Biking the Grand Canal is one of my favorites. The cycle tracks along the canal guides you safely and easy from the urban life to the rural areas outside Dublin. I passed Lucan when I was biking another route and decided to make a round trip that included both the Grand Canal, the village Lucan and the Phoenix Park.

Take your bike and follow the “Arthur’s Way” trail. The route starts at Leixlip and ends at Oughterard graveyard where the Arthur Guinness rest.

The trip is only 16 km but you should spend some time visit the landmarks connected to one of the worlds most famous brewers.

Irelands canals were the motorways of the 19th Century. They were an extraordinary engineering feat that allowed for goods to be transported to and fro from the capital city to the bustling port of Limerick on the west coast, making safe and reliable a route that previously risked shipwreck on the rugged Atlantic coastline. In time the railways made the waterways redundant, and by the 1960’s the had fallen to complete dereliction and abandonment.

At almost 2,000 acres, the Phoenix Park is one of the worlds largest city parks. Established in the 17th Century, the park has maintained its atmosphere of rural tranquility despite being in the very heart of the city, and contains a whole host of attractions.

From the city centre it is a short direct route to the Parks main entrance. Although this is only a short distance, care should be taken as there are no dedicated cycle lanes and it is an area that suffered from heavy traffic congestion. Once the park is reached however, a cyclist of any experience level will find an extremely safe environment with a great number of cycle lanes entirely separated from traffic. This is an environment for children to cycle in safety.