TLDR – today’s Saturday dad and kid bike ride we’re headed to Corkagh Park. They have a playground and a bicycle track
Planning and out the Door
The kids and I have a plan for summer. Our plan is to dedicate Saturdays to dad kid adventures. Last weekend, after returning from Glencree river we came up with a list. First on the list is Corkagh Park in Dublin 22. Found the park randomly viewing at an aerial map of Dublin reviewing a route Maddex, Khaleesi, and I are taking next week on an overnight ride to lake Blessington. On the map, I noticed what appeared to be a race track in a park near an open-air mining pit. Zooming in and looking, turns out it’s a purpose-built bicycle track in a huge park. By bicycle, the direct route is 19km from our house. After some planning we found a number of playgrounds in between we can stop at, making it about 25km one way. Playgrounds and exploration sound like a great way to spend a Saturday with the kids.
First stop of the day, Gabi’s house to return Gabi fully rewound to her parents. Gabi slept over last night with Mila. They went to bed around 23:30 and woke around 05:00. Wonder if Mila will stay awake the whole day. The next stop, the first Park of the day, Marley park. The time we rode to Marley it felt like a long ride. Today it feels like a quick 10-minute ride; we must be getting better at longer rides? Today no GPS was needed Maddex and I know the route we’ve been here enough. Mila ran into the park yelling about being super excited due to the low numbers of people in the park. As she put it “there isn’t a line for anything. We can do all of the fun things with no wait.” – After an hour at Marley park we loaded up for our next destination – Tymon park.
Tymon Park, Lunch and Belgrade Park
On the route to Tymon park playground we found some rolling hills on the side of the road we had to ride. So much fun! Up and down like a roller coaster, the girls screamed the whole way. Somewhere on the hills, the luggage rack on the back of Maddex’s bike lost a bolt; sad face. Forgot my tool and zap straps at home; double sad face. Now the luggage is on top of the girls in the cargo bin. The man gate google directed us to that we planned to use to enter Tymon park was completely inaccessible by the cargo bike due to the narrow man gate thing. We had to divert on some surface streets around half the park and enter near a car park. The playground has a great zip line over a bridge over a creek with enough space to be able to push the kid’s sideways while they zip. Fun !! We had some fun at this park, only one injury. Khaleesi hit her knee on a rock. She sat on my lap with a few sniffles before recovering and running to the zip line.
Next stop is the cycle super store to pick up a luggage rack for the kaboomer bike. Hoping they have a bolt to fix Maddexs rack while we are there. Kids were starting to get a bit “we need food cranky” before we left Tymon park. The bike shop is about five minutes away the kids should be able to make it. One minute before the bike shop we saw a Subway!! I yelled to Maddex to turn into the subway, he immediately changed directions into the parking lot. Picked up chips, sodas, and four subs (Three Spicy Italian and one Salad for Mila). The kids having smelled the food had no desire to wait for me to shop followed by a ride to the next park before eating. Using the blanket and butt pads in the cargo hold we solved the problem. We set up a picnic in the bike shop parking lot.
The kids are so flexible, man I love them. Without hesitation, once I said picnic and laid down the blanket, they busted out of the food, sat down, and starting consuming mass quantities. Mila brought out the Bluetooth speaker to listen to music while eating lunch in the parking lot; happy kids. I went into the shop and picked up a bolt for Maddex’s rack and obtained the rack for my bicycle. The shop was busy and did not have time to mount the rack for me and I forgot my tools at home. Thankfully, we managed to fix Maddex’s rack. Rack fixed I sat with the kids enjoying the parking lot picnic. With my rack bungied to Maddex’s and full bellies off to Belgrade park to play.
When Maddex and I rode to Blessington a few years ago we stopped at Belgrade park. Maddex was super excited to show the park to his sisters. Remembering the climbing rock Maddex grabbed Mila and climbed on top of the rock with her. Once on top, they yelled at me to take a picture. Roxi liked the rubber bouncing thing. Khaleesi said she made 2 friends while she was playing in the park. Kids had a great time while I dealt with the rubbish from lunch, and organized the luggage.
Corkagh Park and Home
About 18 minutes away on flat bike lanes is the Corkagh park entrance and bicycle track. The main gate to the track is closed and there is no way I’m fitting through the man gate with the big bike. Maddex went in and raced around on his bike. While he was racing around I worked out how to open the man gate. It was not padlocked it was tied shut with an old Zap strap. The first one around the track on the cargo bike was Maddex. He can’t fully reach the ground yet. I had to help him start and stop but he made it around the track with no problem. He reports that he loves the cargo back and kept asking to ride it. After Maddex gave me the bike back I took the girls around the track. They screamed in the corners and when we went fast on the straightaways.
From the bicycle track, Maddex volunteered to navigate us to the playground by trial and error. He refused the help from phone GPS. Eventually, we made it to the playground after a full tour of the park. The place is huge. Even found 2 baseball diamonds near the north end of the park. The playground is massive. Three-story slide, sand, water and mud area, side my side zip lines, swings, a good 100 plus parents and more kids; the works. The kids spent most of thier time barefoot in the sand and mud. Before I knew it’s 16:20; we’ve been gone almost 7 hours already. We have a good 90-minute ride home with time for a slushy stop. I guess we should start loading up here soon.
Every time the kids and I go out on an adventure it’s easier and more entertaining than the previous adventure. They are such brilliant kids. Hardly ever complain, always up for new things, and they can find fun anywhere. We done good with the kids, by we I mean Michelle has done great with the kids. Thanks, baby for being such a kick-ass mom. The last stop was a circle K for slushies before returning home by 18:20.
Bonus Pictures
