Lovers' Walk is on the road from Montenotte to Tivoli and within the Parish of St. Patricks'. The name in Irish is ‘Siul na Lobhar' - ‘ The Walk of the Lepers'- nothing romantic about it!

It seems to be connected with pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostella in Spain. In mediaeval times, Compostella, Rome and Jerusalem were great centres of pilgrimage with a reputation for curing leprosy or any skin ailment for which there was no known medical cure.

The feast of St. James is on the 25th. July each year. Any year that this falls on a Sunday is a Holy Year in Spain and pilgrims flock to Compostella. A pilgrim ship from Ireland would berth initially at St. James' Gate, the home of Guinness' Brewery, in Dublin, and make a further call to Cork for passengers before departing for Spain.

There was a leprosarium outside Cork in the region of Glanmire and a lookout would be posted, at a distance from the city, on the high ground above the River Lee to watch for the ship's arrival.
The pilgrims would then walk to the ship using the road that still bears their name ‘Siul na Lobhar' - ‘Lovers Walk'.

But then, there is another viewpoint on the origin of ‘Lovers Walk'. Local folklore has it that Sara Curran, lover of Robert Emmet, would stay at the stately home of the Penrose family in Tivoli Woods, overlooking the River Lee, and both Sara and Robert were often seen strolling along ‘Siul na Lobhar'. It is known that Sara spent some time with the Penrose family, mourning the death of Robert following the failed uprising of 1803.

For travellers on this beautiful road, it is perhaps more pleasing to reflect on the notion that the tragic pair walked hand in hand, as lovers would do, along this road, 200 years ago