Boyne Valley to Lakelands Greenway

Beginning on the outskirts of Navan, the Greenway departs from Blackwater Park (there is parking available here) and quickly enters open countryside. This first stage is accessible with a bound (asphalt) surface accessible, with hedgerows and farmland providing a calm start. You will pass the Tara Mines Tailings Pond on the left side – this is a distinctive site used to store mining waste from the zinc mines. There is a formal access point at Gibbstown Station.

Shortly after leaving Gibbstown Station, you can choose to leave the Greenway turning right onto the regional road and travelling c.2km to Kilberry. There are refreshments within the village as well as a ruined medieval church and graveyard. A large ringfort, located just east of the village at Rathcoon, is also visible from the graveyard. If you remain on the Greenway, you will travel on to Wilkinstown. In July 1798, the defeated United Irishmen from Wexford and Wicklow marched north until they were finally caught and scattered by crown forces at Knightstown Bog, just north of Wilkinstown. Local folklore tells of how the locals helped shelter the fleeing pikemen, and some even settled in the area.

There is a Greenway service hub (Park Beo) located just after Wilkinstown with an official access route (300 meters) leading the traveller to an amenity site providing visitors with plentiful safe off-road parking, accessible toilets, baby changing facilities, covered Gazebo with ample seating, a playground, bike hire, bike service area and a coffee trailer.

Returning to the Greenway, you will travel north for 4.6 kilometres when you have an option to leave the route to visit Castletown Kilpatrick (c. 1km on a local road), A medieval cross-slab and architectural fragments may still be seen in the graveyard with a ruined church attached. There is also a pitch and putt course located beside the school. You can rejoin the Greenway by way of a looped trail which will mean that you rejoin the Greenway at a separate access point further along the Greenway.

Continuing along the route which showcases a rural landscape, the next settlement is Nobber with an access point facilitating a visit to this town with a 19-space car park located adjacent to the route. There are services available here make it an excellent stop to mark the mid-point of the route.

Nobber is a town of historical significance, home to high crosses and the birthplace of blind harpist and composer Turlough O’Carolan. The town and its surrounds can trace its roots back to Mesolithic Ireland, c.6,000 BCE. The name Nobber come from the Irish word “an Obair” (‘the work’), which refers to the Norman motte (the remains of which can still be seen) at the north end of the village.

You will pass the scenic Whitewood Lough on the next stage of your journey before reaching a junction with a local road where you can choose to turn left and travel 750 meters to the village of Kilmainhamwood. It takes its name from Kilmainham priory in Dublin, as the monastic Order of St. John (the Knights Hospitaller) who were based in Kilmainham also owned land at this site. The original medieval church is now gone, but the site remains as a graveyard and includes a medieval font and cross-slabs. A bullaun stone (an early-Christian man-made hollow within a stone basin) may be seen in the wall of the modern Catholic church.

Embarking on the final section, you will cross into County Cavan as you approach your destination of the busy market town of Kingscourt. The Greenway ends on the outskirts of the town opposite the Kingspan Headquarters. There is a space for car parking but travellers can opt to continue their journey by visiting the Dún an Rí Forest Park by continuing along a regional road for 600 meters before turning left into the park. Alternatively, you can turn left onto a regional road and stay on the road for 1.5km which will bring you into the town centre.  Its name originates in the Irish Dún an Rí, ‘fort of the king’.