Cork & Beara

Cork’s finest walking country lies west of the city, where long sandstone ridges divide a succession of narrow Atlantic peninsulas. Beara carries the highest and most rugged mountains. Hungry Hill rises abruptly above Castletownbere, its rocky terraces, corries and waterfalls creating much tougher ground than its height suggests. Knockowen and Sugarloaf Mountain continue the Caha range eastwards towards the twisting road over the Healy Pass.

North of Bantry, the Shehy Mountains are broader, quieter and considerably wetter. Knockboy, the highest mountain in County Cork, stands above a remote landscape of blanket bog, forestry and scattered lakes. Nearby Gougane Barra provides shorter woodland and upland walks around the valley where the River Lee begins.

The Beara Way links Glengarriff, Castletownbere, Allihies and the peninsula’s smaller communities. It also reaches Bere Island and passes close to Dursey Island, where the mountains finally give way to open ocean. Farther south, the Sheep’s Head Way follows an exposed ridge between Bantry Bay and Dunmanus Bay, while Mount Gabriel and the Mizen hills provide lower coastal walking.

Northern Cork changes character again. Rounded hills, forest tracks and old mountain roads replace Beara’s broken rock, offering quieter walking around the upper Lee and Blackwater valleys.