Limerick - Listowel Greenway
​The Limerick to Listowel Greenway is a wonderful inland cycling experience through the rural heartlands of Ireland. It has an excellent asphalt surface, generally flat and completely off-road with 'kissing gates' at each road crossing. It runs very close to several towns providing places to stop for a break or as a starting point. The length of the greenway is 50Kms.
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The greenway was opened in 2021 after a long struggle by locals and environmental activists having watched the route decay and become overgrown over the years. The route runs along the old Limerick to Tralee railway line, known as the North Kerry Line, which operated from 1880 to 1970. Passenger trains ended in 1963. Road usage and road transport signaled the death of many rural railway lines in Ireland. The history of the Limerick greenway is covered elsewhere on the site.
It has excellent signage, the best of all Irish greenways with signs identifying the names of each townland (local rural area) along the route and their origin. Limerick County Council are really to be commended for keeping the names of the townlands alive with the interpretation of the original Irish names, a brilliant cultural addition to the greenway, see some examples below.​​​​
Outstanding signage by Limerick County Council
​​​​​Cyclists can start from a number of entry/ exit points along the route, typically Rathkeale, Ardagh, Newcastle West, Barnagh, Templeglantine (known locally as Glantine), Abbeyfeale or Listowel.
There are specific greenway car parks at Rathkeale, Ardagh, Newcastle West and Abbeyfeale but there will be no difficulty finding parking at the other towns and villages on or close to the greenway.
Rathkeale to Ardagh – 9 Kms
Ardagh to Newcastle West - 4 Kms
Newcastle West to Barnagh – 9 Kms
Barnagh to Templeglantine – 4 Kms
Templeglantine to Abbeyfeale - 9 Kms
Abbeyfeale to the Kerry border - 3 Kms
Kerry border to Listowel - 12 Kms
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The route straddles two administrative areas, the counties of Limerick and Kerry. Because of the different administrative areas, the sections between Rathkeale to Abbeyfeale (to the Limerick-Kerry border) are marked as the Limerick Greenway while the section from Listowel to the Kerry-Limerick border near Abbeyfeale is part of the Kingdom of Kerry Greenways. Neither side wanting to give naming rights to the other!!! For our purposes we will refer to it as the Limerick and Listowel Greenway. Although you will not see that signage anywhere. But for our purposes and for the purpose of cyclists it is one greenway.
And if you are curious to find out why Kerry is called the Kingdom then this site might help.
The different administrative areas can cause cyclists some confusion as regards distances. On the Limerick side distance markings start from zero at Rathkeale while on the Kerry side distance markings start from zero at Listowel. At the Limerick Kerry border the distance signs change from 12 Kms (distance to Listowel) to 38 Kms (distance to Rathkeale) within a few metres of one another.
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Adding to the confusion about distances, if one enters the towns along the way including Rathkeale, Newcastle West, Abbeyfeale and Listowel then the distance is closer to what is generally published i.e. 40 Kms for the Limerick section and 13Kms for the Kerry section, a total of 53 Kms.
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The Limerick/ Kerry border, the signage changes as does the colour of the asphalt.
See the access point to the Barnagh Greenway Hub and Platform 22 cafe in the image above.
​Access to the Greenway Hub is through the Barnagh tunnel.
The route rises from Newcastle West to Barnagh and drops again at Templeglantine. The higest point is at Barnagh which is at 180m above sea level. See profile below.
There is an excellent guide website from The Irish Road Trip giving details of the route. ​​​
