Cloondara is where the Royal Canal runs out of Ireland to cross. After leaving Dublin and tracking west for the best part of 145km, the canal passes under the horseshoe arch of Richmond Bridge, opens into the cut-stone basin of Richmond Harbour, drops through its final lock and joins the Shannon. That makes this small County Longford village – Irish Cluain Dá Ráth, ‘pasture of two ringforts’ – the full stop at the end of one of the country’s great engineering projects, and the obvious place to start or finish a trip along the water.
Richmond Harbour and the canal
The harbour is the whole point of the village. The buildings around it were put up to service canal trade, and the cut-stone basin still holds a line of barges where the canal meets Ireland’s longest river. Work on the Royal Canal began in 1790 and reached the Shannon here in 1817; a spur up to Longford town followed in 1831. For a few decades it was the motorway of its day – there were even cheap night boats carrying passengers between Longford and Dublin – before the railways took the traffic and the canal slid into disuse. It has been steadily restored since, and boats are once again working their way back up it.
Cloondara sits on a knot of waterways: the Camlin and the Keenagh (or Fallan) river join the Shannon around it, and there are three bridges in the village, each crossing a different channel. The place had a distillery and mills in its day too.
Walking and cycling the Greenway
Cloondara is the western trailhead of the Royal Canal Greenway, the 130km flat, traffic-free path that runs from Maynooth in Kildare to here (launched in 2021). You don’t need to take on the whole thing. The stretch south from Cloondara to Keenagh is the popular local section – about 15km, roughly three hours on foot or 45 minutes on a bike – and it runs along the quiet canal bank past the locks. The greenway shares much of its line with the National Famine Way, which traces the 1847 journey of 1,490 emigrants from Strokestown to Dublin.
If you haven’t brought a bike, you don’t need to go elsewhere for one: the Midlands Cycle Hub, based in Cloondara, hires out hybrid and mountain bikes and will drop them to or collect them from points down the line like Longford, Ballymahon and Abbeyshrule – handy if you only want to ride one way.
On the water
From the harbour you can get onto the Shannon Blueway for kayaking and stand-up paddleboarding, with calm water near the bridge that suits beginners; paddle hire is available on-site. The harbour is also a fishing spot, and in summer the usually quiet village livens right up with canal rallies, kayaking and angling competitions, a water-polo championship, a walking festival and an outdoor country-music weekend.
Practical information
- Getting there: Cloondara is just off the N5 near Termonbarry, 7km west of Longford town. There’s a Bus Éireann service between Termonbarry and Longford station (roughly every four hours, about ten minutes), but a car is far easier.
- Parking: free public parking at Richmond Harbour, with plenty of space – no need to arrive early.
- Facilities: a Waterways Ireland service point beside the bridge has toilets and showers, and there’s a playground at the harbour. The Richmond Inn, right on the harbour, does food and pints and has guesthouse rooms – it’s also the first (or last) pub on a long, dry stretch of the canal, so time your lunch for it.
- Dogs: welcome on the greenway and around the harbour; keep them on a lead near the water and the cycle path.
Nearby
- Keenagh – south along the greenway, and the village for the Corlea Trackway, an 18-metre stretch of Iron Age bog road laid down in 148 BC and kept in a purpose-built centre.
- Lanesborough – downstream on the Shannon, with a marina and riverside walk.
- Abbeylara – inland to the east, with the ruins of a 12th-century Cistercian abbey.
Sit on the harbour wall for ten minutes before you set off and watch a barge work through the last lock – it’s the quiet payoff for a canal that came 145km to get here.