Sally Gap

About this place

Sally Gap is a mountain pass in the Wicklow Mountains of Ireland, about 24 km south of Dublin in a straight line. Here the R759, which crosses the mountains from east to west, meets the north–south Military Road, the R115, at a height of 503 metres. The writer Michael Fewer thinks the east–west route across the mountains here has very likely been used for thousands of years. The R759 runs for about 27 km, from near Roundwood in the east to the N81 in the west. The blanket bog on the slopes of nearby Tonduff forms the source of the River Liffey, which flows through Dublin. The pass does not feel like a gap between sharp peaks but a broad plateau of bog and heather between rounded granite hills. Its colours shift between brown, gold and purple with the seasons, small dark-water streams run across it, and there are few trees or houses. Visitors come by car or bicycle and stop at the crossroads and along the roadside for photos and short walks. To the east the road passes above Lough Tay and gives access to car parks for mountain trails. The road is not treated in winter and can be dangerous or impassable in snow and ice.