About Glenariff Waterfalls
Glenariff Waterfalls are what I’m associating with a pair of named waterfalls within in the Glenariff Forest Park, which is situated near the scenic Antrim Coast of Northern Ireland.
The two waterfalls that I’m referring to are the Ess-na-Crub (a semi-wide block-type waterfall on the Inver River) and the Ess-na-Larach (a taller gushing multi-drop waterfall on the Glenariff River).
There’s actually a third waterfall called Hermit’s Falls in the reserve further upstream along the Glenariff River, but I didn’t get a chance to visit that one so I won’t say anything more about it.
Nevertheless, regarding the Ess-na-Crub (“fall of the hooves”) and Ess-na-Larach Waterfalls (“fall of the mare”), they both have Irish names, and even Glenariff is derived from Irish for “valley of the ploughman”.
While Ireland and Northern Ireland in general have many glens throughout the island, this Ice Age-shaped valley is regarded as the “Queen of the Glens” thanks to its size as well as the presence of these waterfalls.
As for experiencing these waterfalls, we had a choice of going to the main car park and hiking from there, or going to the Larach Lodge (see directions below) and really reduce the total hiking distance.
In particular, our hike from the Larach Lodge to the Ess-na-Crub was a mere 100-150m walk taking us about 2 minutes.
Our hike from the Larach Lodge to the Ess-na-Larach was about 450m, and that took us about 7 minutes or so.
There was an intermediate waterfall or two roughly 150m downstream of the Ess-na-Larach or roughly 300m from the Larach Lodge.
Both of the named waterfalls were on separate trail branches that deviate near the Larach Lodge so the total hiking distance was more-or-less a sum of the two round-trips.
Therefore, that wound up being about 1km of total hiking according to my GPS logs.
I did briefly explore past the Ess-na-Larach though the trail kept climbing going in the direction towards the main car park and ultimately the Hermit’s Falls.
That said, the hiking distance would be considerably longer from the main car park to explore all the waterfalls (said to be 3km) though I can’t say more about it since we only did the shorter excursion from the Larach Lodge.
While the hiking distances were modest, and the trail was well-developed with only mild elevation changes, it did make us sweat.
That was a result of the Glenariff Forest having a bit of humidity given the fair, partly cloudy early afternoon weather of our mid-July visit combined with the moist climate of this part of the Antrim Coast.
Overall, we spent about 55 minutes on the trail, including the time spent lingering at each of the waterfalls as well as the intermediate ones.
Authorities
The Glenariff Waterfalls are in the Glenariff Forest Park near the town of Cushendall in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It is administered by the Northern Ireland Forest Service. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the NI Direct website.
The Glenariff Waterfalls reside in the Glenariff Forest Park near the town of Cushendall on the Antrim Coast.
There are actually a couple of spots within the forest park to park the car and start hiking – one is the main car park while the other is at the private Larach Lodge.
The main car park is said to cost 5 euros as of July 2024, but we didn’t have to pay for parking at the Larach Lodge since we had eaten lunch there.
In any case, I’ll describe both endpoints as well as the driving directions starting from Bushmills via two different routes – one being a coastal route via Cushendall and the other being an inland route via Ballymena.
Driving from Bushmills to Glenariff Forest Park via Cushendall
The approach from Cushendall represented a more coastal route, which I’d argue would be more of a scenic route as opposed to a quicker direct route, which I’ll describe later.
In our case, we drove over from Bushmills, which was like the nearest tourist town to the Giant’s Causeway.
Then, we pretty much followed primarily the A2 to Cushendall and beyond, which was a stretch that went for about 28 miles.
The route pretty much went south of Bushmills on Main Street, and then heading east on the Straid Road, where we then followed the signs for Ballycastle A2.
After getting through Ballycastle, we then headed east on Cushendall Road (A2), which we took all the way to the town of Cushendall.
Then, we continued to drive the Coast Road beyond Cushendall, which then became the Glenariffe Road (A43) roughly 1.6 miles from the town centre of Cushendall.
Next, we followed the A43 Road for about 2.8 miles, where we encountered a signed fork in the road, where the fork on the left went to the Larach Lodge.
Going left from here, the narrow road eventually arrived at the car park for the Larach Lodge after about 3/4-mile.
Now, had we continued driving on the A43 instead of taking the turnoff for Larach Lodge, then after 2 miles more, we’d encounter a signposted turnoff on the left for the Glenariff Forest Park.
Finally, after 0.7-mile down that access road, we’d arrive at the main car park and then hike from there.
Overall, our drive to the Larach Lodge took us a little over an hour, but the way to the main car park would probably but only a few minutes more to cover the additional 2-3 miles.
Driving from Bushmills to Glenariff Forest Park via Ballymena
Driving from Bushmills to the Glenariff Forest Park via Ballymena pretty much represents the most straightforward and fastest route.
For starters, we’d head south on Bushmills before eventually getting to the A26 Road near Ballymoney then continuing as the A26 became the M2 Motorway near Ballymena.
Then, we’d follow the A26 Road and M2 Motorway stretch went for the next 20 miles before taking the A42 exit towards Ballymena.
Next, we’d continue following the signs towards Ballymena before reaching a roundabout, where we took the third exit towards Cushendall (A43).
From there, we’d then follow the Cushendall Road (A43) for about 13km or so before turning right to get to the access road for the main car park of the Glenariff Forest Park.
Finally, we’d take this road for the remaining 0.7-mile to the main car park.
And if we wanted to shorten the hike more and start from the Larach Lodge, then instead of turning at the signed turnoff for Glenariff Forest Park, we’d continue another 2 miles on the A43.
Then, we’d make a sharp right turn for the signed Larach Lodge access road, and follow that road for the remaining 3/4-mile to its car park.
Overall, this drive should take around an hour.
For context, Cushendall is about 19 miles (about 30 minutes drive) northeast of Ballymena, about 28 miles (under an hour drive) southeast of Bushmills, about 47 miles (about an hour drive) north of Belfast, about 34 miles (about an hour drive) east of Portrush, about 35 miles (about an hour drive) east of Coleraine, about 64 miles (over 90 minutes drive) east of Londonderry, about 181km (about 3 hours drive) northeast of Donegal (Ireland), and 241km (about 3 hours drive) north of Dublin (Ireland).
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Left to right downstream to upstream sweep of Ess Na Crub without as much background noise from people as before
Brief downstream to upstream sweep of one of the larger intermediate cascades along the Waterfall Walk
Long video starting with downstream to upstream sweep from the walkway within the narrow part of the gorge before going onto the bridge with the best frontal view of Ess Na Larach
Starting with the walkway high up on the gorge before descending by the falls and ending up at the bridge for a final zoomed in panning
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