An Bóthar Pub & Guesthouse
A traditional pub and guesthouse in Cuas serving drinks and evening food, well placed after a day on Mount Brandon. Check Instagram for current opening times and food service.
Cuas, Dingle, Co. KerryHardRidge · Dingle · recorded
Mt Brandon
West Loop.
A long recorded circuit from Mount Brandon’s western side, climbing to the high ridge before looping back across wild Dingle mountain ground.
DISTANCE
15.73km
ASCENT
992m
HIGH POINT
941m
Rob’s recorded time 5 hr 23 · experienced hikers · 1,010 recorded track points · western Mount Brandon start and finish 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.
ONE · BEFORE YOU COMMIT
Is this your day?
The grade, the hazards, the forecast and the ground the route actually crosses. Everything you need to decide whether to go at all.
WEATHER AT A GLANCE
Forecast for around 900 m
Approx. 900 mNOWReading the forecast
WINDReading the forecast
TODAY’S PEAK RAIN CHANCEReading the forecast
Forecast. This is a modelled estimate for this route’s high ground; conditions can differ sharply across the mountain. Detailed planning guidance follows. Derived from Open-Meteo forecast data ↗.
RECORDED ELEVATION
From the west to 941 m.
The GeoJSON provides elevation and cumulative distance at every recorded point, so this profile follows the actual activity rather than an estimate.
941 m50 m
Reading the forecast
0 km992 m ascent · 995 m descent15.73 km
THE LINE
A signal station, an inscription and a cashel.
On Brandon’s western side, a mountain circuit connects traces of military signalling, an inscribed stone and a settlement enclosure. They belong to different histories, brought together here by the ground the walk crosses.
The barracks in the gap
The remains in the saddle between Brandon and Masatiompan belong to the coastal signal network developed during the Napoleonic wars. The Archaeological Survey places the barracks’ likely construction between 1808 and 1812, after the first signal towers. Its high position was intended to help link stations where visibility between them was difficult.
Ballydavid Head is 8.2 kilometres west-south-west of this spot. What is left is mostly spread rubble, but the shape is still readable: an enclosure of about 24 metres by 22, with square bastions at each of the four corners, and a collapsed building south of centre. The Ordnance Survey surveyors of 1841 marked it Signal Tower (in ruins); by the survey of the 1890s it had become Signal Tower (site of). Whether it was ever finished is disputed.
Ronán the priest
Nearby stands the Arraglen ogham stone, a sandstone pillar about 1.9 metres tall. Ogham uses groups of strokes along a stone’s edge; here the inscription runs up the edges and across the top. Macalister read it as QRIMITIR RONANN MAQ COMOGANN, commemorating Ronán the priest, son of Comgán. Crosses on the faces include a chi-rho, a monogram formed from the opening Greek letters of Christ’s name.
The stone has been standing, falling and standing again for as long as anyone has been recording it. It was first found buried in peat to within two feet of its top. It had fallen by 1937, and then disappeared under hillwash and sod. It was dug out and re-erected in 1982, and again after the winter storms of 1995, that time 4.4 metres to the north-west of where it had been. Local information says even the 1982 position was ten or twelve metres downslope of the original.
Cathair Fionnúrach
Lower on the western slope, Cathair Fionnúrach is a cashel: an enclosure bounded by a stone wall. Two conjoined huts survive inside it to about a metre, looking out over the Feohanagh river and west to the Blaskets. The larger is 6.5 metres across and its entrance lines up with the entrance of the cashel itself. Westropp recorded a paved path running between the two; three kerbstones of it are still visible.
- 01Western approachA steady opening climb from the recorded start.
- 02High mountain groundExposed terrain where cloud and wind can arrive quickly.
- 03Mount Brandon ridgeThe recorded high point reaches 941 m.
- 04Western returnA long separate descent closes the loop.
The barracks is Archaeological Survey record KE025-004 and the ogham stone KE025-002, both in Airghleann. Cathair Fionnúrach is KE034-041, with its larger hut KE034-041001. Descriptions follow J. Cuppage, Corca Dhuibhne: Dingle Peninsula Archaeological Survey (1986), nos 790 and 547, and revised Survey entries. The ogham reading follows R. A. S. Macalister, Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum (1945); see the DIAS Ogham in 3D record ↗. For related histories, see the signal tower on the Ballydavid Head Loop and the summit pilgrimage on Teer to Faha.
Reading the forecast
WIND NOWReading the forecast
—cloud
—humidity
—km/h peak gust
Strongest wind today—
Peak gust—
RECENT RAINFALL · LIKELY GROUND
Reading the forecast
RAIN, GUST & VISIBILITY WINDOW
Reading the forecast
BEST HIKING WINDOW
Reading the forecast
DAYLIGHT PLAN
Reading the forecast
MET ÉIREANN · KERRY
Reading the forecast
NEXT SIX HOURS · swipe
Reading the forecast
HAZARDS & OPTIONSKnow the commitment.
A long mountain circuit with almost 1,000 metres of recorded ascent.
Exposed high ground where Atlantic wind, cloud and rain can arrive quickly.
Navigation can become demanding when the ridge and descent are obscured.
Wet, rough or boggy ground can slow the western return considerably.
The recorded loop is not a bad-weather escape plan. Before reaching the exposed high ground, an early retreat along the known outward line is the conservative option. Later decisions require confident navigation and current ground knowledge.
FROM THE MOUNTAIN
Rob’s photographs.
TWO · YOU’VE DECIDED
Getting there.
Where it starts, the recorded file, and the checks worth making before you leave the house.
PLAN THE GROUND
Start well.
RECORDED STARTWestern Mount Brandon
Select coordinates to copy
This coordinate is the beginning of the supplied recording, not a guarantee of formal parking. Confirm access on the day and avoid obstructing local residents, farm traffic or emergency vehicles.
ROUTE FILE
Take the recorded route with you.
1,010 recorded track points, exactly as walked. Load it into your watch, phone or offline mapping before you leave signal.
Track geometry and activity time come from the GPX. Elevation, cumulative distance, ascent and descent come from the matching GeoJSON supplied by @kerrymountains.rob.
Download original GPXmt-brandon-west-loop.gpx · as recordedGeoJSONKML
Onto a watch: import the GPX into Garmin Connect, Komoot or Strava and send it to the device from there. On a phone, the Garmin Explore and OS Maps apps take the file straight from the share sheet.
BEFORE YOU GO
A long, exposed mountain day.
A proper mountain day needs a proper plan.
Mount Brandon’s upper slopes are open mountain terrain where navigation, wind, cloud and ground conditions matter. This recorded loop is long and has almost 1,000 metres of ascent.
Your quick checksOptional and saved only in this browser.
0/5 checkedThese checks support your planning; they do not confirm that the route is safe.
- 01Navigate independentlyCarry a paper map and compass and know how to use them.
- 02Keep a backupAvoid relying on a phone or this GPX alone.
- 03Know when to turnTurn back if cloud, wind, rain or winter conditions exceed your experience.
- 04Share your planLeave your route and expected return time with someone.
Leave a plan.
Tell someone your route and return time. For emergencies in Ireland call 112 or 999 and ask for Mountain Rescue.
More in Dingle.
All 29 recorded routes →AFTER THE WALK
Post-hike picks.
A small, personal shortlist around Mount Brandon and Cuas. Check current opening times before making the journey.