About Mahon Falls
Mahon Falls (Eas na Machan in Irish Gaelic; pronounced “MAH-hchan”) is a waterfall tumbling into an open valley at the northern end of the so-called Magic Road in the Comeragh Mountains.
The Magic Road is so named because it is known for having a stretch where if you put the car in neutral and let it roll on its own, it appears to be going uphill instead of downhill!
We actually drove through the stretch where it’s claimed that this phenomenon occurs, but we weren’t aware of this quirk at the time so we didn’t get to test it out ourselves.
Nevertheless, Mahon Falls is said to have a cumulative height of 80m as it’s composed of a handful of disjoint drops where the River Mahon tumbles over a rim of sandstone cliffs.
The waterfall looks like a giant as seen from the car park (see directions below), where it was clearly visible at the head of the valley.
However, from closer to its base, the forced perspective of looking up the enclosing cliffs made the sloping waterfall appear shorter than it really was.
In other words, photos don’t really do this waterfall justice.
As for getting to the base of the Mahon Falls, starting from the car park, we pretty much walked on a wide and developed road-turned-walkway right across from the Magic Road.
During our visit in early July 2024, the car park and most of the trail were occupied by lots of sheep (and their dung).
The path was mostly flat with minor undulations, but the wide open valley allowed for us to constantly look ahead at the Mahon Falls while the cliffs continued to close in the further from the car park that we went.
Looking back in the other direction, we could see the Irish Sea in the distance thanks to the Comeragh Mountains’ higher elevation.
As we got closer to the waterfall, the more we started to see rabbits scurrying about and hiding in the large boulders that have tumbled to the valley floor (as opposed of being surrounded by sheep).
The trail eventually started to descend towards the base of the Mahon Falls, and that was pretty much the turnaround point for our hike.
I did see a hiker continue to scramble further up alongside the waterfall to the top of the cliffs and beyond (perhaps to complete a loop hike), but we were content with our shorter hike.
We wound up going roughly 1.2km in each direction (or 2.4km round-trip), and we spent roughly about 90 leisurely minutes away from the car.
Authorities
Mahon Falls is in the Comeragh Mountains near the village of Mahon Bridge in County Waterford, Ireland. It is administered by the Comeragh District of the Waterford City and County Council. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Waterford Council website.
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