Sheep's Head, Peninsula and walking trail in West Cork, Ireland.
Sheep's Head, also called Muntervary (Irish: Rinn Mhuintir Bháire), is the headland at the end of the Sheep's Head peninsula between Bantry Bay and Dunmanus Bay in County Cork. The 88 km Sheep's Head Way follows old tracks and roads from Bantry around the peninsula to the headland and back, and its Lighthouse Loop reaches the lighthouse at the far west end.
The peninsula carries traces of early settlement in the form of burial mounds and ring forts dating to the Iron Age. The paths now used as walking routes once served farmers and fishermen who crossed this land for centuries before any formal trail was marked.
The name Muntervary comes from Irish Rinn Mhuintir Bháire, the headland of the Bháire family. Durrus, one of the peninsula's three villages, is home to Durrus Cheese and is a staging post on the Wild Atlantic Way. In Kilcrohane parish, a holy well called Tobar na nDuanairí, the well of the poets, recalls a medieval bardic school at Dromnea.
The walking trails are well marked, but the terrain can be steep and the weather can change quickly, so solid footwear and a waterproof layer are a good idea. Longer routes are best attempted in the brighter months when there is more daylight.
Peregrine falcons nest along the steep coastal cliffs and can often be seen hunting, which many visitors do not expect to find here. The peninsula is also one of the least visited of Ireland's southwestern peninsulas, so the trails rarely feel crowded even in summer.
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