Famine Era Travel Between Athlone and Queenstown

1849 would have been a little early for any sort of Railway option, as far as I can see the Dublin Galway line which went through Athlone opened in the early 1850s and the rote to the south even later. Other than walking, several options would have been available e.g. by carriage - for example Slater's 1846 directory mentions Coaches & Cars to various locations including Dublin, Galway etc nothing directly to anywhere in County Cork but that could have been done on stages, e.g starting in Ballinasloe etc. The Bianconi Coaches would probably have covered at least part of the route.

A second option might have been to travel first to a port, either Dublin of Galway and then take one of the many ships travelling around the coast - e.g. Dublin to Cork or Galway to Cork and Queenstown. Another option might have been to travel on a boat either along one of the Canals to Dublin city or possibly down to Shannon from Athlone to Limerick and then onward to Queenstown by boat..

Thank you very much for this info,Shanew147.  You have confirmed what I had researched and added a couple of new ideas. Your reference to Slater's 1846 Directory was a good find.  I had also thought that about Bianconi Coaches as potential option. The posibility of travel down the River Shannon to Limerick and then on to Queenstown was one I had considered, but I had not thought of travelling east to Dublin and then by sea to Queenstown - a promising lead.  I have looked at the walking time from Athlone to Cobh on Google Maps which shows two routes of approximately 130 miles so that is still in the mix.  I suspect my ancestors' journey was a combination of the above and  will continue the research.

With appreciation

IrishGreatGrands.  .

The most common way to travel between the two cities was by land. There was a well-established road network in Ireland at the time, and the journey would have taken about three days. 

Thank you very much for your post.  In your opinion, how do you think four sisters between 16 and 25 would have made the journey if it took three days to travel from Athlone to Queenstown?

Irish Great Grands

Irish 

This was a fascinating read on Famine Era travel between Athlone and Queenstown. It’s incredible to imagine the hardship and determination that people faced while making these journeys during such a difficult time.

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