Mount Brandon April 6th 2013

I arrived at An Bothar B&B early of Friday the 5th. The weather was perfect and everything looked very promising for a great weekend with my Kili friends. After checking in I set off in the car for a short drive to arrive at Brandon Creek. This is apparently the location where St Brendan set off for the New World around 535 A D. See Below:

I then drove to a small harbour where I took some photos and relaxed for a short time. It's always nice to have some time on your own. 

I returned to An Bothar to see if anyone else had arrived yet. I ordered a pint and chatted with a couple of locals. Fern and Des arrived  and after a couple of drinks we set off for Dingle to get something to eat.

When we returned to An Bothar several others had arrived and were 'in session' in the bar.  We joined them for a pint before retiring for the night.

We met up with some of the other members of our group at the foot of Mt Brandon. Another group led by Aidan were going to follow shortly afterwards. As expected the weather was perfect, a somewhat rare experience for our group.

Mount Brandon, Dingle Peninsula, Kerry, Ireland. April 6th 2013

The climb was more difficult than I had expected but it was exciting and challenging. It was not long before the group started to split based on fitness and experience. Lydia and I were together at one point and we drifter way off the safest route to the top. We did manage to scramble back on track but not before wearing down our finger tips. 

The view from the top was spectacular. See link to photos below.

Lydia and I decided to take the pilgrim route down the mountain. Mark picked us up at the base and drove up back to join the others for a pint. Mark is not ready yet to take to the mountains again but I was delighted to see him join us for the weekend. 

We all set off to shower and change before meeting for something to eat.

We arrived in Dingle and were about to sit down for a meal when I received a call from a friend back in Dublin. My brother had died suddenly at his home. I drove back to Dublin immediately...............

Click below for slideshow
Slideshow for Dingle and Mount Brandon April 6th 2013