The Climbers Inn
A traditional walkers’ inn in Glencar serving food and drinks, with a long connection to the surrounding mountains. Check Instagram for current kitchen times.
Lyranes Upper, Glencar, Co. Kerry, V93 RX23HardGully · Iveragh
Bruach na Binne
from the Bridia Valley.
A steep Dunkerron mountain circuit from the Bridia Valley, passing the rock art at Leaba na Bó before climbing the gully to Bruach na Binne’s 743 m high point.
Also known as Broaghnabinnia.
DISTANCE
9.63km
ASCENT
659m
HIGH POINT
743m
My time 5 hr 10 · steep gully and scrambling GRADE GUIDE ↗
Reading the map…
INTERACTIVE TERRAIN · ACTUAL GPX TRACKACTUAL GPX TRACK
A recorded time is not a planning estimate. Build your own from pace, ascent, ground, weather and daylight.
01 · DECIDE
Is this your day?
ELEVATION PROFILE
A steep 659 m climb to 743 m.
The circuit climbs steeply from the Bridia Valley to 743 m and returns to the same point.
Reading the forecast
659 m ascent · 659 m descent
THE LINE
Cup and ring, cut into the valley head.
The route starts in the Bridia Valley. Leaba na Bó and its rock art lie just below the gully.
The rock at Leaba na Bó is the carved boulder the Survey records at Coumreagh, on the south-west side of Broaghnabinnia at the head of the valley, two metres off the route. Its flat top carries one of the more elaborate carved surfaces in Kerry. Counted up it comes to six cup-and-ring motifs, one of them a cup with three rings around it, and sixteen cupmarks. From one of the rings a groove runs off across the rock and wanders, throwing out loops, one of which ends in a cup of its own. A large oval encloses most of the eastern side of the surface. It is all extremely weathered now, and it looks west down the line of the Caragh river.
From there the route climbs steeply towards Bruach na Binne, Broaghnabinnia in English, reaching open summit ground with views across the Reeks, the Dunkerrons and the surrounding valleys before returning to the same trailhead.
- 01Bridia ValleyThe circuit begins and ends at about 100 m in the valley.
- 02Leaba na BóRock art lies just below the ascent gully. Observe it carefully without touching or tracing the stone.
- 03Ascent gullyThe route climbs steep, rocky ground towards the upper mountain.
- 04Bruach na BinneThe route reaches 743 m, with views of the Reeks, the Dunkerrons and the surrounding valleys in clear weather.
- 05Return to BridiaThe descent closes the circuit at the same valley trailhead.
The carved boulder is Archaeological Survey site KE073-040 at Coumreagh, described in A. O’Sullivan and J. Sheehan, The Iveragh Peninsula: An Archaeological Survey of South Kerry (1996), and re-examined in 2017. The description records six cup-and-ring motifs and sixteen cupmarks. The broad prehistoric dating applies to this rock-art tradition; the motifs have no established interpretation. View or photograph the worn surface without touching, tracing or uncovering it.
Forecast for around 700 m
Reading the forecast…
NOW
WIND
TODAY’S PEAK RAIN CHANCE
Reading the forecast…
–cloud
–humidity
–km/h peak gust
Strongest wind today–
Peak gust–
RECENT RAINFALL · LIKELY GROUND
NEXT SIX HOURS · swipe
Reading the forecast
Forecast. This is a modelled estimate for this route’s high ground; conditions can differ sharply across the mountain. Derived from Open-Meteo forecast data ↗.
HAZARDS & OPTIONSKnow the commitment.
The mountain is steep and rough, with scrambling and loose or broken rock in and around the gully.
There may be no continuous path or waymarking on the open mountain.
Wet grass and rock can become extremely slippery, particularly in the gully.
Cloud can remove the summit view and obscure the correct descent into the Bridia Valley.
Leaba na Bó is an archaeological feature. Do not touch, mark or alter the rock surface.
Before entering the steep gully, retreat along the known approach if conditions or visibility are poor. Once committed to steeper ground, avoid improvised descents onto unseen slopes. Reverse the known line early rather than continuing towards the summit in deteriorating weather.
ABOVE THE BRIDIA VALLEY
My photographs.
03 · GO
Getting there.
Start well.
STARTBridia Valley
Select coordinates to copy
The route starts and finishes in the Bridia Valley. Confirm a suitable legal place to park locally without blocking the narrow road, homes, farms, gates or emergency access. Respect all signs, livestock and private property. The rock art is vulnerable: view and photograph it without touching, wetting, chalking or tracing the surface.
ROUTE FILE
Take the route with you.
My GPX, with the walk in from the valley mapped as the reverse of my way back. The map shows it in yellow.
The track, time and heights come from my own files. I didn’t record the walk in from the valley, so it’s mapped as the reverse of my way back and shown in yellow.
Download completed GPXbruach-na-binne.gpx · recorded + mapped access
Confirm the download when your browser asks, then open the file from your browser’s downloads and your mapping app will offer to take it. HiiKER and Garmin Explore both do; the route loads on HiiKER’s free tier, though its EastWest mapping of the Irish uplands is a paid layer. Onto a watch: import the GPX into Garmin Connect, Komoot or Strava and send it to the device from there.
A steep gully above a remote valley.
Treat the scrambling, navigation and descent as the measure of this route, not its distance.
Bruach na Binne is steep on its mountain sides and the route enters rough gully ground. Good visibility, dry rock and an early decision to turn back give you margin.
Before you leave
- Check the forecast and warnings
- Plan your daylight
- Save the GPX or an offline map
- Pack footwear and layers
- Share your route and return time
- 01Check the mountain forecastReview cloud base, wind, rainfall and warnings for the Dunkerrons before entering the valley.
- 02Navigate independentlyCarry suitable mapping and know how to follow the correct line in cloud.
- 03Protect the rock artLook and photograph only; never touch, wet, chalk or trace the carvings.
Leave a plan.
Tell someone your route and return time. For emergencies in Ireland call 112 or 999 and ask for Mountain Rescue.
More routes nearby
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Post-hike picks.
A small, personal shortlist around Bridia Valley and Glencar.