Ireland day 1477. Tuesday 14 October 2025- Dingle Day 3

Today’s summary	Got up early again and drove over the pass again to get to Ballybrack. Walked from there, leaving at just after 10 am, to climb Mount Brandon Got to the top in about two hours, fulfilling my ambition to climb the highest “Munro” in each of Ireland’s four main mountain areas. Returned to the cars quite quickly then went into Dingle for refreshments in the Irish Literary Bookshop. Relaxing evening by the fire in the cottage with roast chicken for dinner
Today’s weather	Overcast but bright. Fog on Mount Brandon all day. Light easterly wind. Appx 15c but much colder on the summit

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Brandon

Commentary

There are four mountain ranges in Ireland which contain summits higher than 3000ft / 914m and so which would be classified as “Munros” if they were in Scotland. They are Macgillycuddy’s Reeks, the Galtys, the Wicklow Hills, and the Dingle mountains. I had climbed the highest peaks in the first three (Carrauntoohil, Galtymore and Lugnaquilla respectively). Only Mount Brandon in Dingle remained.

At 952m / 3123ft, Brandon is the highest mountain outside of the Reeks, and it was high on my list of hills to be climbed. Now that we are staying in Dingle, the opportunity to cross this off was too good to be missed. Especially as the weather is stable at the moment, with no significant rain forecast until the weekend, the opportunity couldn’t be better.

So today was the day. We got up early again, and were out of the cottage armed with boots, waterproofs (just in case) and packed lunches well before 9:30am. We had chosen one of the easiest routes for the ascent: from Ballybrack on Brandon’s western slopes, then more or less directly up the Saints Road (Cosán na Naomh) to the top.

We drove out over the Conor Pass again and were parked up and walking by soon after 10:00 am. The path to the top couldn’t have been easier. There are sixteen crosses [it’s a pilgrims route, a bit like Croagh Patrick] along the way, as well as white marker posts. So you could probably get up without even needing a map.

There were very few other people about – perhaps two or three couples the entire day, at most. As we set out, there were clear views in all directions. But Brandon’s head was perpetually in the clouds and we were soon enveloped in a clammy cold fog once we met the cloud base.

Eventually we made it to the top in only two hours or so – not too bad for a 796m / 2500ft climb. Given the misty conditions, there were no views but on the other hand it wasn’t raining and there was very little wind. So we lingered quite comfortably by the summit cairn for 45 minutes or so to have our lunch.

To keep things simple, we just retraced our steps back down – a straightforward if somewhat stony descent. We were back at the cars by 2:45pm, which is pretty unheard of for us as normally we haven’t even started walking by then. So of course, given that it was only mid afternoon, we just had to go into Dingle to celebrate.

Sadly as we were driving, a pub wasn’t really in the frame. But eventually we found an interesting café in an Irish bookshop, where we got a cup of tea and a piece of cake. A decent alternative to alcohol, and we do only have simple needs!

That just about marked the end of our day’s activities. So after two busy days we decided to quit while we were ahead and drive back over the pass and on to our cottage in Brandon village. Now we are comfortably ensconced in our temporary abode, we’re enjoying a nice glass of wine by the open fire, and looking forward to roast chicken for dinner, courtesy of Val.

A great day, and so satisfying to have checked off Ireland’s four main Munros. What next I wonder?!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Setting out and looking back, west and towards Dunmore Head	There are sixteen crosses and numerous white marker posts along the way. So it would be practically impossible to get lost

Dramatic lighting – the sun almost came out several times close to the start, but was soon enveloped in cloud and mist as we climbed higher	Val the mountain goat

As the sky cleared on the way down, we got a brilliant view of the Skelligs (Beag and Michael) catching the sunbeams to the south	*In An Café Liteartha* – a bookshop-cum-café – in Dingle Town where we got a cup of tea on our return. And an interesting Irish bookshop too; we had to have a good look round, of course**

With the team on the top A great sense of achievement for all of us