About Clare Glens Waterfalls
The Clare Glens Waterfalls consist of a series of waterfalls on the Annagh River, which is a watercourse that defines the border of County Limerick and County Tipperary near the city of Limerick.
Going into my late July 2024 visit of the Clare Glens, there was a bit of mystery surrounding its waterfalls based on the literature that was out there.
However, now that I finally had a chance to visit this place, I learned that there was quite a bit of misinformation concerning its waterfalls, especially the Clare Falls.
In fact, it seemed like the only officially-named waterfall was the Clare Falls, which implied that the other waterfalls here were merely side attractions to the glen itself.
Indeed, of the waterfalls that I encountered on this excursion, none were more than 5-10m tall by my estimation, and most of them were more like cascades than the more pronounced vertical types.
While the waterfalls were modest in size, I sensed that the appeal of the Clare Glens had more to do with its pocket of Nature contrasting the developments of the city of Limerick and the surrounding cultivated farmlands.
As for the level of exertion required on this hike, there were lots of options concerning how much or how little you want to explore here, but the main options are a 2km loop hike or a 4km longer loop hike.
For the record, I wound up doing the 4km loop hike that took in as much of the waterfalls that I managed to identify from my topo map.
However, in order to even properly see the Clare Glens Waterfalls, there was some degree of somewhat sketchy scrambling as well as some detours.
I think it’s the extra hiking and scrambling that was a major reason why there was so much mystery around such waterfalls.
So I’ll get right into the trail description of how I managed to do the 4km loop hike, including all the waterfall detours.
West side of the Clare Glens Trail Description
Before even starting on the actual 4km loop route of the Clare Glens hike, I actually accidentally stumbled upon what I’m calling the pre-Clare Glens hike.
This encompassed a short stretch from the picnic area by the car park (see directions below) through a lower part of the glen before going back up to the road bridge fronting the actual Clare Glens Loop Trails.
So from the car park, I went down a developed path leading to both a picnic area and playground as well as some steps leading down to the Annagh River.
Once down by the tiver, there was a narrow and somewhat overgrown path following along the river and going by a wide and picturesque cascade or waterfall that was probably around 3m tall or so.
Beyond this waterfall, the trail was a bit on the muddy and slippery side (as well as overgrown) before it ascended back up to the Tullow Road and its bridge across the river.
Anyways, this short stretch of the hike was a mere 200-300m or so, and it was kind of extracurricular when you consider this was not part of the main hike, which I’ll describe next.
Clare Glens Short Loop Trail Description
What I’m calling the “short loop trail” basically was a 2km route that started from the road bridge over the Annagh River.
It went as far as the first footbridge over the river roughly 1km in before looping back to the other side of the road bridge.
I’d recommend doing this trail in a clockwise manner, which means starting on the north side of the Annagh River and ending on its south side.
This is because the harder part of the hike happens in the beginning, and I think you’ll have more energy and alertness when it’s needed most here, especially if your desire is to pursue waterfalls.
So the hike basically started off along a moderately wide and well-used trail eventually leading to a trail fork roughly 200m from the road bridge.
It was at this trail fork that I opted to stay by the river instead of climbing up on the higher trail to the left.
The riverside trail ultimately followed along the bedrock of the Annagh River, which was VERY slippery due to a combination of humidity and moisture from the river itself (as well as the odd rains that come and go).
It was this stretch of the hike where having trekking poles for that third or fourth leg would be a really good idea given how much it felt like I was walking on ice here.
In fact, this was quite a dangerous stretch (especially if the river gets swollen with a heavy rain), and it made me wonder why this was a sanctioned trail in the first place.
Nevertheless, during this sketchy 500-550m stretch, I encountered quite a handful of waterfalls, which was something that would have been missed had I taken the upper trail paralleling this detour.
So I guess that’s a major catch-22 concerning the Clare Glens Waterfalls because some risk had to be taken on in order to see its waterfalls, and the “safe” option would have missed the waterfalls completely!
Anyways, eventually this bedrock detour climbed about 100m back up to the upper trail, went past a small footbridge, and then continued another 200m towards the first footbridge over the Annagh River.
This footbridge marked the turning point of the short 2km loop as I could have gone across the bridge and back to the trailhead along the wider road-like return trail.
But instead, I opted to keep going deeper into the Clare Glens, especially since I was motivated to pursue the named Clare Falls at the far end of this pocket of Nature.
Clare Glens Long Loop Trail Description
Beyond the first footbridge over the Annagh River, I continued along the north side of the river as the path continued to be pretty well-defined and well-signed.
There were some muddy patches during my visit, but the trail was for the most part easy-to-follow and not too difficult.
I noticed that I could hear the sounds of rushing water, but the thick tree cover and vegetation prevented me from getting any clean views of whatever was making the noise in the river.
On the other side of the trail, I noticed the tree cover was partially concealing open pastures or farmlands, which led me to believe that this pocket of Nature was really a strip of “undeveloped” land along the river.
Anyways, I probably walked roughly 1.2km beyond the first footbridge to get towards the next footbridge over the Annagh River.
On the footbridge, I was able to get some partial views of what I believe to be the Clare Falls further upstream lying somewhat hidden behind some fallen trees.
I noticed that there was what appeared to be an old (now overgrown) trail continuing to follow the banks of the river on the north side before that path disappeared.
I didn’t pursue it, but I’d imagine it might have been one of the scrambling paths to try to get a better, frontal look at the Clare Falls.
Anyways, beyond this second footbridge, the path intersected with a much wider, unpaved road that pretty much represented the return trail back to the Clare Glens Trailhead back by the road bridge.
However, in my curious desire to see where the road went further in the upstream direction (as well as the possibility of getting a better look at the Clare Falls), I pursued it for another 200-300m more.
Along the way, I saw a branch in the trail heading back to another rural road as well as the riverside branch getting towards a muddy and uncomfortable scramble closer to the brink of the Clare Falls.
While I did notice some trail of use daring to skirt the slippery banks of the river to try to get even more in front of the Clare Falls, I opted not to chance it and be content with the partial views that I was able to get.
So this marked my turnaround point, and I pretty much walked the remaining 2km or so back to the trailhead along the wider unpaved road along the south side (County Limerick side) of the Clare Glens.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that throughout the stretch of the 2km road back along the south side of the River Annagh, there were many false trails leading back down to the river.
I believe these trails were the result of people seeking out the Clare Falls because the map signage was misleading in that it stated that the waterfall was supposed to be DOWNSTREAM of the second footbridge instead of upstream of it!
I suspect that the map sign might have been outdated or reflecting a time when the longer loop trail went further upstream of the Clare Falls before being re-routed to its current state.
Hence, a lot of people (myself included) pursued these false trails just in case maybe the map revealed something that might have been overlooked.
However, after having gone through this exercise of exploring each false path, I can confidently say that the map signage was definitely wrong or not up-to-date.
Anyways, when all was said and done, I wound up spending about 2.5 hours away from the car on this excursion (though perhaps a half-hour or more of that time was spent pursuing false trails).
And during the morning that I did this hike in late July, I only encountered one other couple as I was returning via the County Limerick side of the hike.
Authorities
The Clare Glens Waterfalls straddles the County Limerick and County Tipperary border near the town of Newport in County Tipperary, Ireland. It is jointly administered as a public space and reserve by the Limerick City and County Council as well as the Tipperary County Council. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Limerick City and Council website or the Tipperary County Council website.
The Clare Glens is near the city of Limerick, and so I’ll just jump right into the driving directions from there.
From the city centre, we pretty much followed the R510 for about 4km towards the N18 motorway in the suburb of Ballykeefe.
Then, we followed the N18 east towards the M7 Motorway, and continued on this motorway towards the exit 28 for Newport (a stretch that went for 12km).
Once off the motorway, we then followed signs for Newport, and then we followed the R503 for about 10km through the town of Newport before turning right onto the Tullow Road.
Finally, we followed the narrow (think 1.5 lanes or so) Tullow Road for the final 2km to the car park for the Clare Glens, which is on the right side of the road.
This car park is before the road bridge spanning the River Annagh.
Overall, this drive took us a little under an hour.
For context, Newport is about 19km (about 30 minutes drive) northeast of Limerick, about 41km (over 30 minutes drive) east of Shannon, 51km (about an hour drive) northwest of Cashel, 85km (over an hour drive) southeast of Ennistymon, 113km (about 2 hours drive north of Cork, 126km (about 2 hours drive) northeast of Killarney, and 189km (about 3 hours drive depending on traffic) northeast of Dublin.
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Downstream to upstream sweep of a wide cascade that was downstream of the actual Clare Glens Trail
Downstream to upstream sweep from an elevated spot on the trail looking down at a cascade before moving further up to a view of another series of small cascades
Downstream to upstream sweep of perhaps the most impressive of the waterfalls of the Clare Glens during the dangerous rockbed detour on the hike
Downstream to upstream sweep from the bridge at the far end of the longer loop revealing the actual Clare Falls partially seen upstream of said bridge
Checkng out the full width of the uppermost of the cascades comprising the Clare Falls
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