[UPDATE] Not long after I uploaded this series of images I was contacted by a person who zoomed in on a notice in one photograph which indicated that the bridge was sponsored by the Kingsley Hotel in May 2009. They also mentioned that the Kingsley was forced to close because serious of flood damage in November 2009. It reopened under different ownership in July 2014].[]

According to various guides there are ten bridges spanning the North Channel of the River Lee in Cork but it would appear that I have used one that is not on any of the lists.

When I visited the area in 2017 A gentleman that I met on the trail mentioned that I might see an a coypu and I had no idea what he was talking about. Later, on my return to the hotel, I checked online and found the following “The public has being asked to report sightings of any coypus, sometimes mistaken for otters, after one was spotted in or near the River Lee near the Lee Fields in Cork City recently”. I never did find out what happened to the coypu.

Adjacent to The Kingsley Hotel there is walkway along the banks of The River Lee. There is a footbridge which appears on Google Maps as the "Kingsley Bridge". But I cannot find any information relating to this bridge and cannot confirm the name ... maybe it has a different name?


The bridge is interest as it allows one to visit an interesting memorial to Brian Quillingan [I will publish photographs of the sculpture later] and then walk on past the Missionaries Of The Sacred Heart to the Mardyke Pavillion.

The Lee flows from the lake of Gougane Barra as a fast-paced torrent, but by the town of Ballingeary it eases and flows into Lough Allua. Departing the lough, running east, it again becomes a rapid flow before running into The Gearagh, and Carrigadrohid feeder reservoirs, and then into the large Inniscarra reservoir created by Inniscarra Dam. Moving on, it flows down from the dam, in normal conditions a gentle river until it comes to Ballincollig Weir in Ballincollig Park; here it is dangerous to swimmers when in high water.

The Lee then flows into the city under Inniscarra Bridge and flows parallel to the Carrigrohane road. Along this section gauges monitor the water levels from the Inniscarra Dam. The river flows over the Lee weir and then is split into the north and south channels at a sluice (it historically occupied the city area as a maze of channels). This area is popular for recreation, kayaking and fishing. The two channels join again at the Cork docks and enter the extensive estuary and harbour, south of Glanmire, passing either side of Great Island (Cobh lies on the south coast) to fill the outer harbour, and reaching the open sea between Whitegate and Crosshaven.

City area tributaries include the combined Maglin (from Ballincollig) and Curraheen (occasionally Curragheen) Rivers, capturing the Glasheen River also and joining at the western end of the UCC complex, and the Kiln River (sometimes Bride River) which joins by the Christy Ring Bridge in the city centre, a little west of St. Patrick's Bridge (formed in turn from a Bride River and the Kilnap or Glennamought River, later joined by the Glen River).