Lakes, Rivers & Waterfalls in County Cork

These sixteen do not sit together on the map. Three are within easy reach of Cork city: Inniscarra Lake, the 530-hectare ESB reservoir formed when the Lee was dammed in the 1950s, 15 km west; the Glashaboy, which powered Glanmire’s woollen mills and now carries a flat waymarked walk down to the tidal reach; and Lough Mahon, the sea-lough fringing the southern suburbs, with paved greenway paths running to Blackrock Castle.

West Cork and the peninsulas hold the rest of the lakes, and each needs a drive. Lough Hyne became Ireland’s first Marine Nature Reserve because the Atlantic pushes in twice a day through The Rapids, leaving it warmer and saltier than the sea outside; the Knockomagh Hill path above it gives the view. Lough Allua is a slow, wide reach of the young Lee below Inchigeelagh, with a crannóg marked by a clump of trees on the water. Out on Beara, the Mare’s Tail is viewed from a lay-by on the R572, and it only performs after a few days of rain.

The rivers run mostly through north and east Cork. The Munster Blackwater covers 169 km to Youghal Harbour and has long been rated among the best salmon rivers in the country, its estuary a Ramsar site for godwits and other waders. The Awbeg joins it near Castletownroche after 51 km through Buttevant and Doneraile. The Bandon is the outlier, running south from the Shehy Mountains through its walled town to Kinsale Harbour.