Boyne Valley to Lakelands Greenway

Setting off from the Blackwater Park trailhead, you will travel along the Ratholdren Road for c. 600 meters. This road has a footpath but no cycle lane. The start of the greenway is located shortly after the entrance to a residential estate with a distinctive red surfacing signalling the start of the off-road route. The route quickly enters open countryside, this first stage is accessible with a smooth surface, with hedgerows and farmland providing a calm start. You will pass the Tara Mines Tailings Pond on the lefthand side, this is a distinctive site used to store mining waste from the zinc mines.

Shortly after leaving Gibstown 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 caught by crown forces at Knightstown Bog, just north of Wilkinstown. Local folklore tells of how locals helped shelter the fleeing pikemen, 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 to an amenity site providing visitors with plentiful facilities. 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. Castletown Walking Trail connects to the Greenway and is a 1.4km looped walk through the area if you want to explore more of the village. 

Continuing along the route which showcases a rural landscape, the next settlement is Nobber with an access point facilitating a visit to this town. Services are available if you wish to stop, this is 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 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. The monastic Order of St. John (the Knights Hospitaller) who were based in Kilmainham, County Dublin 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. 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. 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.  Kingscourt originates in the Irish Dún an Rí, ‘fort of the king’.