About Gleno Waterfall (Glenoe Waterfall)
Gleno Waterfall (or Glenoe Waterfall) was a rather convenient waterfall for us when we made the long drive from the far north of Northern Ireland down to Belfast.
It was convenient because it’s just a short, free jaunt from its car park to the waterfall itself, which sat near the community of Gleno.
The village name Gleno (a name the locals prefer) or Glenoe (the more official spelling) comes from the Irish name of Gleann Eo, which means “valley of the yew”.
Its proximity to places like Belfast and Carrickfergus Castle as well as other towns along the scenic Antrim Coast meant that this made for a convenient excuse to make a brief detour to get a waterfalling fix.
That said, it could also mean you might get characters sharing the waterfalling experience with you, which might make for a less peaceful experience than desired.
Case in point, there were quite a few young folks wading in the water, smoking weed, or overall just being young.
Speaking of the Gleno Waterfall, it’s said to be about 30ft tall or nearly 10m.
During our July 2024 visit, the short walk was convenient because we had been dealing with some fairly moderate to heavy rainfall.
In any case, our short jaunt was a mere 100-200m walk, and it only took us about 30 minutes away from the car, where most of that time was spent lingering at the Gleno Waterfall.
There was also a branch of the trail that went up steps to climb steeply up towards the top of the Glenoe Waterfall and beyond, which allowed us to linger even longer if we were so inclined.
Authorities
The Gleno Waterfall is between the towns of Larne and Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. It is administered by the National Trust. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the National Trust website.
The Gleno Waterfall (or Glenoe Waterfall) resides in a rural community close to the town of Larne.
However, since we made our drives from Belfast and Portrush, I’ll describe the driving directions as if we were coming to the waterfall’s car park from both places.
While there are many ways of getting to the Gleno Waterfall, the routes that I’m describing represent the most direct approaches from the south and the north, respectively.
Drive from Belfast to Gleno Waterfall
From Belfast, we’d drive north on a combination of the M2 and the M5 (Coastal Causeway Route) for about 5 miles to a roundabout where the motorway ends.
Then, we’d take the exit onto the A2 towards Carrickfergus, which we’d then follow for a little over 7 miles.
Beyond the Carrickfergus Castle, we’d continue driving towards Beltoy Road (B149), where we’d then turn left.
Then, we’d follow the B149 Road for almost 6 miles towards the community of Gleno, where we’d then turn left at the three-way intersection.
From there, we’d follow the local road towards Carneal Road before turning right to join up with the intersection with Waterfall Road, where we’d turn right again.
Finally, we’d follow the Waterfall Road (B99) for about 1/4-mile to an easy-to-miss signed turnoff, where we’d make a sharp right turn onto the access road leading down to the car park for the Gleno Waterfall.
Overall, this drive should take around 30-60 minutes depending on traffic.
Drive from Portrush to Gleno Waterfall
From Portrush, we pretty much followed the A2 east for about 1.5 miles towards the turnoff to the Ballybogey Road (B62) on the right.
Then, we followed the B62 for over 9 miles to the roundabout intersecting with the A26 near Ballymoney.
Then, we continued down the A26 towards Ballymena, where the A26 became the M2 Motorway going around Ballymena, and we exited onto the A36 towards Larne (a stretch that went for 21 miles).
Next, we followed the A36 for over 16 miles to a roundabout with the A8 and Ballyrickard Road (by now there are signs for Glenoe).
Then, we continued straight onto the Ballyrickard Road for another 3.5 miles before taking the turnoff onto the Waterfall Road (B99).
Finally, we followed Waterfall Road (B99) for just under 2 miles to its signed turnoff to the right (this is a sharp right turn), which led the final short stretch to the Gleno Waterfall car park.
Overall, this drive took us a little over an hour.
For context, Larne is about 10 miles (under 30 minutes drive) north of Carrickfergus, about 21 miles (about 30 minutes drive) east of Ballymena, about 23 miles (under an hour drive) north of Belfast, 47 miles (over an hour drive) south of Ballycastle, about 52 miles (over an hour drive) southeast of Portrush, about 73 miles (a little over 90 minutes drive east of Londonderry (or Derry), and 205km (over 2.5 hours drive) north of Dublin (Ireland).
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Downstream to upstream sweep from the footbridge before checking out the falls and then coming for an even closer look
Brief downstream to upstream sweep of the falls from beyond the bridge but not quite at the end of the closest view trail
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