Overview
The Braid (Irish: Abhainn na Brád) is a small, fast river, about 15 miles (24 km) from where it rises in the Antrim Hills to where it joins the River Main near Ballymena, feeding the Lough Neagh system. It runs south-west through Broughshane and on through Ballymena, the town that grew on its banks and named its museum, The Braid, after it.
For a visitor it comes down to two things: an easy riverside walk and a well-regarded trout fishery. Be straight about the first one – this is a local amenity rather than a destination. It’s a good stroll, not a great one, so come for an hour’s air rather than a day’s outing.
The riverside path
The Braid River Path is a flat, fully paved out-and-back of about 4.3 km, rated easy and reckoned at an hour to an hour and a half. It starts on the edge of a residential area in Ballymena and soon picks up the river as it winds through grass fields towards Rosses Lane. Dogs are welcome on a lead, and it’s an easy one for buggies and small children.
Walkers tend to split on it: some find it genuinely peaceful, others call it a good path but a dull one. Both are fair. Take it for what it is – a calm, well-surfaced river walk close to town – and it does the job.
Fishing the Braid
This is where the river earns its reputation. The Braid Angling Club, based in Broughshane, controls a 7-mile stretch running down through Broughshane and Ballymena, with a season from 1 March to 31 October. There’s a good head of wild brown trout, salmon coming through from July or August, and Dollaghan – the migratory trout of the Lough Neagh system and the fish most anglers come for. You’ll need a DAERA rod licence plus club membership or a day permit.
The club has made a real effort on access: the village stretch in Broughshane has handy parking and a level footpath the length of it, with some fishing stands for anglers with disabilities, and club membership for disabled anglers is free. The Braid is also an important spawning and nursery river for the wider Main system, so it’s a fishery that’s looked after rather than hammered.
Wildlife and the waterfowl park
The standout wildlife stop is the Broughshane Environment Waterfowl & Wildlife Trust sanctuary, set along the river in the village. Run by volunteers on donations, it turned a derelict pond and a patch of swampland into a habitat for ornamental and wild wildfowl, with the young Little Acorn Wood planted alongside. It’s a small, well-kept spot and a better bet for a guaranteed bit of nature than hoping to catch something on the open river.
A greenway in the making
There’s a long-running proposal for a Braid River Greenway, running from Ballymena up towards Cushendall and the Glens of Antrim, partly along the bed of the old narrow-gauge railway that once climbed through the glens. Nothing has been built at scale yet; the current riverside path is effectively a short prototype of that bigger idea.
Practical information
Getting there – The river runs straight through Ballymena and Broughshane, linked by the A42. The riverside path is reached from the edge of Ballymena; the Broughshane angling stretch has its own parking by the village.
Safety – The Braid is a spate stream, so it rises fast and hard after rain. Take that seriously with children: a five-year-old boy drowned here in February 2018 after falling in and being swept downstream. Keep well back from the edge when the water is high.
Facilities – There are no toilets or café on the path itself; the nearest are in Ballymena town centre, including at The Braid.
If you’re making a morning of it, pair the walk with The Braid in Ballymena – the museum takes its name from the river and tells the mid-Antrim story – or, if you’ve a rod, time your visit for the summer Dollaghan run, which is the real reason to fish here.