The Priest's Leap [Leim an tSagairt]

About The Priest's Leap [Leim an tSagairt]

Situated on the border between Cork and Kerry, this Shehy summit sits above Ireland’s highest mountain pass. The terrain is rugged and boggy, typical of the Cork-Kerry borderlands. Reaching the 519m top provides commanding views over Bantry Bay to the south and the jagged peaks of the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks to the north.

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Did You Know?

• •The name is derived from the Irish Leim an tSagairt, referring to a 17th-century legend where a priest, pursued by British soldiers, escaped by making a miraculous leap on horseback across the mountain. Local tradition points to 'hoof-marks' embedded in a rock near the pass as physical evidence of the feat.
• •The hill overlooks the Priest's Leap pass, which at 463m is the highest mountain pass in Munster. The narrow, single-track road that traverses it was originally a historic route used by 19th-century travellers moving between Bantry and Kenmare.
• •Standing directly on the county boundary, the summit offers a panoramic perspective of the southwest; look north across the Roughty River valley toward the Caha Mountains, or south to the long finger of the Beara Peninsula stretching into the Atlantic.
• •While the legendary priest supposedly cleared the mountain in a single bound, modern walkers will find the tussocky, peat-heavy ascent significantly more time-consuming and considerably less graceful.