile out of Sallins. It would be easy to miss the abandoned canal channel to the right (through a gate just past the meat factory) which marked an early failed attempt to cross the Liffey. Equally inconspicuous on the south bank of the canal is an abandoned dry-dock chamber. Shortly afterwards on the same side is the three - legged junction with the impressively scenic and historic Naas & Corbally branch of the canal.

The triangular island at the junction is known locally as Soldier's Island. Some say the name comes from the ghost of a soldier who hung himself there; more likely it refers to the location of a guard post during the 1798 disturbances when the canal barges were often raided by rebels.

As with so many of the canal's spectral features the Leinster Aqueduct steals up suddenly. There is no sense of traversing a major landscape feature yet the Aqueduct was a huge challenge for the canal builders and still inspires awe. Sit on the low wall (take care, of course ;) and look down at the muddy waters of the Liffey spanned by the mass of the Aqueduct.

A plaque proclaims that it was completed by Richard Evans, engineer, in 1783. The completion of the Aqueduct opened the way for the canal builders to continue their progress to the west. There is an added thrill in store for the walker who descends the embankment immediately after the parapet of the aqueduct bridge and finds the passageway under the canal which leads to the public road. The experience of walking under so many hundreds of tons of water will surely heighten admiration for the canal builders of two centuries ago.

Continuing on the main line of the canal the landscape could be described as lush Leinster pastureland with the gentle gradients relieved only by a hill crowned by prehistoric earthwork on the south bank of the canal. Just as Digby Bridge comes into view an intriguing structure just off the towpath defies explanation. Commonly thought of as an overflow control device its concentric walls with tunnels and culverts seem highly elaborate for such a routine purpose.

Sandymount House to the right of Digby Bridge seems to have been built to face the canal rather than the road. At the bridge, transfer to the south bank and continue along a narrow path on the water's edge with a coppice to the left. This leads out on to the public road which has been following the canal bank since the Aqueduct and which in turn swings back to the north bank of the canal at Landenstown Bridge.

Follow this road taking time out to study the pair of quaint gate lodges at the entrance to Landenstown House (out of view behind trees on the South bank of the canal). The noise of racing engines at the nearby Mondello motor-racing track can often be heard forming a contrast to the otherwise quiet ambience of canal and farms. Follow the road for just under a mile until the canal swings to the south - west leaving the road which has been its constant companion since the Leinster Aqueduct. The 18th lock may seem like any other but it has special significance - it is the last step to the summit level of the main line of the canal. From this stretch, 279 feet above the old Ordnance Survey sea - mark in Dublin Bay, the headwaters of the canal divide to the east and the west.

After the 18th lock the towpath deteriorates into a narrow and muddy trail almost at the water's edge and overshadowed by high banks and scrub. This is one of the least attractive stretches but fortunately on passing under the next bridge - officially titled Burgh Bridge but invariably known as the Cock Bridge - the character of the walk changes sharply for the better. The cutting although still impressively high widens out and the towpath becomes firmer forming a fine walking track through the Hill of Downings and on to Bonynge or Healy's Bridge. In high summer and autumn this a particularly delightful stretch with a forest of blackberry bushes featuring among the luxuriant growth.

Through the eye of Healy's bridge you will see the dead-end of the filled-in Blackwood feeder which linked the waterway with Ballynafagh reservoir which is located two miles to the north. Cross Healy's bridge to the south bank. After a few paces the canal scenery changes again - this time revealing a vista of cut-away bog, forest and whin bushes which will be constant theme for the remainder of the canal's course across the bogs of West Kildare. For the first time since leaving Sallins the canal is carried on a high rampart. This elevation was caused both by the need to build the canal on an embankment over the bog and by the effect of decades of cutting of the peat on either side of the waterway. Canal historians record that the entire canal project nearly foundered in the morass of bog over the one-and-half miles between Healy's Bridge and Robertstown.

Just as you are beginning to wonder if the relaxing but unchanging cutaway bog landscape is going to be your lot for the rest of the walk a structure, large and rusty - pink in colour, appears at the end of the stretch from Healy's Bridge like some sort of midlands mirage. Draw closer and the solid outline of the Grand Canal Hotel at Robertsown becomes clearer. An unusual place to find a hotel on this island in the bog of Allen but it was no doubt a welcome sight for boat passengers and crews battered by bad weather on the slow journey from Dublin.

The Hotel was built in 1804 and was closed as such in 1849. However the building continued in use for various purposes including a constabulary barracks and, in the 20th century, a hostel for turf - workers.

In the early 1970s it became the hub of an imaginative community project capitalise on Robertstown's canal heritage. Seizing on the tourist potential of the village's water-side location the locals set-about restoring the hotel and recapturing the village's period atmosphere. Period banquets in the hotel, barge cruises, and a week of canalside festivity marked a resurgence of Robertstown, this time as a tourist venue. The momentum was difficult to sustain and now the programme is more modest but on summer weekends you may find a coffee shop open in the hotel and the opportunity to take a barge cruise from the Robertstown quayfront.

Neglect of waterfront buildings has taken somewhat from Robertstown's atmosphere as a waterways village but there are still strong ambitions to rebuild the village's period ambience and re-echo its once thriving status as an overnight stop for canal travellers.

Robertstown is one-half of the pair of locations which together form the centre-of-gravity of the Grand Canal system. The other half, Lowtown Junction, is another mile along the road. Cross the bridge at the west end of the village (Binn's bridge) to the north side of the canal and keep to the canal bank road where it diverges from the main road.

 

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