Carran North Top

Sitting on the wild fringes of the Shehy Mountains near Glanlough, this 506m Tump is defined by its rugged sandstone ridges and boggy troughs. While often overlooked for its higher neighbour Carran, the summit provides a clear, uncrowded perspective over the Borlin Valley and the jagged Caha Mountains to the west.

• •The name derives from the Irish 'An Carn', meaning 'the cairn', referring to the stony mounds typical of these summits, though on this secondary top the feature is less prominent than on the main Carran peak to the south.
• •The hill is most effectively climbed as part of a high-level traverse starting from the Priest’s Leap, an ancient mountain pass and one of the highest roads in Ireland.
• •From the summit, the view west across the Borlin Valley offers a fantastic profile of Douce Mountain and the distant, serrated ridgeline of the Beara Peninsula.
• •In this part of West Cork, a 'North Top' designation is often just a polite warning that you have one more peat hag and sandstone scramble to navigate before the descent begins.