Today I took myself off to one of the jewels in County Antrim. Glenarrif or the “Glen of the Plough” on the Antrim Coast. Glenarriff was formed by a big glacier in the last ice age and it cut a deep valley in the hills of the Antrim plateau which has been habitated since the trees grew back.
Glenarriff Castle
Glenariff or the “Queen of the Glens” cascades down from the Antrim Plateau is the largest and the most famous of the nine glens, it is a perfect u-shaped valley with beautiful views and spectacular waterfalls and at its mouth lies a one mile sandy beach where the glen meets
the sea at the small village of Waterfoot.
Around 100 years ago, lots of trees were planted to enhance the native woodlands of hazel, oak, ash and willow and to make the area more attractive to its many visitors. The glen is bounded by rugged precipicies 200 to 400 metres in height, the two most famous being Carneil and Lurigedan, but that was not our target for the day, Trostan the highest point in county Antrim some 1880 feet above the car park were we started the walk.
When I say we, i have to add a new dandering buddy Chuck from “Wild NI” joined me for my perambulations around the Glen. Excellcent company he was and an understanding soul who did not scamper (as he could have) up the “uppy” bits but matched his pace to my more sedate grump old fart pace.
We met up at 10am in Glenarriff village , down at sea level and picking up the Ulster Way we followed the Glenarriff river up the flat floor of the valley.
The Path starts about 100 yards down from “The Mariner” pub at a gate beside a car park in a council estate.
You can also find decent parking down the main street in the left beside the beach
Anyhow onward we walked down a very pleasant and very very gradually rising path
beside the river (had a bit of chat to an angler we met who has of course just “Lost a monster!), After about 2.5 miles the path leads you up to to the Glen Road which after another mile or so, leads you into the glen itself.. and you are met by this rather wonderful sign.
Swans have a heavy myth resonance around the north coast because of the story of the Children of Lir. (Synopsis, evil step mother turns step children into swans and curses them to stay swans
Oh YES PLEASE!!!
until the “Bell of the new god is heard in Ireland” the swans few around ireland before ending up in the straits of Moyle and were saved by a Christian Priest ringing his bell)
Ess-na-Larach
From this point we enter the Glen proper which is famed for its waterfalls the biggest of these is Ess-na-Larach. If waterfalls are your thing, Glenarriff has both lots of water and lots of waterfalls. There are several paths you can follow through the glen , the longest circular path is around 9km , but be warned it is very steep in places and prone to be a bit muddy.
Once you come out of the Glen itself you reach a car park and cafe, a good and very friendly place to have a stop, a drink and a spot of lunch and the view from the picnic tables …. well it is hard to find a better one in Northern Ireland!
From there, follow the road out of the glen and opposite the entrance you will see a sign post of the Ulster/Moyle Way. Cross the gate and follow the path up and up some more through the forest until you meet another road, Cross this and on the right about 20m up you will see a style and a path leading up towards Trostan’s summit.
It was at this point Chuck and I met some people coming down who let us know that Trostan was always damp and today damper than most, so we decided not to do the last 100m of ascent and we headed back in a long arc down through the forest, back to the cafe and took the long loop back to the floor of the glen down a different set of paths, all well signposted and way marked.
Once back to the Glen floor we picked up the path by the river and arrived back a The Mariner for a pint and a bit of a sit down. All in all an excellent 17 mile walk!, We only got rained on a little and Chuck was excellent company and a joy to walk with – Thank you!
Now where to next week?
PS here is a link to the FB Gallery which as all the other waterfalls on it
Steve's Email
Steve's Twitter
Comment RSS