Glencar Waterfall

Glencar Waterfall falls 15 metres into a pool in a wooded valley on the border of Sligo and Leitrim, beneath the northern face of the Dartry Mountains. W.B. Yeats mentioned it in "The Stolen Child" (1886): "Where the wandering water gushes / From the hills above Glen-Car" — one of his earliest poems and one of the few that names an exact location in the Sligo landscape he wrote about throughout his life.

The waterfall is a short walk (about 10 minutes) from the car park at Glencar Lough, through a small mixed woodland of oak, ash and birch. The pool at the base is clear and the surroundings are peaceful — on weekdays outside summer you're unlikely to encounter more than a handful of other visitors. The waterfall is fed by the hills above and flows year-round, but is most dramatic after heavy rain.

Glencar Lough itself is a narrow glacial lake running east-west along the valley floor. There is a lake shore walk and picnic area at the car park. The surrounding valley, walled in by the Dartry plateau, is one of the most quietly beautiful in Connacht. Combined with Benbulben (8 km west) and the drive over the Gleniff Horseshoe to the north, it makes an excellent half-day from Sligo.