Leixlip (Louisa Bridge)

Leixlip grew up where the Rye Water joins the Liffey, and the canal reaches it on one of its boldest works. Bending the route towards Maynooth forced the builders to carry the navigation across the Rye Water valley on the Ryewater Aqueduct, a huge embankment with the river far below. While digging near Louisa Bridge in the 1790s the workmen struck a warm mineral spring, the Leixlip Spa, whose hexagonal well and old bath survive close to the canal. Passenger boats from Dublin ran this far from 1796. Today the town's two railway stations, Louisa Bridge and Confey, lie at either end of town, Waterways Ireland lists a slipway at the Confey amenity area, and a pegged stretch of bank hosts coarse-fishing matches. The River Forest Hotel at the top of Captain's Hill, near Confey, has rooms and a big bar.