Blackwater Valley Cycle Route - Maps & Signs - Midleton to Youghal

The Blackwater Valley Cycle Route goes from Midleton in East Cork to Rathmore in Co Kerry and covers a distance of about 160kms. This was a tourist initiative launched around the turn of the century.

More info in this overview post.

In this post, we'll look at the first section from Midleton to Youghal which is about 31kms long. We'll look at what old maps and signs are still present on the route as of August 2023.

Original Map... The official map for the original route can be seen on the board that is located in Ladysbridge. The map is shown below...

As can be seen, the route starts in Midleton, heads south to Ballinacurra and then heads east to Ladysbridge. From there, it follows the R633 to Youghal. As the route enters Youghal, it turns south to Claycastle Beach and follows the coastline into the town.

The light Blue line is the N25. You'll notice that the Youghal Bypass (opened 2004) is not included so the map is quite old.

The towns of Midleton and Youghal are shown above in more detail. The 'i' refers to the fact that there is information about the route in the town, not the exact location of the information point.

On the map of Midleton, the route is the red line with a black line under it. It's a bit hard to make out but the line starts near the entrance to Distillery Walk.

The original route takes the cyclist south up St Mary's Road and down to the Lake View Roundabout on the N25. This can be a very busy junction and a much better alternative now is to use the Ballick Road to get to Ballinacurra. This is especially true now as a new Greenway to Ballinacurra is being built as of 2023. 

Midleton - Map Board : The official start for the Blackwater Valley Cycle Route is on Distillery Walk which is outside the Jameson Distillery.

The image capture above from Google Streetview shows that the information sign for the route was in place up until at least July 2019. An image captured from Main St shows that it was gone by September 2021. This is what it looks like in August of 2023...

Using a screenshot from Google Streetview, this is what the notice board looked like in Midleton but the quality is pretty poor.

The map on it looks identical to the one that is in Ladysbridge.

Ladysbridge - Map Board : The notice board for the Blackwater Valley Cycle Route is located outside St Joseph's Cemetery which is on the Ballymacoda road on the eastern side of the village.

This is a close up of the notice board...

There is some gradient information about the route but it's pretty basic.

Youghal - Map Board : The notice board for the Blackwater Valley Cycle Route used to be located at the western wall of the tourist office in the town. According to Google Streetview, the sign was removed sometime between August 2011 and June 2018.

This is the view in August of 2023 which shows that the notice board is still absent.

In Summary... The signage for the Blackwater Valley Cycle Route now only exists in Ladysbridge for this section of the route after the notice boards were removed in Midleton and Youghal. This is unfortunate as these towns are starting points for tourists wishing to travel the entire route.

For more information on the entire route, see the overview post.