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Ireland’s Highest Waterfall

Back in 2002, we were living in Ireland. We spent one weekend at the Powerscourt Springs health spa. It was my first time at a health spa, and while all the women wandering around in bath robes were nice, it really wasn’t my bag. Powerscourt (named after the nearby Powerscourt Estate–lovely gardens, and a set for several movies including Branagh’s Henry V.) is also home to Ireland’s Highest Waterfall.

Feeling some cabin fever at the spa, we set off on a longish walk to view this apparent natural wonder. After paying our €4.00 each, we walked through a busy picnic area to the site of Ireland’s Highest Waterfall.

It was barely a trickle.

The water dribbled down the cliff face like the urine flow of a octagenarian with avoidant paruresis. What’s more, the water was kind of brown. The Irish kids didn’t seem to mind, as they splashed and played in the stream (for it definitely wasn’t a river) that formed from the base of the waterfall. For the record, it’s about 400 feet. I’d seen more impressive water flows in my backyard in West Vancouver.

I was reminded about this by this photo on Flickr, which portrays the waterfall in all its majesty. The photographer, one Sean Brady, has a number of nice photos from a trip to Ireland, including this shaggy-looking ram.

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Published by dbarefoot

Darren Barefoot is an author, speaker and digital strategist. He’s the co-founder of Capulet Communications, and co-author of “Friends With Benefits: A Social Media Marketing Handbook”.

7 comments

  1. LOL…. so I’m not the only one who was dissapointed (and amused) with Irish waterfalls.

    I spent a bit of time in Kerry in 2002. I biked the Gap of Dunloe, and then at the urgings of my hosts set a day aside for Killarney National Park. I explored the Abbey ruins there, the traditional cottages, and the manor. All day everyone I ran into enthused about Torc Waterfalls. So after a long day I set off down the path to see what everyone was raving about. Needless to say when I got there, I had to ask if what I saw was it.
    Torc Waterfall
    Meanwhile all around people gasped in awe. I honestly wondered if this was an example of that consumer fct where people genuinely convince themselves that something is special (when it is not) only becuase they are already so invested it. Once I decided that they really were impressed I had to bite my tongue to not laugh and say that falls like this are a dime a dozen in my home region.

    I’ve since met someone online who (in a discussion on where marriage proposals should be made) proclaimed that the loveliest place in the entire world would be Torc waterfalls.
    Go figure.

  3. Powerscourt was a place I had no idea existed until my wife and I went to Ireland. She had read up on it a bit, and was the reason we stopped there. It was one of our favorite places we visited. We were in Ireland for about 10 days in the late summer of 2001, and I guess we were fortunate to see the falls in all of their glory.

    Glad you liked the pictures.

  4. Exactly Darren.
    I was however very impressed with the rugged beauty going into the Gap of Dunloe. It didn’t feel tamed or conquered, like 99.99% of the land I saw in Europe.

    Not trying to sound difficult, but coming from BC and having such a high stick as a baseline for natural beauty, sometime makes other places a little harder to appreciate.

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