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MAHON BRIDGE

CO. WATERFORD · IE

Mahon Bridge
Droichead na Machan

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 06 / 06

Droichead na Machan · Co. Waterford

The turn-off for Mahon Falls and the Magic Road. The whole village is a junction.

Mahon Bridge is a junction with a river running under it. A shop, a coffee hut, a garage, a few houses, and the bridge itself — that's the village. Most of the cars passing through are headed for Mahon Falls, five kilometres up the road into the mountain. The locals are used to it and the signage is good. You will not get lost.

The Falls are the reason most people are here. Eighty metres of water down a sandstone wall at the head of a glacial valley, twenty minutes' walk from a free car park. Easy enough for a family, dramatic enough to be worth the drive. Right beside the car park is the so-called Magic Road — a stretch where the lie of the land fools your eye and a car with the handbrake off seems to roll uphill. Children love it. Adults pretend not to.

The bridge itself, the thing the village is named for, crosses the River Mahon — the same river that comes off the Falls, runs through Crough Wood, slips under the road here, and ends up in the sea at Bunmahon on the Copper Coast about fifteen kilometres south. It is a small village trading on a big landscape behind it, and it does not pretend otherwise.

Population

~150

Walk score

A shop, a coffee hut, a bridge — sixty seconds end to end

Coords

52.2122° N, 7.5414° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 Mahon Falls

Eighty metres of water down the back of the Comeraghs.

Turn west off the R676 at the bridge, follow the Comeraghs in five minutes, park, and walk twenty minutes up the valley to the foot of the falls. The river you cross in the village is the same one falling off the mountain up there.

Walks & outings → 02 The Magic Road

Gravity hill, brakes off, car rolls "up".

Five minutes past the Falls car park there is a stretch of road marked, in plain letters on a plain sign, MAGIC ROAD. Stop, take the handbrake off, and the car appears to roll uphill. It is an optical illusion — the surrounding slope tricks the eye — but it works on everyone.

Stories & lore → 03 The Comeraghs

Old red sandstone, nine corries, one road in.

Fauscoum, the highest point, is 792 metres. The plateau is ringed with glacier-cut bowls — Coumshingaun is the famous one. Mahon Bridge is the door you go in by if your destination is the south side.

Stories & lore →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Eas na Machan

Mahon Falls

The Falls drop about eighty metres off the back wall of Coumahon, a glacier-scooped bowl on the south face of the Comeraghs. The car park is a short drive south-west of the bridge, signposted off the R676. From there a stone path follows the stream up the valley for about twenty minutes to the base of the falls. It is one of the easier big-feature walks in Munster — flat enough for boots that are not really walking boots — and one of the busiest waterford-county walks on a fine Sunday.

A gravity hill in the Comeraghs

The Magic Road

Right beside the Falls car park, a short stretch of road is marked with a hand-painted-looking sign reading MAGIC ROAD. Stop on the painted spot, take the handbrake off, and the car appears to drift back up the slope. It is a gravity-hill optical illusion — the slope you think you are looking at is not the slope the car is on, and the wider landscape fools your inner ear. It works every time. It works for cars, footballs, water bottles. There are three or four of these in Ireland, but this is the one with the sign.

Old red sandstone, ice, time

How the Comeraghs were made

The Comeragh Mountains are an old red sandstone plateau lifted up about 300 million years ago and then carved into in the last few hundred thousand by Ice Age glaciers. Where the ice sat on the high ground it gouged out steep-walled bowls — corries, or coums in Irish — and the Comeraghs have nine of them around a central plateau. Coumshingaun is the most spectacular and Coumahon, the one above Mahon Bridge, is the one most people see. The cliffs you stand under at the Falls are the back wall of that coum.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Mahon Falls Up the valley from the car park to the foot of the falls and back. Stone underfoot, gentle climb, no scramble. Twenty minutes each way at an easy pace. Wet boots after rain. Go on a weekday morning if you can — the Falls car park is rammed on a fine Sunday.

3 km returndistance

40–50 mintime

Crough Wood Walk Riverside trail along the Mahon between Mahon Bridge car park and the road up to the Falls. Mixed woodland — ash, holly, rowan — pasture, a stretch of conifer. Flat the whole way. Benches and picnic tables along it. Red squirrel and pine marten country if you are quiet and lucky.

5.4 km returndistance

1.5–2 hourstime

Comeragh Drive The signed scenic loop through the foothills of the Comeraghs. Starts and ends on the N25, takes in Mahon Bridge, the Falls, the Magic Road, Coumshingaun lake (from the road), and the western edge of the range. Climbs to around 500 metres. Do it in clear weather or there is nothing to look at.

70 km loopdistance

90 min by cartime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar–May

The Falls are at their loudest after winter rain. Bluebells in Crough Wood. The Comeragh Drive opens up as the mist lifts.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun–Aug

Bus-tour weekends. The Falls car park is full by eleven. Come on a weekday or come at eight in the morning.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep–Oct

Rowan berries in Crough Wood, low sun on the sandstone, fewer cars at the Falls. The best season here.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov–Feb

The mountain road ices up. The Magic Road still works in fog. Bring proper boots and check the weather before driving the loop.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Driving on past the Falls car park to look for a 'better' viewpoint

The car park is the viewpoint. The walk up the valley from it is the walk. The road beyond does not improve.

Treating the Magic Road as the main event

It is a thirty-second optical illusion next to a waterfall. Do the Falls first, then the Magic Road on the way back down. Not the other way round.

Looking for a pub in the village

Mahon Bridge does not have one open at the time of writing. Crough Coffee will pour you a flat white from nine to five. For a pint, you are going on to Kilrossanty, Kilmacthomas, or Lemybrien.

Getting there.

By car

From Dungarvan or Waterford City, take the N25 to Lemybrien and turn off onto the R676 north — Mahon Bridge is about 8 km up the road. From Carrick-on-Suir, the R676 runs south over the shoulder of the Comeraghs and drops you at the bridge.

By bus

No regular scheduled service through the village. Nearest stops are at Kilmacthomas (5 km east) on the Waterford–Dungarvan corridor and Lemybrien (8 km south) on the N25.

By train

No train. The line closed in the 1960s. Kilmacthomas has the Greenway on the old trackbed instead.

By air

Cork (ORK) is around 1h 30m. Waterford Airport handles general aviation only — not scheduled flights since 2016.