Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [590]
Cullentra House ( 2177 1762; www.cullentrahouseireland.com; 16 Cloughs Rd; s/d £30/66; ) This modern bungalow sits high above the village at the end of Cloughs Rd, offering good views of the craggy Antrim coast. The three rooms are spacious and comfy, and the breakfasts (accompanied by home-baked wheaten bread) are as big as the owners’ hospitality.
Harry’s Restaurant ( 2177 2022; 10 Mill St; bar meals £6-9, dinner mains £9-13; bar meals noon-9.30pm, dinner from 6.30pm) With its cosy lounge-bar atmosphere and friendly welcome, Harry’s is a local institution, serving pub grub throughout the day – battered cod with mushy peas, or steak and onion ciabatta, for example – plus an á-la-carte dinner menu in the evenings.
Upstairs@Joe’s ( 2177 2630; 23 Mill St; mains lunch £6-8, dinner £11-15; noon-9pm) This new restaurant above McCollams pub prides itself on promoting local produce, with dishes such as seafood chowder with wheaten bread, medallions of Irish beef with Béarnaise sauce, and lamb chops with parsnip puree and rosemary jus – all sourced within County Antrim. Actor Liam Neeson has eaten here during visits to his home town of Ballymena.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Bus 162 travels from Larne to Cushendall (£7, one hour, three daily Monday to Friday), stopping at Glenarm and Carnlough; there are frequent trains and buses from Belfast to Larne. Bus 150 goes to Cushendun (left) and Glenariff Forest Park.
Glenariff
About 2km south of Cushendall is the village of Waterfoot, with a 2km-long sandy beach, the best on Antrim’s east coast. From here the A43 Ballymena road runs inland along Glenariff, the loveliest of Antrim’s glens. Views of the valley led the writer Thackeray to exclaim that it was a ‘Switzerland in miniature’, a claim that makes you wonder if he’d ever been to Switzerland!
At the head of the valley is Glenariff Forest Park ( 2175 8232; car/motorcycle/pedestrian £4/2/1.50; 10am-dusk), where the main attraction is Ess-na-Larach Waterfall, an 800m walk from the visitor centre. You can also walk to the waterfall from Laragh Lodge, 600m downstream. There are various good walks in the park; the longest is a 10km circular trail.
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WALK: THE GLENARIFF CIRCUIT
This varied 7.5km hike, which ranges from the mossy depths of a waterfall-filled ravine to the edge of the high Antrim Plateau, is one of the best forest-park walks in Northern Ireland. Begin at the Laragh Lodge restaurant, and follow the boardwalk upstream (admission £1.50 Easter-Oct) along the Glenariff River to the foaming cascade of Ess-na-Larach, then continue steeply up the zigzags beyond. There’s a junction at a wooden bench – the path to the left leads down to the forest park visitor centre (signposted), but go right on the trail heading upstream with the river down to your right.
At the next junction (signposted Hermit’s Fall to the right), turn left and follow the path uphill to reach a road, where you turn right. The path now parallels the road for 600m until you reach a sign marked Scenic Trail pointing back the way you came. Go left across the road and, a few metres further on, cross a second road and follow the obvious path up through the forest. You eventually emerge from the trees to get your first open view along Glenariff. Beyond, the path slowly curves around to the right (south; there are more Scenic Trail waymarks, but you are following them in reverse). As you near the head of the next valley (that’s the River Inver down below), the path forks near a wooden shelter, the left branch descending steeply; keep right here and continue right to the top of the glen.
The trail then curves left and crosses the three streams that feed the River Inver, then switchbacks up the far side and into thick pine forest, only to emerge into a clearing on a cliff top with a stunning view down Glenariff – the valley floor is slung like a green hammock