Mount Hillary [Mullach Allaire]

Rising above the Blackwater Valley in North Cork, this forested summit offers a straightforward ascent via a network of forestry tracks. While commercial timber and communication masts define its modern character, the summit clearing provides a wide, earned panorama that stretches across the region to the Boggeragh Mountains and the distant Paps of Anu.

• •The Irish name Mullach Allaire translates as the 'summit of Allar', though the specific identity of Allar has been lost to time.
• •Standing in relative isolation from the main Boggeragh range, its prominence is sufficient to earn it the status of a Marilyn, making it a significant landmark for those travelling through North Cork.
• •The summit area is dominated by several large telecommunication masts, which serve as a useful, if unromantic, navigational aid visible from many miles away.
• •Clear conditions at the trig pillar reveal a landscape of contrast, looking north over the lush farmland of the Blackwater basin and south toward the peat-clad slopes of Musheramore.
• •The forestry tracks are so uniform that the greatest test of a navigator here is often resisting the urge to follow a tempting, but ultimately incorrect, timber-hauling spur.