Tag Archives: royal canal

Sunday cycle

Another Sunday spin, on a lovely day and with some interesting route changes forced by the closure of a bridge over the Tolka. Second time here in a day, in the morning I was here with the child and it luckily let me scope out the alternative route on the North side of the Tolka. A little risky, it’s also used by scramblers and isn’t a path, just a de facto trail through the trees, and I don’t know it so well. Look at that, I’ve even re-used a photo from this morning’s walk, because it is the same place! But the light wasn’t as good later on. On the other side of that fence is Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown on one side, and the National Sports Campus on the other. It is a shame in a way that some link-up can’t be done for walkers and cyclists here but security for both places is tight, probably with good reason. So, there it was. The big deal was the combination of the new offroad route and of course the new tyres. The change in the clock really messed with me this year, I couldn’t get my head around it. Also, the […]

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Relaxed Phoenix ramble

Still working on basic fitness. Bursts of power, getting better at judging what I can and can’t do (actually, on a decent bike it’s all possible, if you don’t bottle it). Hampered by my general lack of fitness and my desperate need to take tourist photos of everything, as if you wouldn’t believe that I had actually done all of it. I took one of my more traditional routes, which is either sort of clockwise or in reverse, basically whether I go left or right on entering the park at the Halfway House gate. It makes little difference, really. I marvel at how long it takes to clean my bike afterwards; it could be worse, but the tyres are not good at clearing mud. If you’re on Strava and we’re mutuals on some network, hit me up.

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Back on the bike and into the mud

Haven’t been out on the bike in ages, that was good. It was mucky and a bit slippery but good to be out and somehow some skills improved? Maybe just from not knowing what I think I shouldn’t be able to do. Wrecked now, though. I went via the Tolka river trail, which is a slippery, mucky mess at the moment, then to a little wood beside the Fingal golf course, then the canal, to the Phoenix park.

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