The Coumshingaun Lake walk is a tough, 6.13km looped trail that poses a real risk to safety in places.
Starting from the Kilclooney Wood Car Park, it takes you up a steep, grassy trail before passing through a trecherous section where you need to scramble.
The entire loop, which should be done in a clockwise direction, takes between 3 and 4 hours. Below, you’ll find a map of the Coumshingaun hike along with photos of each section. Enjoy!
Some quick need-to-knows about the Coumshingaun Lake hike
The Coumshingaun Loop isn’t as straightforward as some of the other walks in Waterford – proper care is needed here, so please take note of the below:
1. Location
You’ll find Coumshingaun Lake tucked away in the breathtaking Comeragh Mountains, a short spin from the glorious Mahon Falls. It’s a 20-minute drive from Dungarvan, a 35-minute drive from Waterford City and a 30-minute drive from Clonmel.
2. Parking
You park at the Kilclooney Wood Car park for this hike (here on Maps). Now, a warning – as this is one of the more popular things to do in Waterford, the car park fills quickly on fine days.
3. Length + difficulty
This is a roughly 6.13km trail that will take you 3 – 4 hours depending on pace/stops. I’ve done the Coumshingaun Loop several times and I’d consider myself to be reasonably fit. I found the first half of this trail very tough and stopped at least 10 times. It’s extremely steep for the first 2.3km.
4. Do it clockwise
Although you can do this trail clockwise or anti-clockwise, it’s recommended that you follow the trail clockwise. If you do the anti-clockwise trail, some of the descents are very steep and tricky.
5. Safety warning
The Coumshingaun hike isn’t one you do without proper preparation – this trail is treacherous in places. Plan your walk for a day when the weather is good, wear decent hiking shoes (absolutely essential) and bring appropriate clothing and snacks. The trail is hard to follow in places, so the ability to navigate is required.
A map of the Coumshingaun loop
The Coumshingaun Loop walk map above shows the rough trail I took recently when doing the hike. In theory (and on a fine day) it’s a nice straightforward loop.
However, the danger that really arises here is if you don’t prep properly and mist/fog descends. The trail can be tricky to follow on a good day.
On a day with reduced visibility, it can pose a real risk to your safety.
Want a shorter walk? If you’re looking for a short walk, you can walk from the car park to the bottom of the lake and back. It’s about 1.8km each way.
An overview of the Coumshingaun hike
If you hit play on the video above you’ll see the trail to follow from the moment you leave the car park.
If you’d rather skim, I’ll give you an overview of the Coumshingaun Lough hike below.
1. Starting the trail
The trail starts from the Coumshingaun Lough car park (Kilclooney Wood car park).
Park up and look for the picnic bench. This is where the trail starts.
Follow the dirt trail up into the forest for around 5 minutes or so and you’ll reach a mini t-junction. Go right here.
2. Go left at the ladder and look out for the stone wall
Continue along the trail until you reach the little step ladder in the photo above.
Take a left here and continue walking until you reach the stone wall.
You need to then climb over the wall and continue up through the bushes until you’re out into the clearing.
This is where the Coumshingaun Lake walk starts to get tough.
3. Look out for the little ‘castle’
OK, so this thing clearly isn’t a castle, but it kind of looks like one from below.
As we’re doing the Coumshingaun Loop Walk clockwise, we’re going to aim for this.
The climb up here was, in my experience, rough.
It’s very steep from this point so don’t be afraid to stop, turn around and admire the views of the Comeragh Mountains behind you.
4. When you reach it, caution is needed
It’s from this point that the Coumshingaun Lake walk gets dangerous and you need to proceed with caution.
For the most part of the route to the summit, there’s inner and outer trails.
The inner trails, in my experience, are dangerous in places and you’re often scrambling with a massive drop to your right.
On my recent visit, I opted to stick to the outer trails which were easier to navigate and just felt safer.
Take your time and safely navigate your way through.
5. Then the summit will be in sight
After you clear the rocky area, you’ll have a very clear view of the summit (once the day is clear) and the trail to follow.
This is fairly steep, but you’ll be rewarded with views of Coumshingaun Lough shortly.
Now, when you do get to the top, you’ll be met by bog.
After bad rainy, this can be a mess to wade through, and it’s here that waterproof hiking boots come in handy.
6. The view of the lake
After reaching the summit, continue rambling along and eventually you’ll be greeted with the view above.
On a clear day, there’s few places in Ireland like it.
Just be extremely careful and make sure to keep away from the edge – if you slip here it’s game over.
7. Making your way down to the lake
I found the descent of the Coumshingaun hike a bit tricker to follow then the initial climb.
Follow the trail around until you see the big formation/mound in the photo above. It’s from here that the descend really begins.
There’s no real trail to follow in places here, but you’ll see sections of the ground that have been trodden before to help guide you.
Keep an eye out for the edge of the lake.
It’s there that you aim for (the video from earlier in the guide shows this clearly).
8. Reaching the lake
When you reach the bottom you’ll be greeted with a magnificent view of the rugged cliff face that surrounds the lake. Photos don’t do this justice.
Although I’ve seen people swimming in Coumshingaun online, I opted to stick my feet in, as I was hiking solo. Kick-back here and soak up the views.
I thought the viewing point at the summit would be the highlight of the Coumshingaun Loop walk, but the view from the lake is just something else (especially with no one around!).
9. Finding the trail to the car park
When you finish up at Coumshingaun Lough you’ll have a clear sight of the trail that leads you back to the parking area.
It’s a well trodden trail.
From here, you’re around a 20-minute ramble from your start point and a well-earned rest.
Things to do nearby
One of the beauties of the Coumshingaun Loop Walk is that it’s a short spin away from several of the best things to do in Waterford.
Below, you’ll find a handful of things to see and do a stone’s throw away:
- Mahon Falls (15-minute drive)
- The Magic Road (10-minute drive)
- One of the restaurants in Dungarvan for food (20-minute drive)
- Start point of the Waterford Greenway (20-minute drive)
Keith O’Hara has lived in Ireland for 35 years and has spent most of the last 10 creating what is now The Irish Road Trip guide. Over the years, the website has published thousands of meticulously researched Ireland travel guides, welcoming 30 million+ visitors along the way. In 2022, the Irish Road Trip team published the world’s largest collection of Irish Road Trip itineraries. Keith lives in Dublin with his dog Toby and finds writing in the 3rd person minus craic altogether.
Martina Gallagher
Sunday 4th of February 2024
Just had a stunning day on Coumshingaun, its been a long time wish, followed you advice so a big thank you ... was spot on and we met lovely guys who helped us too.
Margaret
Saturday 27th of May 2023
This is an excellent guide to Coumshingaun Loop Trail. Did it today. Fab weather. Spectacular scenery. Many thanks.
Anna
Tuesday 20th of September 2022
Just want to say thank you for this guide. Briefly read through your tips before hiking to the summit this morning and your advice helped to make sense out of the few more questionable parts of the trail. Also, appreciated your advice of going clockwise, once on the trail it becomes obvious why, although my knees were still sorry coming down hill. We had beautiful weather for the hike and are very happy we got to do it all the way through.
Keith O'Hara
Tuesday 20th of September 2022
Glad you found it useful Anna. Definitely a tricky trail in places. Hope you got some good weather for it!
Barton
Friday 2nd of September 2022
Stunning up there today with the ravens, and swallows fattening up on midges (21c, little breeze) before their southward journey. Still some fraughauns on the plateau, delish! I like it signless, there isn't much wilderness in this beautiful country.
Caroline
Thursday 28th of July 2022
Any idea why they don’t put any signs to guide you on this trail as at times hard to follow when it disappears between rocks etc.