Drumcondra & the Tolka: the northern river village
The river through Griffith Park, Croke Park's shadow, and the avenues behind the old college walls. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Drumcondra Bridge and the village
Start where Drumcondra Road crosses the Tolka — the bridge and the small parade of village shops, the church, the pubs. This is the spine of the old village; get your bearings on the bridge, watch the brown water go under, then turn off into the quiet.

2. Griffith Park and the Tolka walk
Drop into the long linear park that follows the river west — willows over the water, the weir, dog-walkers and the green smell of a city river. Walk it as far as the bend; this is the reason the walk exists, and the reason to come on a dry afternoon.

3. Archbishop's House and the Holy Cross grounds
Back toward the village, the high walls hide the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin's residence and the grounds of the old Clonliffe seminary. You can't go in, but walk the wall on Clonliffe Road and read the scale of it; this corner ran Catholic Dublin for a century.

4. All Hallows / DCU grounds
The old All Hallows College, a missionary seminary from 1842, its grounds now part of Dublin City University's Drumcondra campus. The avenue of mature trees and the original house survive; wander the open campus paths and look for the old church behind the new buildings.

5. Croke Park's shadow
South toward the great curve of Croke Park — 82,000 seats, the home of Gaelic games, looming over the terraced streets that press right up to its walls. On a match day the whole quarter turns into one tide of people; on any other, just stand and feel the scale against the two-up-two-downs.

6. The red-brick avenues of upper Drumcondra
Wind back through the leafy avenues — Grace Park Road, the bay-windowed red-brick terraces that house the comfortable north side. A slow last stretch under the trees, then the DART or the bus back into town from Drumcondra station.

Drumcondra & the Tolka: the northern river village