The inland waterways of Ireland present visitors with a myriad of recreational opportunities. Most visitors are aware of the numerous water based activities available and of the excellent evening entertainments ashore. These pages describe yet more interesting recreational opportunities. They introduce visitors to a set of fascinating places to visit that are within walking distance of the shores and banks of these waterways. Many visitors pass these by, unaware of their existence as they rush up and down the main navigations seeking to tick off yet another item from the 'been there done that' list.

To fully enjoy Ireland's waterways - slow down and spend more time exploring fewer places. If you think that message may apply to you then stop surfing, stop browsing, and start grazing these pages. Hopefully they will provide you with at least a few ideas that will help you to slow down and enjoy some of the fascinating places so many visitors never see.

First, a small number of important points to note:

Warning 1: The standard of driving on Irish roads often leaves a lot to be desired. In particular, many drivers do not slow down when approaching predestrians. Consequently, it is essential to adopt a very defensive attitude when walking on Irish roads. This detracts considerably from the enjoyment of some walks.

Walks that are predominately on public roads with no pavements are given at most a three star rating. A key to the symbols used in this e-guide and to the rating system is provided below. 

Warning 2: Some of the walks pass by deep water. When ashore we may be less vigilant than when afloat. Take care walking alongside deep or fast flowing water. Be particularly careful in the vicinity of locks as locks can be very dangerous. For example, it is easy to fall into a lock and often very difficult to get out. Life saving equipment is often not available. If you have children in your group consider requiring them to wear life jackets. 

Crews of hire boats should note that access to the start points of some walks described on these pages, and to some of the locations pictured on these pages, involves navigating waters that are off limits to hire boats. If in doubt check with your hire boat company.
 

Key to symbols and grading system
 

	Circular walk		* * * *	Highly recommended. Mostly away from busy roads.
	Out and back by the same route		* * *	Feature of outstanding interest. Walk may be forgettable.
	From Point A to Point B		* *	Nice walk
			*	Good exercise

Navigating the Waterway Walks pages 

Navigating the Waterway Walks pages is quite straightforward. However a few points may be worth mentioning:

• A 'Walks . . ' menu bar, sample below, is provided at the top and bottom of every page. Pages with a map provide additional links to adjacent waterways or nearby walks in a box to the right of the map.

• Clicking on a picture on the right hand side of a page will take you to a larger version of the picture. Use the 'Back' button to return.
• The 'Index' page and this page include a link to a single page version of Waterway Walks. Look on the right of this page just below the top picture and on the 'Index' page.
   

The Walks 

Almost all the walks described on these pages start and finish by a waterway that is or has been navigable by medium sized cruisers. Included are walks along canal and river tow paths, through natural woods, by lakeshores, by historic buildings, through wonderful scenery, in urban areas, and to the tops of hills overlooking various waterways. You will find walks varying in length from less than 1 km to 20 km and more. The short walks are included where there are places of outstanding interest to visit. Some walks follow circular routes, others return by the outbound route, while other walks start on a waterway and finish at another point along the same waterway. The walks included are listed in the Index of Walks by Name page.

These walks were discovered over a number of years by studying maps, reading books, and talking with many individuals. You are strongly encouraged to use similar methods. Indeed at the present time, to get the best value from these pages, you will have to apply these methods. There are two reasons for this:

1. These pages are at an early stage of development. Detailed descriptions of many of the walks have yet to be placed on the Web. It is anticipated that it will take a number of years before pages describing most of the best walks are added.
    
2. These pages are intended to complement the excellent maps and books that are currently available about the inland waterways of Ireland. Many of these are listed on the References and IWAI Publications pages. These include significantly more information about the waterways than is contained in the Waterway Walks pages. These provide a waterway walker's guide to these excellent sources.
   
   A by-product of this approach is that placename spellings used throughout these pages are the spellings used on the Ordnance Survey maps. Sometimes these differ from alternate commonly used placename spellings.
    

Visitor comments and contributions 

Visitors to these pages are encouraged to contribute material such as comments about how the pages might be improved, notes about walks that might be added, pictures, and specialist comments on fauna, flora, and the history and heritage of the inland waterways of Ireland. Contributions should be sent to walker@iwai.ie. Material used will be acknowledged on the Acknowledgements page.
 

Other matters - anchoring, clothing, and walking times 

Certain walks commence at points accessible only by dingy. In these cases cruisers need to be left at anchor. Skippers should check weather forecasts and follow normal good seamanship practices when leaving boats at anchor. If in doubt leave sufficient competent crew on board to manage the situation should the boat drift for whatever reason. 

Others will follow after you. Please leave the countryside as you would wish to find it. Follow the countryside code - fasten gates after you, keep dogs under control, avoid damaging fences, hedges and walls, do not disturb animals, go carefully on country roads (single file facing oncoming traffic), guard against fire, and please do take litter home.

The walks described on these pages are not arduous when compared with most hill walks. However, many require more than light shoes, shorts, and a light top. In general you are advised to:

• Wear a strong pair of walking shoes that provide some ankle support, long trousers and bring sufficient clothing to cope comfortably with rain and cool breezes. Many of the walks are not along prepared paths. Some go through overgrown areas. Hence the need for strong shoes and long trousers.
   
• Bring a map on walks where you are unfamiliar with the local geography. 

Walking times have been estimated assuming 4 km per hour plus 10 minutes per 100 meters of ascent. These are reasonably generous walking times but do not provide for significant stops along the way. On some of the walks it is easy to be tempted to spend significant time visiting places of interest or just observing the flora and landscape of the region.
 

Future developments 

It intended to add to the current pages over a number of years. Planned enhancements include:

• Notes based on direct experience of walking the small number of walks described on these pages where the information provided is based on desk research and where there is not readily available an alternate source of information about the walks.
   
• More information about some of the more interesting walks in a form similar to the description of the Portlick Walk by Lough Ree.
   
• Walks adjacent to other waterways such as the Shannon Estuary, the Ulster Canal, and the Bann navigation including Lough Neagh.
   
• Heritage material. The Waterway Heritage pages are currently at an early stage of development. It is intended in time to provide information about many heritage sites (historical, industrial etc.) accessible from the Waterway Walks and about related topics such as Heritage Boats.
  
  In time the scope of information provided may be extended to include notes about the flora and fauna close to some Waterway Walks.
  
  The achievement of some of these goals will be dependent of persuading individuals with the appropriate knowledge to help draft the relevant sections.

Conclusion 

Walker@iwai.ie is very grateful to all those who assisted with the development of these pages. Their contributions are noted on the Acknowledgements page. 

Developing these pages has been very enjoyable primarily because of the many days spent exploring the shores of Ireland's inland waterways, talking with many interesting people, and collaborating with other IWAI members. Hopefully you will derive as much pleasure exploring our inland waterways. 

Enjoyable walking,