Devil’s Glen waterfall is located in wicklow, Ireland. Usually an hour or less driving from Dublin. This place is an ideal one to have a day trip (even with a family). It has a small car park. From there the trail to the waterfall is an easy one. The roads are pretty wide and safe. Unlike other places in Wicklow this forest near Devil’s Glen is having taller trees. Even during a brightest day sometimes the sun finds it hard to reach the soil. So if you are bored with looking at treeless wicklow mountain then this place is for you. You could do trekking to go to waterfall, be around the forest, and plenty more funs. GPS Coordinate is (53°01’24.7″N, 6°08’34.4″W).
This Devil’s Glen waterfall is created because of the river Varty as it falls from the upper slope to another one. The Varty Reservoir is not that far from the waterfall from where the water is coming. After the waterfall the river Varty falls into the Broad Lough, and then falls into the Irish ocean. Anyway, there are basically two parking spots for this place. One is at the entrance of the forest (just before the barrier). It is 24 hours open, but only few cars can be parked there. The other one is 30 minutes of walking distance from this parking spot. That one is open till 5:00pm.
Initially we’ve arrived there at Saturday, the day before. But saw the parking use to be closed by 5:00pm. So we returned back and went there in Sunday. But still we were slightly late. So decided to park at the entrance of the forest. And started our trekking a bit early. The road condition is not that much good for the car though (grapes are sour). It was through the tall trees. The walking was sometimes strenuous as it as having ups and downs. Once we’ve reached the car park it had only few cars left (as most of them already have finished their fun). Probably we were the last for the day.
From the second car park there are several options for the visitors to walk in different routes. Not all of them will take you to the Devil’s Glen waterfall. If you want to see the waterfall then pick your trail carefully (it is the red path so far I remember). So we started walking through nicely organised path. The trekking didn’t have too many difficult ups and downs. We saw one family was returning from their trekking and the guy was carrying his young fella on is shoulder.
The trek was mostly at the edge of the small cliff (well protected). The other side of the valley is a tree full of mountain which is uncommon in Ireland. Those trees were green during my visit, but I can assure you those will be colourful during autumn. It started drizzling as soon as we’ve started the trekking. But when we’ve reached near the waterfall it was raining. And that rain didn’t stop for the rest of the day.
We didn’t spend much time near the Devil’s Glen waterfall as it was darker (despite of summer) due to the rain and the forest. It is a small water fall, and a narrow one. The waterfall is mostly the river Varty. But a narrow water stream joins beside the waterfall (from right side). Probably during a heavy rainy day we could see that flowing into the waterfall.
During returning from the waterfall we’ve chosen a different route. That was was beside the river Varty. I’ve picked the route to see the river for more. Also wanted to walk beside a river. The road was narrower. Also as it was low, in lot of places it was muddy due to the rainfall. Also the road was much meandered and at the finishing part it needed an uphill walk. Would have been a wise decision if we did the other way for the route selection.
After returning to the inner parking place we needed to walk another 30 minutes to reach at the outer parking space where we’ve parked our car. The rain was much heavy at that point and the road was having water in many places. Our shoes were dirty and muddy after that walking. When we’ve reached near the car we were the only one left there. After changing the wet cloths we returned back home by driving through the wicklow mountain in rain.
Parking facility
For the Devil’s Glen waterfall and forest trekking it has two parking options. One is at the entrance of the forest which remains open 24 hours. It can hold around 5-6 cars. The other one is inside the boundary and closes at 5:00pm. This one can keep around 20 cars. Both the parking facilities are free to use.
Where to eat
There is no restaurants or groceries nearby. The closest option nearby is the Ashford village. So better to have your water bottle filled before you start walking.
Where to stay
Devil’s Glen is a wonderful option to make a day trip from Dublin. So if you need to stay then stay in Dublin city as it has plenty of options for different budgets. If you want to stay in outside of a city then look for the B&Bs near the Glendalough. But those usually gets filled pretty quickly.
Devil’s Glen Waterfall,
County: Wicklow,
Ireland,
GPS Coordinate of Car Park(53°01’24.7″N, 6°08’34.4″W).
GPS Coordinate of waterfall (53°01’43.2″N, 6°10’03.1″W).
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog https://www.alonelytraveler.com/
Sunday, 21 July 2019
