Sallins

Sallins grew up when the canal reached it in 1779, and a passenger boat service to Dublin followed a year later. It is now a commuter town of over 6,000 people, but the canal is still its focus. About 255 m of linear jetties with lighting, water taps, rubbish bins and a pay-as-you-go pump-out make it, with Lowtown, one of the two canal moorings in Kildare upgraded with services. Lock 13, Kildare’s first brewpub, looks over the water and brews its own beer, and Bargetrip runs skippered trips on the barge Amo to the Leinster Aqueduct and through Digby Lock, as well as letting the Roisin Dubh houseboat. The 18th-century dry dock near the start of the towpath to Naas may be the oldest canal dry dock in Ireland. The Naas Branch leaves just west of the village, and Sallins & Naas station is about five minutes’ walk away.